Managing Partner e Chief of Open Innovation Ecosystems @ GELLIFY
Adjunct Professor @ Politecnico di Milano GSoM and Bologna Business School
Managing Director at EOG & Board Member at FESI.
Chief Innovation Evangelist of BIP Consulting – TEDx Speaker
Life Explorer
Antartic Mindset
Founder and CEO of MindChainge
CEO & Founder of FNDX & Gellify
Vice President Telco, Media & Gaming in Microsoft
Entrepreneur & Author, The Circular Business Revolution
Founder of DriWe
SVP Native Sensing @ Q.ANT // Creative tech entrepreneur.
Founder and Chairman Deep Ocean Capital SGR S.P.A., Founder and Chairman Quantum Leap s.r.l., European Innovation Council Jury Member, TEDx Ambassador
CEO NEN – Green Energy Spin Off
Pricing Strategy Specialist
Sustainability Specialist, Agricultural Researcher, Business consultant SistemiQ
Founder and Project Manager of Mowi Snow
Experienced Board Member & Executive Advisor
Lead of Game Intelligence and Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research
CEO NEN – Green Energy Spin Off
Managing Partner e Chief of Open Innovation Ecosystems @ GELLIFY
Adjunct Professor @ Politecnico di Milano GSoM and Bologna Business School
Managing Partner e Chief of Open Innovation Ecosystems @ GELLIFY, Purple Innovation Factory that blends future visions, software and human genius. Responsible to design and manage initiatives for strategic partnership and co-investment.
Adjunct Professor @ Politecnico di Milano GSoM, Bologna Business School and University of Bologna, in innovation & technology management themes.
25 years professional experience in technology organizations, a professional journey in Aerospace field in ALENIA DIFESA (LEONARDO) and in Home Appliances Business, in Whirpool Corporation and Electrolux Group. Managerial positions in R&D & Industrial Operations, at global level. Former Head of Electrolux Global Innovation Hub.
Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering in Politecnico di Milano; Executive Master in Technologies & Innovation Management in Bologna Business School.
Special Roles:
Advisory Board @ PolitecnicoDiMilano DMECC
Founding Board @ Bologna Business School
Advisory Board @ Umbria Business School
BoD @ INDUSTRIO VENTURES, AGROFOOD BIC, FORWARD FACTORY, STYLEIT (startup accelerators)
BoD @ Miraitek40, Buddyfit (startups)
Scientific Committee @ European Innovation Council, Italian Tech Week, Jacobacci 4e, Tecniche Nuove
Awards: Most Powerful Women FORTUNE Italia, Inspiring Fifty, Unstoppable Women StartupItalia, Alumni Award Politecnico di Milano, Young Manager FEDERMANAGER Award, Digital & Innovation Manager FEDERMANAGER Award
Board Member of FESI, the European Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry.
European national, born in Tegernsee, Bavaria, and raised in close connection with the mountains.
56 years old, married, father of two adult daughters.
Holds a degree in Sports Economics.
Spent 25 years at ORTOVOX, until November 2024.
Over the past 13 years, served as Managing Director, steering the company’s transformation from a niche player to a recognized outdoor brand.
Since February 2025, serving as Director of the European Outdoor Group, representing the voice of the entire outdoor industry.
Chief Innovation Evangelist at Bip
Ivan Ortenzi is Chief Innovation Evangelist at Bip and a leading expert in strategy, innovation, and sustainability. With a background in management consulting and corporate innovation, he collaborates with executives to shape impactful innovation models and navigate emerging trends.
He is a lecturer at major Italian business schools and the founder of the Master in Innovation Management at 24Ore Business School. He holds executive degrees in Corporate Sustainability (London Business School) and Open Innovation (ESADE).
Ortenzi is also an author, keynote speaker, and host of the Future Proof Podcast, where he explores innovation, strategy, and AI. He was named one of the 80 Digital Board Ready Members for Italian listed and private companies.
Life Explorer
Antartic Mindset
Explorer, engineer, and speaker, Chiara Montanari was the first Italian woman to lead an Antarctic expedition, with over 15 years of experience managing polar missions. She has taken part in five international expeditions, representing Italy, France, and Belgium, and has directed some of the most extreme research bases on the planet, including Concordia Station, located 4,000 meters above sea level, with temperatures ranging from −50°C to −80°C.
