Diána Bánáti

Prof. Bánáti has been acting as Director General of the Central Food Research Institute (CFRI/KÉKI), Hungary since 2000. She is honorary professor at the Szent István University and the University of Szeged, Hungary and chair of the Department of Food Regulatory Sciences and Consumer Studies of the Corvinus University of Budapest and the Department of Food Sciences of the Szent István University Gödöllő, affiliated to the CFRI.
She plays an active role in formulating national and international food policy. She is a member and representative of several international (e.g. European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Management Board, Chair; FAO/WHO Codex; Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies to the European Commission (EGE), IUFoST) and Hungarian scientific organisations (Hungarian Academy of Sciences Food Safety Committee), chairperson of a large number of international conferences (FAO/WHO PEC, CEFood, SAFE Congress, EFFoST etc.)
Her research activity focuses on issues related to food science, with special regard to her main fields of interest: food safety, consumer sciences, food policy and agricultural-food ethics.
Prof. Bánáti is largely involved in national R&D programmes on food safety and international EU supported research projects (FP6, FP7) focusing on food safety, new technologies and risk management.
She is author of articles on food safety, consumer science, food ethics and risk management.

Sándor Erdő

Sándor Erdő studied pharmacy in Budapest at Semmelweis University of Medicine, he holds a PhD biological sciences. He worked between 1978-1987 in Gedeon Richter Co, budapest as research scientist later as senior research scientist. In 1986 he was a visiting professor at Department of Normal Human Anatomy, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy. Between 1987-1991 he worked in Germany in the Anatomy Center of University of Göttingen as research scientist and as the head of Neurochemistry Laboratory. In 1992 he returned to Gedeon Richter later he worked at Chinoin-Sanofi and Biorex Co. From 1998 he was the managing director of his private R&D consulting/CRO company, Erdő Pharma Ltd.
He has several years long post-graduate teaching experience in Hungary and abroad, more than 20 years basic and applied research experience at domestic and foreign laboratories. He is the author or co author of ca. 100 scientific articles, including two books. Sándor Erdő is the Vice-President of National Innovation Office of Hungary from 2011.

Rudolf W. Strohmeier

Rudolf W. Strohmeier studied laws and economics in Würzburg and Bonn. After working as assistant teacher at Würzburg University he joined in 1980 the Bavarian Liason Office to the Federal Gouvernment in Bonn from which he was seconded as national expert to the EU-Commission for nearly 2 years. In 1987 he established the Bavarian Information Office in Bruxelles and became its first director. In the same year he moved back into the EU Commission as member of German Commissioner Peter Schmidhuber's first Cabinet. Having served also in Commissioner Schmidhuber's 2nd and 3rd Cabinet he became Deputy Head of Cabinet of the first Austrian Commissioner, Dr. Franz Fischler. Having worked in DG Agriculture and as Adviser in the Commission President's Cabinet, Italian Prof. Romano Prodi, he became Head of the 2nd Cabinet of Luxembourger Commissioner Viviane Reding. In February 2010 he was nominated as Deputy Director-General of DG Research.

Hans Sprangers

Hans Sprangers (dr. J.T.C.M. Sprangers) graduated in Nijmegen in Biology cum laude (Plant-sociology, Landscape ecology, Farmacology). His Phd thesis delt with ecosystems functioning and applied ecology. He was researcher at Alterra, Wageningen UR. Since 2001 he is working at the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality in the department of Nature and since 2005 in the Department of Knowledge and Innovation, as Policy Co-ordinator Science Policy. He is a member of the SCAR Collaborative Working Group on foresight. He is coordinating a small temporary taskforce within the SCAR-WG on Bioeconomy.

István Pomázi

Dr. István Pomázi studied geography and Russian philology at the Budapest University of Sciences Eötvös Lorand. He worked between 1977-1984 in the Geological Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Between 1984-1987 he worked as a research fellow in the Geographical Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
In 1987, he started civil servant career in the newly established Ministry of Environment and Water Management. Until 2010, he held different positions in this Ministry. He joined to the Ministry for National Economy in 2010 as a senior policy adviser.
He was elected as a vice-chairman of the OECD Environmental Policy Committee for the years 1997-2000 and re-elected again in 2006. Since 2001, he has been working as a vice-chair of the OECD Working Party on Environmental Performance evaluating environmental policies of member states.
In 1995 he got PhD. degree in Earth Sciences (economic geography). In December 2008, he received dr. habil. degree in Earth Sciences at Eötvös Loránd University.
He is author, co-author and editor of more than 20 books and 100 articles in Hungarian and foreign languages on strategic planning, environmental policy of European Union, OECD countries and Hungary, regional policy, environmental economics, climate change and sustainable development.

Elke Anklam

Elke Anklam obtained her degree in Food Chemistry from the University of Münster, Germany in 1981 and her PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Hamburg, Germany in 1985, followed by a post-doctoral year in the University of Strasbourg, France. She worked as a researcher in the Hahn-Meitner Institute in Berlin, Germany and was teaching as Professor in the Applied University of Fulda, Germany.
Since 2006 she is Director of the Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP) located in Ispra, Italy – one of the seven Institutes of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC). She worked in several positions in the JRC since 1991 (Deputy Director in the JRC Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) in Geel, Belgium; Head of Unit in the IHCP and IRMM).
Elke Anklam has long-term experience not only in the fields of life sciences but also in management of scientific staff working in the European Commission.

