Volker Kratzenstein is CIO Group IT Components at Volkswagen. Prior to this role, he was CIO of Bentley Motors in the UK and CTO of Volkswagen.

Robert Pławiak is CIDO / CTO at Polish multinational pharmaceutical company Polpharma, where he is responsible for all aspects of digitalisation and technology areas of IT & OT processes.

Prior to this role, he was President and Group CIO at logistics firm ILS for over four years, where he implemented many changes in business processes in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry.

In his career, Pławiak has developed and implemented IT strategies, increasing cost efficiency in IT, and has implemented team and digital transformations in technology divisions for which he was responsible at a national and international scale.

His greatest successes include the IT transformation of the PZU Group; the implementation of a new and innovative solution to support Guidewire insurance processes (the largest project of this type in Poland at the time); IT change and transformation in the EFL Group; the creation of an IT system for the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic; and launching IT systems supporting migrants from Ukraine during the war. 

Dr Maik Herfurth has been CIO at Tecan Group since June 2021, where he has defined and implemented a new IT strategy for digital transformation with a focus on cloud first, digital platforms, IT governance and data and process excellence.

Tecan is a leading global provider of laboratory instruments and solutions in biopharmaceuticals, forensics and clinical diagnostics. The company specialises in the development, production and distribution of automated workflow solutions for laboratories in the life sciences sector. Its clients include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, university research departments, forensic and diagnostic laboratories. 

Peter Seidel is the CIO of German aerospace company Lilium. Prior to this post, Seidel worked for 20 years at BMW. In his last function as Vice President of the BMW Group IT, he had a global responsibility for the shopfloor systems and a cross-functional responsibility for the IT in the BMW plants in the EMEA region. Before that role, he had a variety of management functions in IT, including CIO of BMW Financial Services, and delivered large scale projects in after sales.

Seidel has strategic and operative competencies in leading international IT organisations combined with profound experiences in IT delivery (DevOps), IT governance, IT sourcing, and cybersecurity. He began his career as a consultant leading multiple projects related to business process reengineering and system integration in the financial services industry. 

Lilium is a German aerospace company which is the developer of the Lilium Jet, an electrically powered personal air vehicle capable of vertical take-off and landing flight. In March 2020, Lilium raised $240 million in funding led by Tencent, with participation of previous backers such as Atomico, Freigeist and LGT. In January 2021, it was reported that Lilium was seeking to become a listed company via a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The company completed a SPAC merger in September 2021.

Hilti stands for quality, innovation and direct customer relationships. Some 31,000 employees around the world, in more than 120 countries, contribute to making work on construction sites simpler, faster and safer while inspiring customers every single day. With products, system solutions, software and services that provide clear added value.

Having roughly 280,000 individual customer contacts each day, many ideas for improvement are often developed directly on construction sites while talking to customers. If there is a challenge for which no Hilti solution exists, one will be developed. This is why we invest approximately 6 percent of sales each year in research and development. From product development to manufacturing, logistics, sales and services, we cover the entire value-added chain.

V-ZUG has stood for Premium Swiss Quality for over a hundred years. Top quality is rooted not just in tradition but also specifically in a commitment to progress: inventions and innovations from Zug repeatedly set new standards worldwide. For decades, V-ZUG has relied upon proven ingredients and values like quality, precision, innovation and

customer orientation together with plenty of Swiss engineering talent and know-how. Family-owned since it was formed in 1913, V-ZUG is one of the biggest employers in the canton of Zug. The high-tech company employs state-of-the-art working methods and over 1,400 highly qualified, motivated staff to develop and produce premium household appliances in Switzerland that make everyday life easier. More than 4.5 million appliances are in use around the country – V-ZUG plays an important role in everyday Swiss life. The V-ZUG philosophy has always included longevity and effectiveness in use, together with sparing employment of resources – in both its appliances which lead the field in terms of energy efficiency and its operating infrastructure. In the hundred years or more that it has existed, the progressive company has impressed time and again with pioneering work and world exclusives together with strong design skills that combine functionality and aesthetics.

Goals 2022ff.: Enhancing the digital customer experience (service, apps, smart home)

Noerr stands for excellence and an entrepreneurial approach. With highly experienced teams of strong characters, Noerr devises and implements solutions for the most complex and sophisticated legal challenges. United by a set of shared values, the firm’s 500+ professionals are driven by one goal: our client’s success.

Listed groups and multinational companies, large and medium-sized family businesses as well as financial institutions and international investors all call on the firm.

As one of the leading European law firms, Noerr is also internationally renowned with offices in ten countries and a global network of top-ranked “best friends” law firms. In addition, Noerr is the exclusive member firm in Germany for Lex Mundi, the world’s leading network of independent law firms with in-depth experience in 100+ countries worldwide.

I found my entry into the travel industry more than 20 years ago. In recent years we have been able to carry out very successful migrations to our central SAP systems, which today continue to be the backbone for our B2x platforms with APIs. In addition to further migrations, our goals in 2022 are the introduction of M365 and the possibility of being able to offer our customers the full range of flight content from the various flight systems. Another goal is to strengthen the cooperation between business and IT in order to achieve real customer benefits.

Hotelplan was established in 1935 by Migros founder Gottlieb Duttweiler to enable families from simpler backgrounds to take vacations in Switzerland. Over the past decades, Hotelplan has developed into an international travel group – the Hotelplan Group. Today, around 1,900 employees work for the Hotelplan Group in six business units in Europe and around the world. The travel group is active in the areas of beach vacations, individual and round trips, the brokerage of vacation apartments and vacation homes, as well as in the business travel sector. Today, the company is still wholly owned by the Federation of Migros Cooperatives, Switzerland’s largest retail organization, headquartered in Zurich