Speaker Line Up

Ferri Abolhassan is a member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom AG and CEO of T-Systems. He holds a PhD in computer science from Saarland University and has more than 30 years of experience in the IT sector including various management roles at SAP, IDS Scheer and Telekom Deutschland. With T-Systems & Deutsche Telekom Ferri Abolhassan boosts digital sovereignty and AI applications for industry by building Germany’s first AI factory, the Industrial AI Cloud in Munich. He is a member of the Supervisory Board of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and until recently was a member of the Expert Commission “Competition & AI” of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs.

Elisabeth André is Full Professor of Computer Science and Founding Chair of Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence at the University of Augsburg, Germany. Her research focuses on multimodal human–machine interaction and AI-based analysis of human behavior, with applications in social coaching, psychotherapy, and mental health. She received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2021, Germany’s highest research award. André is a member of the CHI Academy and a EurAI Fellow. In 2019, she was named among the ten most influential figures in the history of AI in Germany. She is a member of several leading scientific academies, including Academy of Europe, Leopoldina and acatech

Prof. Dr. Kai Arras received his Dr. degree in 2003 from EPFL in Lausanne. He was a postdoctoral researcher at KTH Stockholm and the University of Freiburg, and in 2007 received a DFG Junior research group leader grant to lead an independent research group in social robotics. He was a Juniorprofessor at the University of Freiburg, and since 2023 has held the Cyber Valley endowed full professorship for Autonomous Systems at the University of Stuttgart. In parallel, he pursued an industrial career through founding and transferring technology to start-ups, worked as a Senior Research Scientist at Evolution Robotics in Pasadena, California, and served as Head of Robotics Research at Bosch.

Sylvain Baillet, PhD, FRSC, is Director of Research & Innovation at University of Montreal Health Centre (CHUM), Director of the CHUM Research Centre, and Full Professor of Neuroscience at U of Montreal. A physicist with an international career in Europe and the USA, he holds the Tier-1 Canada Research Chair in Neural Dynamics of Brain Systems. His work advances time-resolved brain imaging and predictive modeling, including the use of AI models to probe predictive processes underlying perception and cognition. He develops widely used neuroimaging methods, open-source software, and data resources. He previously served as Associate Dean at McGill University and was elected Chair of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping.

Jürgen Bajorath studied biochemistry at the Free University (FU) Berlin and was a postdoc at Biosym in San Diego. From 1990-2004, Jürgen held positions at the Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, New Chemical Entities, and the University of Washington in Seattle. Since 2004, he is Professor and Chair of Life Science Informatics at the University of Bonn. He also is an Affiliate  Professor at the University of Washington. Since 2023, he is Area Chair for AI in the Life Sciences and Health at the Lamarr Institute. Jürgen’s current research focuses on the development of computational methods for drug design, explainable AI, and AI agent systems for the life sciences and medicine.

Christian Bauckhage is Professor of Computer Science (Pattern Recognition) at the University of Bonn, Lead Scientist for Machine Learning at Fraunhofer IAIS and director of the Lamarr Institute. His national and international experience in academia and industry in the field of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence spans more than 20 years. Christian is a renowned expert in pattern recognition, data mining and intelligent systems and has co-invented four patents. His current work focuses on hybrid learning systems, the potentials of Quantum Computing and Quantum Machine Learning to open up previously unsolvable processes in AI and Machine Learning as well as multi-agent systems.

Daniel Becker holds a PhD in theoretical physics (quantum computing and spintronics) and has a background in algorithmic trading. For over five years now, he works at Fraunhofer IAIS in the department AI Assurance & Assessments (AAA), where he leads the AI Assessment Operations team (AAOps). As part of this position, Daniel leads and contributes to various  applied research and industry projects focussing on safeguarding of AI systems, automation of assessment workflows, and AI trustworthiness in general, both from a technical and auditor perspective.

Maren Bennewitz is a Professor of Humanoid Robots, Vice Rector for Digitalization at the University of Bonn, Principal Investigator at the Lamarr Institute and a member of the Executive Board of the Cluster of Excellence PhenoRob – Robotics and Phenotyping for Sustainable Crop Production. A renowned expert in AI-driven Robotics, her research focuses on robots operating in human environments, with emphasis on human-robot interaction. She has developed innovative Machine Learning solutions, among them navigation, manipulation and active perception techniques for legged and wheeled robots and the generation of foresighted, personalized robot behavior.

Hubertus Breier is Chief Technology and Innovation Officer (CTO) and Member of the Board at LAPP Holding SE. He is responsible for global R&D, product management, quality, IT, and operations. With a background in mechanical engineering and an MBA from the University of Augsburg, combined with extensive leadership experience in technology-driven industries, he brings a strong blend of technical and strategic expertise. His career spans leadership roles in production, development, sales, and global management, shaping his holistic view on technology. He approaches AI as a strategic lever for business transformation, enabling scalable and sovereign value creation.

Bernhard Christ is an Economic Policy Consultant (M.Sc.) for the IT and health economy at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) Bonn/Rhein-Sieg and the Managing Director of Wirtschaftsjunioren (WJ) Bonn/Rhein-Sieg, a network für young entrepreneurs. His work focuses on consulting, lobbying, and networking for regional businesses in the fields of AI, cybersecurity, digital sovereignty, fiber-optic infrastructure, and digital health. He gained practical experience in the application of AI while working as a Manager in Delivery Operations at Amazon Logistics.

Nicolas Conze is a physician and Head of Data Science at docport GmbH – a network of ~50 GP clinics in NRW building federated AI infrastructure for primary care. He leads FLIP-IT, an EFRE-funded federated learning project in collaboration with IKIM Essen and the Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. Goal of this project is to establish decentralised AI training across real-world GP practices without centralising patient data. Nicolas holds an M.Sc. in Applied Digital Health from Oxford and continues to practise clinically alongside his technical work.