Beyond polar expeditions, she has worked as a researcher in Organization Theory at the Politecnico di Milano and at the Center for the Epistemology of Complexity at the University of Bergamo. She has held managerial roles across various sectors, including digital broadcasting, innovation, and scientific research.
The union of academic experience and field leadership led her to develop Antarctic Mindset, an approach to thriving amid uncertainty and navigating complexity through adaptability, collaboration, and strategic thinking.
CEO and founder of MindChainge
This is Prof. Dr. Hans-Willi Schroiff, a Marketing and Market Research academic and practitioner with more than 30 years of academic and business experience.
A former Corporate Vice President at Henkel KGaA, I am the CEO and founder of MindChainge – a management consulting firm supporting clients successfully on conceptual branding issues and consumer-centric new product development.
I am teaching „New Product Development“ courses at the University of Cologne and at the European Business School (EBS) in Oestrich-Winkel (Germany). I am a faculty member of the School of Business and Economics at RWTH Aachen (Germany).
I live in Neuss, Germany, with my wife Marion, a painting artist. Besides enjoying our six grandchildren, I have remained an avid and dedicated guitar player touring in Germany with my trailblazing R&B Band „Mind The Gap„.
CEO & Founder of FNDX & Gellify
Fabio Nalucci is an entrepreneur and investor with a strong passion for innovation. In 2018, he founded GELLIFY, an innovation platform designed to support large companies in their digital transformation journey and the adoption of emerging technologies. In 2022, Fabio founded FNDX, a company that provides advisory services to a variety of regulated and unregulated funds in identifying the most attractive startups to invest in. Two years after its founding, FNDX is leading the investment strategy for VC funds with €250 million in AUM.
In his private life, he enjoys various sports, including skiing, kite surfing, tennis, cycling, and car and go-kart racing. He is passionate about cars, motorcycles, travel, and wine.
Vice President Telco, Media & Gaming in Microsoft
Silvia Candiani has built her career in the field she has always specialized in: Media and Telecommunications. She began her professional journey at McKinsey as a Media & Telco consultant, then moved to Vodafone, where she led Consumer Marketing for the Italian market.
She joined Microsoft in 2011, taking on roles of increasing responsibility until she was appointed CEO of Microsoft Italy in 2017, a position she held for nearly six years, until 2023. Since April 2023, she has been leading the global teamfocused on the digital transformation of the Telco industry.
Under her leadership in Italy, Microsoft established strategic partnerships with key players such as Poste Italiane, Reale Mutua, Vodafone, Nexi, and UniCredit, expanded its partner ecosystem, and launched the Ambizione Italia investment plan in 2020—which brought the first Italian Data Center Region and major initiatives for digital skills development across the country.
She holds a degree in Economics from Bocconi University in Milan and an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau.
Entrepreneur & Author, The Circular Business Revolution
Dr. Manuel Braun is author of the book „The Circular Business Revolution“ and follows the ambition to drive change at interface of sustainability and innovation. He is a seasoned expert in this field and has helped to build Systemiq, a international think tank and advisory firm, partnering with pioneering organizations, investors and entrepreneurs. Previously, Manuel spent 8 years at McKinsey & Company, where he led product development and design projects across industries. He also serves as a senior lecturer at the Technical University of Munich and IMD Lausanne, contributing to executive education and research in sustainable innovation and business transformation.
Founder DriWe
Mechanical engineer specialized in energy systems and passionate about sustainable innovation.
He began his career as System Quality Manager at SOLON, before becoming Vice President of Global Technology at Scatec Solar.
Over the years, he has managed international photovoltaic projects, covering the entire value chain — from silicon production to solar plant construction.
In 2014, he founded DriWe, a pioneering startup in the field of smart e-mobility, focused on developing innovative solutions for electric mobility.
Today, DriWe is part of the Unoenergy Group.
SVP Native Sensing @ Q.ANT // Creative tech entrepreneur.
Jan thrives on turning wild ideas into real products.
From teaching kids how to code to co-founding several ventures, he’s been at the forefront of making paper talk to smartphones, inventing fully printed electronics, and connecting the physical world with the digital one.