András Sebők

András Sebők, general manager, Board member of the ETP “Food for Life”, Chairman of the SME Task Force of the ETP, Vice-Chairman of cooperation of the national food technology platforms of ETP, 35 years experience in food industry R+D, particularly in food processing, food safety management, chain management, product and process validation, food transparency, knowledge transfer, training, capacity building and project management. Visiting professor at the Szent István University Gödöllő, Editor: Guideline on Effective Knowledge Transfer to food SMEs (TRUEFOOD).

Susanne Braun

Susanne Braun has a broad knowledge in the food sector, based on an academic degree in food technology (MSc/University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim) and a second academic education in economy and European politics (MBA/Europe-Institute at the University of Saarbruecken/Germany). In addition to the academic education, she has several years of practical experience in different high level positions in the international food industry (inside and outside Europe). Her work included management and consulting activities within companies in different countries. She is experienced in working in research projects in international contexts. She is member in various European food networks and associations, as e.g. CommNet, EFFoST and IUFoST. She was coorganiser of the European Food Science Day in Brussels and the EU projects workshop at the annual EFFoST conference 2009. In 2010, Susanne Braun was responsible for representing the KBBE research programmes on behalf of the European Commission at the World Conference for Food Science and Technology by IUFoST.

Zoltán Bedő

Zoltán Bedő, wheat breeder since 1977, director of the Agricultural Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Martonvásár, Hungary. MSc in plant protection at Szent István University, Gödöllő, Hungary. Visiting scientist at Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA, 1981-82. PhD in plant breeding at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, 1983. President of the European Association for Research on Plant Breeding, EUCARPIA since 2008. Member of the HAS, 2010.

Daniele Rossi

Daniele Rossi graduated in Statistics and Economics at La Sapienza. He’s Director General of Federalimentare (Federation of Italian Food & Drink Industry), Administrator of Federalimentare Servizi s.r.l., Administrator of the “Spread European Safety GEIE” (an EEIG of 12 Eu Food & Drink Federations), Chairman of CIAA (Confederation of Food & Drink Industry of the EU) Research Group, Member of CIAA Board, Councellor of AGEA, Chairman of the Technology Platform “Italian Food for Life”, Vice-chairman of the EU Technology Platform “Food for Life”, Member of the Sounding Board of smaller actors on participation in the FP7, Coordinates of the Integrated Project “TRUEFOOD” (VI FP). Past experiences: Delegate Member of the Executive Committee of the Board of CONAI, General Director of Consorzio BIRRAVIVA S.c.r.l., Chairman of “EU Polices on alcohol” for the Confederation des Brasseurs du Marché Commun – C.B.M.C. and Delegated Member of the Board of C.B.M.C., Director of the Association of Brewery and Malt Industries, Scientific Director of “Plan Bleu” – Action Plan for Mediterranean, Director of the Office of Economic Studies: feasibility, costs benefits, planning and management of big facilities and services, Person in charge of Research “Public and Local Authority” of Censis Foundation in Rome, General Secretary of the “Permanent Observatory on Young People and Alcohol”.

Julio Carreras Llisterri

Julio Carreras is Agronomist Engineer and has a Master Degree in Food Technology from the Escuela Superior de Ingenieros Agrónomos of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. Since 2000, he has worked in the agrofood industry, both in the production and innovation areas. At present he is the head of the Technology Transfer Department of ainia where his main tasks are the coordination of national and international R&D cooperation projects; development of innovation strategies for companies in the food industry; and to lead the Foresight activity of ainia in the food industry. He is chairman of the Agrofood Sector Group within the Enterprise Europe Network and he is also Food National Expert to the OPTI Foundation and R&D Project Office of the Valencian Community. He has been involved as expert in different impact assessment and studies to the EC, and he has participated in a large number of National and International projects, and he has different publications related to the future, strategies and trends in the food industry.

Julian Drausinger

Julian Drausinger is graduated Food technologist and has been working for 10 years in the LVA realising applied product and process development for the food industry. His involvement in a large number of national and international research projects gives him sufficient experience in the related project work. Additional expertise lies in the fields of food hygiene, product development, quality management and food standards. Related to the European Technology Platform “Food for Life” he is Board Member as well as Secretary General of the Austrian Technology Platform and WG Leader of the “Communication, Training and Technology Transfer” pillar. Being responsible for training and technology transfer he has the right expertise for successful conversion of identified content to practical use on farmers and users site.

Andrew Fieldsend

Dr Andrew Fieldsend has been based in Hungary since 2003. For several years he worked for the University of Debrecen and is now based at the Research Institute for Agricultural Economics (AKI) in Budapest. He has extensive experience of participating in rural economic development projects in the UK, Hungary and Romania, and was Scientific Coordinator of the recently-completed EU Framework 7 project 'RuralJobs'. In previous years he was involved in the development of new crops for agriculture and this work included providing technical support to farmers with respect to crop production. Since 2010 he has represented Hungary on the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research, Collaborative Working Group on Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems.

