YML SUMMIT 2024 SPEAKERS

Diego Andreis is an engineer, entrepreneur and passionate experimenter of innovation under all its forms. He is the Managing Director of Fluid-o-Tech Group, the family run business with more than seventy years of experience, leader in the engineering and manufacturing of positive displacement pumps, valves, sensors, and fluidics systems.

Since 2015 he has been promoting the transformation of the industry from mechanical to mechatronics and its positioning and attractiveness especially towards the new generation.

For over 10 years he has been committed on the board of several business associations as member of institutional committees to promote an international, competitive and innovative industry model at Regional (AFIL President; Assolombarda Labor, Safety and Welfare Group Vice President; Assolombarda Mechatronics Group President), National (Federmeccanica Vice President in charge of Company Culture and Communication) and European level (Ceemet President and Vice President).

EU Education Project Manager at Made Competence Center Industria 4.0. Since 2014, she has managed European mobility projects and grants for an Italian Foundation and a Vocational Educational and Training Centre in the Lombardy region.
Sona’s extensive experience in education and project management makes her an invaluable asset to the YML Network 5.0 initiative as current coordinator of the YML 5.0 project and Head of Milan Hub.

For the last three years, Greta has been researching the Future of Work in industry, enrolled as a PhD student at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. She’s passionate about enhancing the skills of people in industry, defining skill gaps of individual employees, and finding ways to bridge those skill gaps. She thinks that a skilled workforce is key to solving environmental and social issues that industry is facing. With a background in engineering and learning and leadership, she wants to contribute to the lifelong learning of industry employees. She is engaged in the Young Manufacturing Leaders network by EIT Manufacturing and coordinates the Gothenburg City Hub. Moreover, she’s part of the steering board of the European Commission’s Industry 5.0 community of practice and she’s a thematic expert on Industry 5.0 topics for the European Commission.

Antonella D’Urso is a dedicated communication professional with experience in public relations, media, and event coordination. Currently working at World Manufacturing Foundation an entity of Confindustria Lombardia, she contributes to promoting initiatives and supporting the organization of international events and projects.
Antonella holds a degree in Language Mediation and Communication from the Catholic University of Sacred Heart, where she developed her passion for effective communication and collaboration. She enjoys working on projects that help connect industries, particularly in the manufacturing sector, and is always eager to learn and grow in her field. With a focus on clarity and teamwork, Antonella strives to facilitate meaningful exchanges between diverse audiences.

Clarissa is a Postdoctoral researcher at Chalmers University of Technology in the Division of Production Systems.
Clarissa’s research focus lies in the intersection between servitization, digitalization and sustainability. She continuously explores the many challenges and opportunities of servitization in the context of the digital transformation. Moreover, her works aims to enable the future of manufacturing through the identification of new service-based business models, such as Sustainability-as-a-Service.
Her academic background includes a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering in CETYS Universidad Campus Mexicali, a Masters of Manufacturing Systems from Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Monterrey, and a PhD degree in Sustainable Production from Chalmers University of Technology.

My name is Lucie Hlavůňková. I am currently finishing the third year of my PhD program at CTU in Prague, Department of machining, process planning and metrology.
My specialization is metal 3D printing, Nickel superalloys which are used in the aerospace industry. Within my dissertation I am working on the process of optimization of printing parameters of a certain material.
Apart from this I am working on other projects within our institute. Here I appreciate the opportunity to tackle a given project from start to finish and to understand and know all the steps. From the submission of the project to its successful completion.
This is my second year working with YML, and my second year helping to organize the YML European Innovation Contest. This year the theme is Youth Leading Sustainable Manufacturing.
In cooperation with the YML initiative, various lectures and workshops are organized at CTU in Prague for the 4th year, in which I have an opportunity to actively helping to organize.

I’m Head of EMEA Supply Chain Development Projects at EssilorLuxottica, leading Order to Cash transformation and integration projects. Focus in developing new capabilities/concepts within, sustaining Business & Customer Satisfaction Experience
Holding an Engineering Master Degree in Arts et Metiers (Paris), a General Management Program from Harvard, additionally I have complemented my experiences by Mentoring and Leadership Programs.
For the past 20 years, I have been working in different positions, starting in France in worldwide Operations, many years abroad in Brazil as Supply Chain and Laboratory Operations Manager. I am passionate for my work. I love working with people, help them to develop and bringing the Excellency and Innovation to the organisations.

Mentalytics has for over 20 years been industry leading in the NeuroTech-space. In more recent times the company has begun working with manufacturers across Europe to help reduce human errors in production whilst improving worker well-being. They do this through their focus training solution M200 which trains shop-floor employees using gamified EEG to increase their focus ability and thus make them less prone to make mistakes.
Charlie, having grown up with the company, is the person who has used their focus training solutions the most and also holds the highest focus score ever recorded in their software. He uses this ability both in his day-to-day work but also in his spare time where he enjoys playing beach volleyball, golf and football.

Vicky Panagiotopoulou is a research project manager at the Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems and Automation (LMS), University of Patras. She has a diploma in Chemical Engineering, an MPhil in Applied Mathematics and a PhD in Chemical Engineering, with a background on on biomedical and environmental engineering. She is currently focusing on topics of sustainability, circular economy and energy efficiency at industrial applications, coordinating and managing EU projects and research.

Daniele graduated cum Laude in 2019 with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in Mechatronics and Robotics, from the Polytechnic University of Milan and Turin. During his academic career, he participated in the Alta Scuola Politecnica, reserved for the top 150 students from both universities. His thesis in rehabilitative robotics led him to work as a researcher at the Polytechnic University of Milan for one year. In 2020, thanks to a seed funding of €500,000 and in collaboration with PoliHub, he co-founded Agade (Anti-Gravity Active Devices for Exoskeletons). To date, Agade has raised over €6 million in investments and in 2023 launched its first exoskeleton on the market for manual load handling in industrial settings. Daniele is the company’s Chief Operating Officer, responsible for the business units of supply chain, production, HR, and staff.

Prof. Dr. David Romero is a Professor of Advanced Manufacturing at the Departments of Industrial Engineering and Mechatronics of the Tecnológico de Monterrey University in Mexico and the Scientific Vice-chairman for the World Manufacturing Foundation. His research interests include: Circular Manufacturing, Service Engineering and Product-Service Systems, Cyber-Physical Systems and Human Systems, Advanced Production Management Systems, Green Virtual Enterprises, and Technology and Engineering Management in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
He is a member of the Society of Collaborative Networks, the IFAC TC5.3 on Enterprise Integration and Networking, the IFIP WG5.7 on Advances in Production Management Systems, the IFIP WG5.12 on Architectures for Enterprise Integration, the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society, and the IEEE Internet of Things Community. Furthermore, he is an Agenda Contributor at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Council on “Shaping the Future of Advanced Manufacturing and Value Chains”, and a World Manufacturing Forum (WMF) Ambassador. He has published more than 200 journal and international conference articles. He serves on different technical and scientific committees and advisory boards in academia, industry, and government in the disciplines of business and industrial engineering. Nowadays, he is focused on promoting the concepts of the “Operator 4.0/5.0” and “Digital Lean Manufacturing”; the father of both terms.

Roberto is the General Manager and co-founder of Smart Robots, an innovative company within the e-Novia group based in Milan. With over a decade of experience, Roberto has led innovative projects and programs in technology and business development, particularly in manufacturing, vision sensors, and robotics.
He holds a PhD in Robotics from Politecnico di Milano, earned in 2016, and a dual Master’s degree from Alta Scuola Politecnica, an excellence school created by Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Torino. Roberto has also contributed to international research teams, including at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

Shahrzad Sajjadivand is a PhD researcher at I-Form UCD, investigating the relationship between microstructural evolution and final part performance in metal additive manufacturing processes. She is part of the EPSRC-SFI Centre for Doctoral Training in Advanced Metallic Systems programme, which pools metallurgical expertise and resources from universities and research institutes in Dublin, Sheffield, and Manchester to train the next generation of leaders in metallurgy. Shahrzad obtained her BSc in Materials Engineering (Metallurgy) from the University of Tabriz (Iran) in 2018. She received her master’s in Materials Science and Nanoengineering at Sabanci University (Turkey) in 2022. Her research interests include advanced manufacturing and metallurgy.

Audrey Stolze is Director of Education and Training at EIT Manufacturing. She has over two decades of experience navigating the knowledge triangle, with corporate roles in Brazil, England, and Germany; as a startup founder; and as an academic manager and lecturer, developing and managing entrepreneurship education programmes. She earned her PhD from the University of Hohenheim in 2021 with a dissertation on Third Mission Advancement of Higher Education Institutions, in which she proposes pathways towards entrepreneurialism.

Marco Taisch teaches Sustainable and Digital Manufacturing and Operations Management at Politecnico di Milano. He serves as President of MICS, the hub for the Made In Italy Circolare e Sostenibile project – Extended Partnership 11, which is funded by the Ministry of University and Research as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
Since 2002 he has dedicated his studies to technological trends, technological roadmaps and technology foresight on manufacturing as an EC consultant.
He is Vice President of EFFRA, member of the Board of Cluster Italiano Fabbrica Intelligente and member of the Cluster Lombardo Fabbrica Intelligente.
He was part of the Advisory Board of the Italian Industry 4.0 Plan for MiSE and he supported the Lombardy Region in defining industrial and reshoring policies.
He is co-founder and Scientific Chairman of the World Manufacturing Foundation.
He is a member of the Unicredit Lombardy Advisory Board.
He is President of MADE Competence Center Industria 4.0.
In 2018 he created Miraitek4.0, a spin-off of Politecnico di Milano whose activity concentrates on Industry4.0.
He works as a consultant for different companies on projects improving digitalization and production processes.

Valeria Tirelli is President and CEO of Aidro, an Italian company that excels in introducing additive manufacturing (AM) alongside conventional manufacturing of valves and hydraulic components. The company was founded more than 40 years ago by Valeria’s father and has been part of the Desktop Metal Group since September 2021.
A few years ago, Valeria was amazed by the potential of metal 3D printing and decided to invest in this technology, creating a dedicated department within Aidro and promoting the adoption of AM in various sectors. She is mainly active in the Energy, Oil & Gas and Maritime sectors, also participating in international groups for the definition of guidelines and standards such as DNV, API, ASTM. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the International Valve Summit and ASTM-ICAM responsible for evaluating the technical aspect with a particular focus on additive manufacturing.
Valeria is the Italian Ambassador of the Women in 3D Printing Association and she organize networking event and conference for ideas sharing among all people interested in AM, promoting inclusion, diversity and sustainability

Seda Tosun is the CEO and co-founder of IMMERSIA Data Visualization, a PaaS development company focused on digital twins, as well as a serial entrepreneur. IMMERSIA is her third startup, and she actively leads other projects simultaneously.
Graduated in International Trade in Business and holding a postgraduate degree in International Market Development, Seda has over 12 years of experience in sales and managing major international accounts across a range of industries, including industry, automotive, energy, and cutting-edge technologies such as AR, VR, AI, and ML. She has also worked as a business development consultant, specializing in identifying and negotiating channels, and designing and implementing international marketing strategies.
Talks about: entrepreneurship in tech, start-ups, business development, growth hacking.

Matteo Valoriani is an entrepreneur and technologist with a strong academic background and extensive experience in the tech sector. He earned his PhD in Computer Engineering from the Politecnico di Milano in 2014, specializing in image analysis and advanced technologies, and has received numerous awards from Microsoft and Intel for his expertise.
Valoriani has worked as a consultant in technological innovation, collaborating with major companies to advance emerging technologies. His corporate career began at Microsoft, where he worked from 2008 to 2011, contributing to strategic initiatives for Expo2015 and CSR programs. He later served as CTO of Pagita, a fintech startup, from 2012 to 2015.
Currently, Valoriani is the CEO of FifthIngenium, an international company that specializes in XR (Extended Reality) and AI, creating solutions for training, industrial, healthcare, and entertainment applications. He is also an international speaker, sharing his insights on technology and innovation.

Futures & Foresight (Practitioner & Maieutic Facilitation®) | Futures Literacy Advocate | Journalist & Popularizer (focusing Emerging Technologies & Futures Scenarios) | LinkedIn TOP VOICE Italy

I’m an expert in ETS – Emerging Technologies Scanning and a Maieutic Facilitator, Practitioner & Trainer using Futures&Foresight and the methodological frameworks of Creative Problem Setting/Solving, Liberating Structures, Design Thinking and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methods in workshops for companies and academies.

A humanist lent to Science, I am a journalist and popularizer in the field of Science/Tech and Futures Literacy Advocate (with a focus on emerging technologies and future scenarios), Editor-in-Chief of Tech4Future, events’ speaker and anchor.

Member of the Board of Directors of AFI, the Association of Italian Futurists. Member of APF – Association of Professional Futurists, WFSF – World Futures Studies Federation, and IFTF, Institute for the Future, I actively participate in international communities of practice in the field of Futures Studies and contribute to Futures Literacy.