His journey has taken him from scrappy startups to global corporations, giving him deep insights into what works (and what doesn’t) when these two worlds collide.
Today, as SVP for Quantum Sensing at a cutting-edge quantum tech startup, he’s exploring entirely new frontiers where science fiction starts to feel like everyday life.
At Skinnovation Italy he’ll share learnings and best practices from navigating the space between corporates and startups — and how to spark innovation in both.
Founder and Chairman Deep Ocean Capital SGR S.P.A., Founder and Chairman Quantum Leap s.r.l., European Innovation Council Jury Member, TEDx Ambassador
Emilia Garito is CEO and founder of Quantum Leap, an Italian technology transfer and Open Innovation company. She is an engineer and Tech Transfer Advisor specializing in System Dynamics and Artificial Intelligence.
She has brought her experience as an expert for the European Commission’s Executive Agency for Research in the evaluation of Horizon 2020 projects on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. As an ambassador for the IBM Watson and ANA Avatar XPRIZE international competition, she leads AI and AVATAR technology as a future technical achievement. Emilia is a member of the AI Task Force team of the Agency for Digital Italy (AGID) and an advisor for innovative start-ups at Finpiemonte (investment funds for the Piedmont Region). She is co-founder of 10 Volte Meglio, a liberal political group, and founder of the REFUTUREIT Think Tank, which focuses on Italy’s future for 2030.
In 2017 and 2018, she was included in the list of 150 scientists, entrepreneurs, and “women of innovation” in Italy by the specialized magazine StartupItalia! She has participated in several conferences related to artificial intelligence and Society 5.0, and is also a contributor to Huffington Post Italia.
CEO NEN – Green Energy
Massimo Brizi has many years of experience in Marketing within the Telco and Utilities sectors, with a primary focus on Digital Transformation, Business Innovation, and Customer Value Management strategies. He currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer at A2A Energia, the electricity, gas, and services company of the A2A Group — the largest Italian multi-utility operating in the fields of environment, energy, heat, networks, and smart city technologies.
He is also a board member of NEN, a fully digital energy player launched by the A2A Group in 2020. From January 2017 to December 2018, he led the Digital Solutions Business Unit at Digitalgo, a technology and creativity hub with 120 digital experts and 8 offices worldwide, developing digital marketing projects for major clients including TIM, American Express, and Green Network.
Previously, he held several managerial roles within the Telecom Italia Group, including heading the Customer Experience & Customer Journey Design function, Vertical Markets & Partnership in the Consumer division, and Customer Value Management in the Small Business division. From 2005 to 2007, he was responsible for Digital Offer and Innovative Services development at TIM Brazil.
He holds a degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Sapienza University of Rome.
Pricing Strategy Specialist
Christoph Krauss is an Associate Partner at Prof. Roll & Pastuch, a leading management consultancy for pricing and sales. With more than 20 years of experience in marketing and sales, he has held roles at major consumer-goods manufacturers and advised clients across pricing, sales, and strategy. Christoph focuses on the B2C sector, partnering with brands to strengthen pricing capabilities, optimize go-to-market models, and translate commercial strategy into sustainable revenue growth.
Sustainability Specialist, Agricultural Researcher, Business consultant SistemiQ
Marco is a leader and expert at the intersection of land systems transformation, biodiversity protection and restoration, corporate target setting and natural capital accounting.
He advises businesses, investors and governments on their environmental and investment strategies, target setting journeys, collective action efforts, and nature accounting mechanisms.
As member of the Science Based Target Network (SBTN), he led the development of the first version of science based targets for land systems, which enable companies to align their own commitment’s to nature’s needs.
Along his journey he has worked for Systemiq, an international think tank and advisory firm, the United Nations Environment Programme, non-governmental organizations such as CDP. He collaborated with the EU and national governments to support public policy efforts to stop the loss of forests and contributed to numerous international initiatives, such as the UNFCCC’s Race to Zero. By growing up in Pejo, in the Alps of Trentino, he developed a deep love and passion for mountains, nature and explorations. The revitalisation of Alpine communities in synergy with nature is a mission close to his heart.
Founder and Project Manager of Mowi Snow
Experienced Board Member & Executive Advisor
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