Jens Erik Jensen

Jens Erik Jensen is the senior adviser of Danish Agricultural Advisory Service on the field of plant protection. His area of expertise are: crop protection in general, weed science and weed management, integrated pest management (IPM). He was involved in the preparation of Danish Pesticide Action Plans and in the Follow-up of Green Growth Plan. He also has project management experience through the implementation of the following projects: TOPPS project (2005–2008), ENDURE Network of Excellence (2007–), and PURE project (2011–)

Christian Patermann

Christian Patermann German public service in 1971 by joining the Federal Ministry of Science and Education, Bonn. From 1974-1978 he became Science Counsellor at the German Embassy in Washington D.C., USA. He then returned to the Ministry of Research and Technology where he held many positions in Germany and International Organisations, like ESA, ESO, EMBL. In 1988 he becomes Director of Cabinet of the German Federal Minister of Research and Technology, Dr. H. Riesenhuber. This comprised also the position of the spokesperson of the Ministry. In 1993 he was appointed Deputy Director General of the Ministry.
In 1996 he went to Brussels to become the Programme Director for “Environment” Research at the Research Directorate-General of the European Commission at Brussels where he conceived and implemented the 4th, 5th and 6th RTD Framework Programmes of the EU in this field. He was also Vice-President of the Steering Committee of IGFA (International Group of Funding Agencies in Global Environmental Changes ) and elected member of the START Scientific Committee.
Since January 2004 he was Programme Director for “Biotechnology, Agriculture & Food” Research at the Research Directorate-General of the European Commission, which from 2007 also comprises Aquaculture and Fisheries as well as Forestry. He was also appointed chairman of the oldest Committee between EU Member States and the European Commission, the Standing Committee on agricultural research, SCAR. He also served for 4 years as co-chair in the important EC-US Task Force Life Sciences and Biotechnology Research.
He is author of more than 100 articles, books and other contributions to Science, Research and Technology in particular in Space, Nuclear and non-Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Proliferation, Environment and Global Changes, Marine Research, Biotechnology, Aquaculture, Food, Forestry and Fisheries.
Since beginning of 2009 he has been appointed member of the Research and Technology Council “ BioEconomy “ of the Federal German Government, a recently created new advisory Body to Chancellor Merkel and her Cabinet.

Barend Verachtert

Barend Verachtert is currently deputy Head of the Biotechnologies Unit in the Research and Innovation Directorate-General of the European Commission. The unit is in charge of the development and implementation of biotechnology research policies in the context of the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development (FP7) and beyond.
Previous assignments in DG Research included the SME unit in charge of the development of SME research policies and the promotion of SME participation in FP6 and FP7, and the Food Quality and Safety unit. Before joining the European Commission in 1998, he was a technology acquisition manager for Plant Genetic Systems NV, a Belgian plant biotechnology company.He obtained a PhD in biology from the University of Leuven (1988).

Gorgias Garofalakis

Dr. Gorgias Garofalakis is a Chemical Engineer, with research and teaching experience in food science. At present, he is the Manager of the Consultancy Services Department of the Food Industrial Research and Technological Development Company SA (ETAT SA). His work within ETAT is closely related to technology transfer and innovation exploitation via a variety of processes, such as collaborative research or demonstration activities targeting new product developement, training, etc. Dr. Garofalakis participates in ETAT's group in the Hellenic node of the Enterprise Europe Network, focusing on the needs (and the potential) of agro-food organisations. Further to that, he has been involved in a number of initiatives and collaborative projects supporting the cooperation of researchers with the food industry at the national, regional or European level.

Nikolaus Sennheuser

Of Thai and Swiss origin, Nikolaus grew up in Austria and moved to Scotland for his studies, where he gained an MA (Hons) in Business Studies and MSc in International Tourism Management. He joined Targeting Innovation, one of Scotland’s leading innovation consultancies, in 2007 and has since project managed a number of FP6 and FP7 projects, promoting and supporting knowledge and technology transfer on a European level. He is currently also a consultant in the Enterprise Europe Network, the business support and technology transfer network funded by the European Commission, for the Yorkshire and Humber region. Nikolaus is the UK contact point for the Knowledge2Innovation project.

Christophe Cotillon

Christophe Cotillon is a Food engineer having of long experience in research support in food sector. We he joined ACTIA he started by managing national research projects for the benefit of ACTIA centres. At present, Christophe Cotillon is the Deputy Manager of ACTIA in charge of European affairs and international cooperation.
In Sixth and Seventh Framework Programmes he is the National Contact Point associated to INRA for the 5th priority “Food quality and safety” and for the cooperation programme theme 2 "Food, Agriculture, Fishery and Biotechnologies. Christophe Cotillon has many years of experience in technology transfer towards industry especially SMEs. Christophe Cotillon has been involved in setting up and management as coordinator and partner of several European projects and also international cooperation programmes targeting capacity building in Northern African Countries (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt).