Hülya Gedik

Hulya Gedik has been the "Chair of the Board of Gedik Holding" since 2008 and the "Chair of the Board of Trustees of Istanbul Gedik University" since 2011. She has over 28 years of solid experience in welding and casting industries.

She holds a MBA degree in International Business and BA in Economics from Istanbul University.

While in her early career days, she was the only selected Turkish national to be chosen by Canadian Consulate in 1989  to represent Turkey in Canada.

Prior to getting involved in her family business , she had worked at PwC in Istanbul.

She was awarded with various prizes and invited to make keynote speeches within both national and international conferences .

Hulya Gedik acts as the Council Member of "Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO)" and a Member of the Committee at the "Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSİAD)". She is also a Board Member at "The Union of Foundation Universities (UFU)" and a Member of "Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK)". She simultaneously holds memberships to various associations in welding ,casting and high education sectors.

Thomas Hahn

Thomas Hahn, born in 1960, has been Chief Software Expert at Siemens AG since 2011. After studying computer science at Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen, he joined the company in 1986 and worked as a product developer in the field of industrial networks in Erlangen. In 1993 he moved to Nuremberg, where he worked in product management for SIMATIC, and as a project manager he was responsible for development of SIMATIC STEP 7. From 1997 he worked as Head of Development at Traffic Control Systems in Munich for two years. In 1999 he returned to Nuremberg, here he was Head of Software Development for Industrial Automation Systems. He held this post until 2011.

In addition to his function as Chief Software Expert, he was Head of the Business Analytics and Monitoring technology field from 2011 to August 2013. Beyond his activities at Siemens, Thomas Hahn is a member of various board committees, including the OPC Foundation, Big Data Value Association, Openlab CERN and Platform Industrie 4.0.

Prof. Dr. Şener Oktik

Prof. Dr. Şener Oktik  is currently the president of the research and technological development department (Chief Technology Officer, CTO) of  the world's 10th largest glass producers, Şişecam, and the chairman  of  the "Turkish Solar Energy Industry Association, GENSED". He is a senior experimental applied physicist with academic/industrial research in technological development and teaching expertise in the growth and characterization of crystalline and amorphous bulk materials, as well as thin and thick film semiconductor materials and their applications in the field of the photovoltaic value chain. 

Prof. Dr. Oktik graduated in 1976 and received M.Eng. in "Applied Physics" in 1977 from the University of Ankara (Turkey). He was awarded a Ph.D. in "Applied Physics" in 1982 from the Department of Applied Physics and Electronics at Durham University (UK) and became an associate professor in 1986 and a full professor in 1995.  Professor Oktik worked as a lecturer, research scientist, and top executive at a number of universities, such as Durham University (UK), Lecce University (Italy), Stuttgart University (Germany), Selcuk and Mugla University (Turkey) and  as a senior research scientist, chief technologist and top executive at companies such as Imperial Chemical Industries PLC ("ICI")  and BP Solar (UK), Industrial Research Labs of Durham University (UK), Anel Group (Turkey), Arıkanlı Holding (Turkey) and Şişecam Group (Turkey).

Prof. Dr. Oktik served as the "Rector"  (2002 – 2010) and  as a "Vice Rector" (1998-2002) at Mugla University (Turkey). He was an advisory board member for the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey  between 2003-2005 and  a  member  of the "Turkish Delegation" in  the accession process of Turkey to European Union, representing  the Council of Higher Education  to negotiate Chapter 25 (Research and Technology) and Chapter 26 (Education and Culture).

Prof. Dr. Oktik is an active member of the following professional and non-governmental organizations/committees: International Commission for Glass, European Society for Glass, EU Photovoltaic Technology Platform, EU Physical Society "Energy Working Group", Ex-Co Member of IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme,  Turkish Solar Energy Industry Association, Turkish Clean Energy Foundation, Turkish National Innovation Group, Euro Solar, Institute of Physics, and the Turkish Society of Physics.

Prof. Dr. Oktik has published over 100 scientific and technical publications and is the inventor/co-inventor of two world patents in the photovoltaic field. His work on renewable energy was awarded by Euro Solar in 2009 and by ICCI in 2011. He was also awarded by the Turkish Physical Society for his contribution to physics education in Turkey in 2011.

Prof. Oktik was born on March 23, 1955 in Uçhisar Nevşehir. He is married and has two children.

Iffet Türken

İffet Türken graduated from Boğaziçi University Faculty in Political Science and International Relations in 1993. She joined TIRSAN Group in 1996, where she is currently acting as an Executive Board Member in the field of Business Development. İffet Türken was appointed to the Executive Board of Kässbohrer Fahrzeugwerk GmbH in 2010, and holds this position to this day.

İffet Türken speaks fluent German and English. She is also the Vice President of TAID (Heavy Commercial Vehicles Association) in Turkey.

Şinasi Beliğ Ünlüer

Belig Ünlüer, born in 1961, studied Metallurgical Engineering at TH Aachen, Germany. Belig Ünlüer has always worked for family-owned companies. In 1999 Belig Ünlüer and his brother founded Derun Ünlüer Nedex Kimya San.ve Tic.AS. in Turkey. Today Nedex Kimya is the leading company among 14 Group Companies in 6 countries with more than 1,000 employees worldwide. Nedex produces chemicals exclusively for the IG glass industry. Nedex is the biggest producer of molecular sieves and is the second biggest sealant producer of the world. Nedex is the only company in the world that produces all IG-Unit-Chemicals in its own facilities.

Dr. Detlef Houdeau

Detlef Houdeau is the Senior Director for Business Development in the government Identification (ID) market segment under the Chip Card & Security ICs (Integrated Circuits) business group. As the senior director of Business Development based in Germany, Houdeau is responsible for worldwide sales, customers and partners in the ID segment. Their projects include combinations of IT security, biometric systems, digital signature, infrastructure systems for issuing ID card, and e- passport.

Born in Germany, Houdeau holds a Diploma in Machine Construction, focusing on micro-system technology in Germany from the Technical University in Berlin, Germany. He received a promotion at the Technical University in Berlin, Germany, in 1994. He has published over 100 papers and filed 40 patents in the smart card application segment with focus on the government ID market.

Houdeau first joined Siemens AG in 1985 in corporate research and development in Berlin, Germany.

He has held several positions and has been involved in many projects, like project director for fiber optic components, the quality program for voltage converter, the improvement program for airbags in the automotive industry, for packages in the semiconductor industry and for now  the business development in the Chip Card & Security market. Over a period of 25 years, he has been posted to various sites in Germany including Berlin, Erlangen, Munich and Regensburg. In 1999, Infineon Technologies AG was spun off from Siemens AG.

Houdeau is active in the Smart Card and ID industry and participates in the following industry organizations: Convenor of EUROSMART, working group eID in Brussels, Belgium – Voice of the Smart Card industry in Europe (www.eurosmart.com) Member of SILICON TRUST, London, UK (www.silicon-trust.com) Head of the expert committee, of the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM), Berlin, Germany (www.bitkom.de) Member of IUNO, national reference project on Industry 4.0 & Security in Germany Chairman of the Program Committee of WORLD-eID Conference (www.smart-event.eu) Member of the Program Committee of OMNICARD (www.omnicard.de) Expert for public funding programs in the security domain from EC (e.g. FP7, HORIZON 2020)

Dr.-Ing.Axel Gomeringer

Dr. Axel Gomeringer studied aerospace engineering at the University of Stuttgart and ENSAE/Supaéro – Toulouse as well as business administration at the University of Stuttgart and the University of Hagen. From 2000 until 2007 he worked as consultant and researcher for innovation management at Fraunhofer IAO in Stuttgart. There he was the project manager for implementing innovation processes and structures as well as elaborating innovation strategies in the machine building industry. In 2007he graduated as Dr.-Ing. at the University of  Stuttgart. Dr. Gomeringer is currently working at Festo AG & Co. KG since 2007. Up until 2010 Dr. Gomeringer was the project manager for innovation & technology management, where he was responsible for the design, development and implementation of the early phases of innovation management, covering trend and future management as well as research and pre-development processes.

Since 2011 Dr. Gomeringer has been the Head of Innovation & Technology Management. He is responsible for the early phase of the innovation process and is leading a strategic initiative for energy efficiency. From 2013 until 2015 Dr. Gomeringer was leading the Project Unit Office Pneumatic Factory Automation (PFA). Since 2015 he has been leading a cross functional initiative on Industrie 4.0 and is heading a project on business model innovation through digitalization.

Dr. Jan Bredau

His career life started in 1995 as a Scientific Assistant for the Institute of Fluid Power at the Technical University of Dresden. He stayed on as a scientific assistant until December 1998, and then in January 1999 he became Head of Group Pneumatics and Assistance director for the same Institute. He then left the University in December 2001 to start his career at Festo AG. There he began as Research Engineer in diagnostics & condition monitoring for the service business. He worked in this position until October 2009 and then moved on to be a Product Manager responsible for product portfolio/ strategy of mechatronic systems. This position he held from November 2009 – December 2011, and in January 2012 he started the position he now holds at Festo AG.

Mehmet Keskiner

Mehmet S. Keskiner is Deputy General Manager of Vestel Elektronik A.S. located in Manisa, Turkey and is responsible for manufacturing and engineering operations of consumer electronic products. Mehmet joined Vestel in 1998 in a fast growing production environment and led improvement projects for capacity and productivity improvement through practice of Manufacturing Design, Process Excellence and Design for Manufacturability. In 2003, he led the planning, construction, and start-up of Vestel High-End factory in Vestel City. 

In addition, he led several company-wide projects including Six-Sigma, Total Productive Maintenance and Vestel 4.0. Mehmet began his professional life at ARS Manufacturing Inc., in Norfolk, VA, USA, as a manufacturing engineer. A native of İzmir, Turkey, Mehmet holds bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from DEU and a master's degree in Engineering Management from ODU of Norfolk, VA, USA. Mehmet is the founder of Eşit Şans Projesi (Equal Chance Project). With this project, he aims to help employment of young people with disabilities in production environments. With the support of the project, 125 high school gratuates with hearing disability were employed in 2015.

Dr. Çetin Nazikkol

Çetin Nazikkol has worked for the thyssenkrupp corporation since 1996, when he started his career in the R&D department of thyssenkrupp Steel Europe. Later, after getting his MBA in 2003, he switched to the Strategy Department and took responsibility for their Business Strategy, supporting the business units to optimize their product portfolio and seize growth opportunities in Europe and Asia. From 2008 to 2009 he worked for the thyssenkrupp Academy as Program Director for business impact initiatives. Then, from 2010 to 2013 he contributed to thyssenkrupp Elevator on initiatives to improve their service business globally. In October 2013, he became CEO of thyssenkrupp Turkey, and has since become the CEO of Regional Headquarters Middle East & Africa (MEA) in October 2015. Cetin Nazikkol holds a Diploma and PhD in Chemistry from the University of Münster in Germany and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the Hoogeschol Zeeland in the Netherlands.

Savaş M. Özaydemir

Savaş M. Özaydemir is currently the board member of BEBKA Regional Development Agency, Technology Development Foundation of Turkey and KOBİ Venture Capital Investment Trust Inc. Co.  and has worked to establish the first clusters of Eskisehir province in ceramics, aviation and rail systems sectors. Mr. Özaydemir started his own business in 1974 and continues to conduct business as the president of Endel Group, which operates in the clay products industry. The company Kılıçoğlu acts as a sector leader and has been offering services for the last 80 years. Kılıçoğlu also operates in the white goods component industry, one of the largest groups in its sector. There are approximately 1600 employees working in Endel Group's Eskişehir, Ankara, Gebze and Manisa plants.

Savaş M. Özaydemir was born in 1943 in Eskişehir, Turkey and finished Eskişehir College in 1962. He also studied abroad in the US between 1960 and 1961 with the AFS exchange program. Mr. Özaydemir began his higher education at Robert College and graduated from the Istanbul Technical University, in the electrical engineering department. He also worked as an engineer and chief engineer at the Ereğli Iron-Steel Factory and Petkim Aliağa Refinery in Turkey.

Mr. Özaydemir was elected as an assemblyman of the Eskişehir Chamber of Industry in 1980. He won a seat as a member of the Chamber Board in 1984 and currently continues his duty as a board member and president. Mr. Özaydemir is also the Chairman of the Eskişehir Organized Industrial Zone and helps manage the Eskisehir Chamber of Industry's partner companies which are Eskişehir Industrial Energy Auto production and Trade Group, Eskişehir Informatics and Communication Industry and Trade Co., ESART Waste Water Treatment Plant, Anadolu Technology Research Park Inc. and Eskişehir European Union Business Development Center.

Mr. Özaydemir was born in 1943 in Eskişehir, Turkey. He is married and a father of two.

Cengiz Ultav

 Born in Eskişehir on the 26th of February in 1950 .  Mr. Ultav was graduated from Ankara Science High School and received his BSc and MSc degree from Electrical and Electrical Engineering Department (Computer and Control Option) from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. He also has a diploma from Philips International Institute in Eindhoven, Holland.

After working in technical and administrative departments of Bimsa, Info (in Turkey) and Dornier Syatem GmBh (in Germany) repectively, he worked as Vice General Manager of NCR Turkey and as General Manager of  Sun Microsystems in Turkey.
During the same period, he offered consultancy services to some big group companies such as Koç, Sabancı and Eczacıbaşı. He has been supporting Vestel's Executive Committee since 1995 in the areas of strategic planning and investor relations. He is currently Executive Board Member of Vestel.

As an UNDP consultant in Vietnam, he conducted a study for the development of local electronics industry. He is founding member of the Turkish Informatics Society (TBV) and the Turkish Unix Users Group. He is also certificated consultant of the Microsoft in the area of Solution Development Discipline. Besides, he had been awarded by TUBİSAD with "Lifelong Service Reward" in 2005.
Mr. Ultav has been serving in TTGV as Chairman of Executive Board  since August 2005.

Kurt Schreier

Kurt Schreier, born in 1955, currently works as a Senior Consultant and Coach in production for Robert Bosch GmbH. His education background is in mechanical engineering, and he received his Diploma in engineering from the University of Stuttgart in 1984. Directly after graduation, he began his career at Robert Bosch GmbH working in the corporate technology division in Value Design and Predevelopment for Automation Systems. His time at Bosch allowed him to develop many important skills in his life, such as leadership, management, Industry 4.0, strategy, international collaboration, and many more.

Prof. Dr. F. Lehmann

 Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank H. Lehmann, born 1961, is Member of the Board of Mercedes-Benz Türk A.S. and Director of the Truck Plant Aksaray. After completing training as a mechanic ("Maschinenschlosser") he studied Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen. After receiving his Dipl.-Ing. he joined WZL of RWTH Aachen in the field of Manufacturing Engineering. After his Dr.-Ing. he was responsible for research coordination in his field as Chief Engineer. WZL works very closely with the industry to develop ready to use solutions based on the research of the institute; both with industrial and research partners in Germany and Europe.

After two years working as Internal Consultant for Thyssen Handelsunion, Prof. Lehmann joined Daimler AG. He worked 5 years in EvoBus, the bus & coach division where he was responsible for Strategic Procurement and the  Czech production plant in Holysov. He then took over responsibility for Manufacturing Engineering of the Commercial Vehicle Division.  In 2003 he held various positions in Mercedes-Trucks and Daimler Trucks including responsibility for building new truck assembly plants, ramping-up new products and installing & improving production networks. Since 2015 he has been Plant Manager in Aksaray/ Turkey.

Prof. Lehmann has been teaching Manufacturing Engineering of Commercial Vehicles at TU Kaiserslautern since 2004. He also started to teach at The Turkish-German University of Instanbul recently.

Canan Özsoy

 Mrs. Özsoy was born in Istanbul, Turkey.  She attended the University of Istanbul and graduated with a doctorate degree in Dental Medicine in 1985. Canan received her master of business administration degree from Bosphorus University. She then worked as a Doctor of Dental Medicine until she joined the pharmaceutical industry at the end of 1989. In the pharmaceutical industry she worked on various marketing and commercial leadership roles. She then moved to Paris, France for a global marketing leadership role in the pharmaceutical industry in 2004.  

After working 4 years based out of France as Global Leader for Metabolic Diseases, in March 2007 she joined General Electric Healthcare as VP of Marketing for Region International, responsible for Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa & China. In March 2009 she was appointed as Chief Marketing Officer of Healthcare Systems and she moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to join the Global Leadership team and work on innovation, strategy and marketing of new products. In November 2011, she was promoted to Global General Manager of Mammography and moved back to Paris, France to lead the GE Healthcare Global Mammography business.

She was appointed as President and CEO of GE in Turkey, responsible for GE's growth there as a leading emerging market in August 2012. She is currently the Vice Chair of the Board of TEI (TUSAŞ Engine Industries Inc) and METCAP Group KOMET. She is also on the boards of ABFT (American Business Forum in Turkey) and the WCD (Women Corporate Directors) Turkey Chapter. She recently completed a master degree in Energy Technologies at Sabanci University (2015 September).

Mehmet Kürümlüoğlu

 Mehmet Kürümlüoglu holds a degree in mechanical engineering (Dipl.-Ing., German master's equivalent) from Stuttgart University with a focus on Technology Management and Industrial Manufacturing. 

In 1998, he started as a researcher and project manager at the Institute for Human Factors and Technology Management (IAT) of the University of Stuttgart. Since 2002 he has been working for the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering in Stuttgart. Currently he is the Head of the Competence Center R&D Management and the Head of the Fraunhofer IAO PDM/PLM Consultancy Center. 

He has gained strong experience during his more than 80 national and international consultancy and R&D projects in the area of R&D management, technology & innovation management, product development, organization & process development, PDM/PLM systems and Industry 4.0. He has worked for several sectors, mainly in automotive, machinery/special machinery, component manufacturing, home appliances and medical technologies.

Prof. Dr. Faruk Bağcı

From 2007 to 2008, he was a Visiting Professor at the University of California, Irvine. Prof. Bagci later worked as a Full-Professor at the German University of Cairo in Egypt, where he was Head of Distributed Systems Department. From 2012 to 2016 Prof. Bagci was a Professor in the Computer Engineering Department at Kuwait University. During his career, Prof. Bagci published a high number of scientific papers and held talks on numerous international conferences. He was PI of numerous research projects supported by governmental and industrial funds in Germany, EU, USA, Egypt and Kuwait.

Dr.-Ing. B. Aslan MBA

 Bayram Aslan is responsible for the coordination and strategic management of all activities of the Institut für Textiltechnik der RWTH Aachen University (ITA) and ITA Technologietransfer GmbH, Aachen, in the region Turkey / MENA. Mr. Aslan is also a member of the Board of Institute Management and is the Managing Director of İTA İstanbul Tekstil Araştırma Geliştirme ve Eğitim A.Ş. (ITA Istanbul). ITA Istanbul is a joint innovation initiative of the Turkish textile exporter associations and the ITA.

Mr. Aslan was born and raised in Germany. He studied mechanical engineering at the RWTH Aachen University with a specialization in Textile Machinery. After graduation, Mr. Aslan received his doctor's degree at the ITA in the subject "Packing of textile semi-finished products". Afterwards, he completed an Executive MBA Program at the RWTH Aachen University in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Academy and the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

In summer semester 2017, Mr. Aslan will begin to lecture on the subject technical textiles at the Marmara University in Istanbul.

Ekrem Bulur

 Ekrem Bulur is a Turkish national born in Eskisehir, Tukey, and is currently the General Manager & Deputy Chairman of Board Magnesit A.S. (RHI AG) in Eskisehir. Although finishing his primary, middle school and high school education in Turkey, he decided to come to Germany for his University schooling. There he attended the Technical University of Darmstadt and received his Diploma in Electrical Engineering. After graduating from University, he then went on to receive qualification as a German-Turkish and Turkish-German translator from the Dusseldorf commercial chamber.

His career life began in 1986, where he worked for 1 year as Head of Assembly for the department of the railway engines for TÜLOMSAS. After that 1 year, he then did his 1 year military service for the Turkish military as a lieutenant for the Air Force in Kayseri. Once his service ended, he went back to TÜLOMSAS as Head of Assembly for the railway department again and also took on responsibility for the test stand at the locomotive factory.

In 1990 he left TÜLOMSAS to begin his career at Magnesit A.S. Over the years there, he held many positions including Head of Electrical Workshop-Mining Section, Head of Technical Workshop-Mining Section, Head of Technical & Purchasing Department, Deputy Manager and Production Manager. In 2008 he started his current position there as General Manager and Deputy Chairman, and under his guidance, production of many products increased greatly, including the Sinter production which increased form 127,366 ton in 2010 to an estimated 257,000 ton in 2016.

Dr.-Ing.Yves-S.Gloy

 Yves-Simon Gloy received a diploma and his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany in 2008 and 2013 respectively. Currently, he is working as head of the "Textile Machinery / Production Technologies" division and Member of the Management at the Institut für Textiltechnik der RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany. 

His primary research interests cover analysis, modeling, automation, optimization of textile manufacturing systems, human-machine- interaction, textile learning factories and Industrie 4.0 as well as textile products for medical applications. He is active in several Industrie 4.0 working groups and advisory boards for the textile industry.

He is the prize winner of the "Federal Ministry of Education and Research" competition: "Interdisciplinary creation of competences" with the project: "SozioTex – New sociotechnical Systems in the Textile Industry" with a prize sum of 2.5 Million €. Furthermore he initiated and had the supervision of the master thesis "Development and assembly of a test bench for the analysis of magnetic weft insertion" winning ITMA Research & Innovation Excellence Award 2015. 

Döndü Ünal Haktar

She is graduated from Ege University Textile Engineering Department, did eMBA at KMI and holds PMP certificate.

Interested especially in education and women empowering in social life, she takes active role in Management Board of Hugo Boss Education Foundation.

Prof. Dr.Thomas Clauss

Prof. Dr. Thomas Clauß is head of the research group in management & innovative value creation concepts at Philipps-University of Marburg. He studied industrial engineering and economics at the University of Kassel and completed his doctorate at the University of Hamburg.

Prof. Clauß' research interests lie in the interdisciplinary field of business models and business model innovation. 
In this area, he analyzes how new business models can help to address recent trends such as digitalization or servitization and to sustain firms' competitiveness in a turbulent environment.
His results have been published in renowned international journals and have been presented at numerous international conferences. Prof.Clauß frequently transfers his research results into business practice. He gives speeches to and advises companies in various industries.

Dr. Aytül Ercil

Prof. Erçil has received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and in Mathematics from Boğaziçi University in 1979, M.S. and PhD in Applied Math from Brown University in 1980 and 1983 respectively, has worked at General Research Laboratories for five years. She has been a faculty member and founding director of BUPAM Pattern Analysis and Machine Vision Laboratory at Boğazici University in 1988-2001 and has been a faculty member and founding director of VPALAB Computer vision and Pattern Analysis Laboratory at Sabancı University since 2001. Prof. Erçil has directed many international projects (Nato, FP4, Eureka, NSF, FP6, Nedo, FP7). She has been the founding president of TOTIAD – Turkish Pattern REcognition and Image Analysis Society and executive board member of IAPR, International Association of Pattern Recognition. Her work has received many awards including ‘International Achievement award, Eureka Success story, Endeavor Entrepreneur, technology award finalist, Veuve Clicquot high impact female entrepreneur of the year award – Turkish representative, First price in Machines and Accessories Production Technologies award, ‘Turkey's female entrepreneur' award, ‘Crystal Tree woman entrepreneur of the year' award, ‘ANSIAD academician of the year' award. Prof. Ercil was the founding partner and CEO of Vistek A.Ş. since 2006 which was acquired by ISRA Vision A.G. in 2013. She is currently a majority share holder and CEO of Vispera A.S. and angel investor in several high tech companies.

Prof. Dr. Nihat Akkus

Prof. Dr. Volkan Atalay

Dr. Andreas Gallasch

Bahadir Küpeli

From 2000-2003 after graduation, he worked in Developer Controls in the KUKA Roboter GmbH in Augsburg, Germany. In 2003 he moved to the position of Project leader in R&D projects in KUKA and stayed at that position until 2006. Afterwards, he moved to China and worked at KUKA for their Chinese division as Director customer services in Shanghai.

He worked for KUKA in China until 2010, then he moved to Oerlikon Leybold GmbH in Cologne, Germany where he worked as Director global service until 2014. In 2014 he moved into his current position as the HAS Group in Istanbul.

Dr. Mustafa Koçak

Dr. Mustafa Kocak got his B. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering at the Middle East Technical University – Gaziantep Campus, Turkey.  He completed his Ph. D. degree at the University of Bath – U.K. in 1982.  Until 1985 he was a post-doctorate of Materials Science in University of Liverpool.

He has made numerous lectures at various international events in the field of welding technology and fracture mechanics of weldments. He has published an estimated 240 scientific and technical papers as well as edited or co-edited several international conference proceedings in the fields of materials, welding and fracture mechanics.

He has coordinated several European research projects on welding technologies and welding mechanics, such as ASPOW (Assessment of Power Beam Welds, 1996 – 1999), JOTSUP (Joining Technologies of 13 Cr Supermartensitic Steel Pipes, 2003) and European Fitness for Service Network (FITNET; Fracture, Fatigue, Creep and Corrosion, 2006).

He was also Task Leader in several EU-Projects such as SINTAP (Structural Integrity Assessment Procedures), IDA ( Investigation on Damage Tolerance Behaviour of Aluminium Alloys) and WEL-AIR (Short Distance Welding Concepts for Airframes). Additionally he worked as a scientist, head of many research groups, manager of departments and the manager of Materials Application and Technology Center (WATZ) at the GKSS Research Center in Hamburg Germany from October 1984 to August 2009. More recently Dr. Kocak became CEO of the GEDIK Holding in Turkey in September 2009.

Prof. Dr. Taşkın Koçak

Before joining the academia, he worked as a design engineer at Mitsubishi Electronic America's Semiconductor Division in Raleigh-Durham, NC, USA. He received B.S. degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and in Physics (as a double major) both with Honors from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey in 1996 as well as M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Duke University, Durham, NC, USA, in 1998 and 2001, respectively. His broad research interests and expertise span the areas of computer systems, computer networks and communications. His research activities have been supported by external grants from American, British, Turkish and Japanese funding agencies, and have produced over 100 peer-reviewed publications. He served as an associate editor for the Computer Journal published by Oxford University Press as well as the sole guest editor for a special issue of this journal. He served as the lead guest editor for a special issue of the ACM Journal on Emerging Technologies in Computing Systems.

Prof. Dr. Figen Kadırgan

Dr. Figen Kadırgan is professor at the Chemistry Department of Istanbul Technical University,since 1988. Her research areas include Fuel Cells, preparation of thin films for the application in solar energy area (spectrally selective surfaces in Solar Thermal Energy and solar cells) and corrosion. She is the author of more than 70 publications and 4 patents. She has received BS Degree from the Chemical Engineering Department of Istanbul University, M.S. and Ph.D.degrees from University of Poitiers, France. She has worked as a researcher in the University of Poitiers, University of Colorado in USA, Uppsala University in Sweden, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal in Canada and as Consultant in the Energy Department of Marmara Research Institute (Turkish Scientific Council) and in some companies. She has received Turkish Scientific and Technical Research Council Encouragement and Technology Development Oriented Researches Awards. She is founder and Head of Executive Board of Selektif

Prof. Dr. Hakan Ürey

Prof. Dr. Hakan Ürey received BS degree from Middle East Technical University in Ankara in 1992, MS and PhD degrees from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta in 1996 and 1997, all in Electrical Engineering. He worked for Microvision, USA and joined Koç University, where he is currently Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department and Director of the Optical Microsystems Laboratory.

He has more than 50 patents, licensed to five companies for commercialization and resulted in 4 spin-off companies from his research lab. He has about 200 international journal and conference papers. He received many awards and he is a member of the Science Academy in Turkey. In 2013, he received the prestigious European Research Council Advanced Grant (ERC-AdG) as the only recipient from Turkey to develop next generation wearable and 3D display technologies.