Dr. Florian Kongoli

Director Inward Investment
Executive President (CEO) FLOGEN Tech.

Dr. Florian Kongoli, [BSc (Honors), MScA (Canada), PhD (Japan)/ MTMS, MGDMB, MCIM, MSME, MAIST,MISIJ, MSigmaXi, MIFAC, MACS, MASM, MMRS, MACerS, MECS] is CEO of FLOGEN Technologies Inc. (www.flogen.com), a high-tech technology company independently incorporated in Canada and USA, specializing among others in process control, optimization and automation as well as the development of new sustainable technologies for metallurgical, chemical and environmental industries in both non-ferrous (Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb, Fe-Ni, Fe-Cr, PGMs, etc.) extraction and processing as well as in iron and steel making and processing.

He has about 20 years of industrial research and development and academic (lecturer) experience spread across  many invited engagements in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. He has a rich background in both industrial projects and pure scientific ones dealing with control, optimization and automation of processes and flowsheets; physical and thermochemical modeling; physicochemical properties mattes, slags, metals, gases, oxysulfides etc. He has worked and successfully carried out many industrial projects for more than 47 well-known metallurgical and chemical companies such as Mitsubishi Materials Corporation and Sumitomo Metal Mining (Japan), Falconbridge (now Xstrata-Canada), Western Mining Corporation (now BHP Billiton-Australiaa), to mention just a few.  In his work he has cooperated with several well-known universities around the world such as Tohoku University (Japan), Curtin University (Australia) and University of Montreal (Canada), amongst others.

Dr. Kongoli has published/edited 22 books and about 90 scientific articles in the last 5 years in peer review journals and other publications dealing with process control, optimization and automation, development of novel sustainable technologies, modeling of various properties of industrial mattes, slags, metals, effect of minor components, fluxing strategies, etc. He has delivered in 20 countries around the world about 130 plenary, keynote and invited presentations as well as articles, technical reports and research presentations. The results of his work and FLOGEN’s control and automation systems have been used by several companies around the world. He has also taught several continuing education courses including “Sulfide Smelting: Principles, Technologies and Environmental Considerations” held in San Diego, CA, 2003 and “Modern Technologies in Non-Ferrous Smelting & Recycling: Efficiency, Control, Energy and Environmental Issues”, held in Cancun, Mexico, November 27th to December 1st 2011.

He has served in many leadership positions in national and international organizations. He has been and actually is Chair/Vice-Chair/member of about 20 professional society committees and has been a chair of about 25 technical sessions. He is Editorial/Scientific Board member of several Professional Journals including: The Metallurgical and Materials Processing E (USA), The Minerals and Metallurgical Processing Journal (USA), Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy (UK/Australia), Erzmetall (Germany), European Journal of Mineral Processing and Environmental Protection (Turkey/Europe), Journal of Metallurgy (USA/Egypt), Journal of International Environmental Application & Science (Turkey/Europe), Journal of Mining and Metallurgy (Serbia/Europe), Journal of Industrial Engineering (USA/Egypt, InTech (Croatia/Europe and Shanghai/China, International Journal of Engineering Business Management (Croatia/Europe). He is also a peer reviewer in various professional journals. He has been member of Organizing Committees or Scientific Committees of about 50 Professional International conferences in all continents. 

He is also chairman of FLOGEN STAR OUTREACH (www.flogen.org), a non-profit international organization dedicated to giving STAR power to scientists, technologists and engineers and their supporters who help them towards realizing the goal of a sustainable future . In this framework he has successfully organized and chaired several record-bearing International Symposiums dedicated to famous personalities in science and technology.

More info: www.flogen.com/elt/pdf/Kongoli%20Short-CV-2013-01-15-P.pdf  

Dr. Peter Eisenberger

Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Columbia University

Peter Eisenberger attended Princeton University from 1959-1963, where he received a B.A. in Physics with honors. He received a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship for his first year at Harvard University and a Harvard Fellowship for his second year. He graduated in 1967 from Harvard University with Ph.D. in Applied Physics and remained at Harvard for one year as a Post Doctoral Fellow, where he did research in both biophysics and on the polaron problem.

In 1968 he joined the staff at Bell Laboratories, where his research centered on using Compton Scattering to determine the momentum distribution of electrons in metals and semiconductors. From 1974-1981 he was a department head at Bell Laboratories, and his research interests switched to using X-ray produced by Synchrotron radiation to study structural properties of complex solids and surfaces. He was a consulting professor at Stanford University's Applied Physics Department from 1981-1987. As an outgrowth of those interests, he became actively involved in the growth of those facilities, including Chairship of the Advanced Photon Steering Committee and participation in National Academy of Science (NAS) and Department of Energy (DOE) studies. In 1981 he joined Exxon Research and Engineering Company as Director of their Physical Sciences Laboratory. In 1989 he was appointed Professor of Physics and Director of the Princeton Materials Institute at Princeton University. He is currently a Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, where from 1996-1999 he held the posts of Vice Provost of the Earth Institute of Columbia University and Director of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.

Dr. Eisenberger is a fellow of both the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Eisenberger was one of the authors of the National Action Plan for Materials Science and Engineering, and was a member of the Commission on the Future of the National Science Foundation (NSF). He was chair of the Advisory Committee in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division of the NSF and serves as co-chair of the NSF Conference "Organizing for R&D in the 21st Century". His recent activities include Chairman of the Board of the Invention Factory Science Center, Member of the Board of Trustees for New Jersey's Inventors Hall of Fame, Director of Associated Institutions for Materials Science, and organizer of NSF/DOE Conferences, "Basic Research Needs for Vehicles of the Future," "Basic Research Needs for Environmentally Responsive Technologies of the Future," "Organizing for Research and Development in the 21st Century," and "Basic Research Needs to Achieve Sustainability: The Carbon Problem". More recently, he has been appointed by Governor Whitman to the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology and is a member of the GEO2000 Task Force of the NSF.

Graciela Chichilnisky

Professor of Economics
Columbia University

Dr. Graciela Chichilnisky (www.Chichilnisky.com) is a professor of Economics and Mathematical Statistics and a University Senator at Columbia University in New York, where she is the Director of the Columbia Consortium for Risk Management (CCRM) (www.Columbiariskmanagement.net). A world-renowned economist, she is the creator of the formal theory of Sustainable Development and acted as Lead US Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which received the Nobel Prize in 2007. Her pioneering work uses innovative market mechanisms to create Green Capitalism. She has worked extensively on the Kyoto Protocol, creating and designing the carbon market that became international law in 2005. She acts as a special adviser to several UN organizations and heads of state.

She taught previously at Harvard, Essex and Stanford Universities and is the Co-Founder and CEO of Global Thermostat, LLC (www.Globalthermostat.com), a company that created a "Carbon Negative Technology”™ that captures CO2 from air and transforms it into profitable assets (biofuels/food/beverages), while cleaning the atmosphere.

Arild Rødland

Professor Department of Petroleum Engineering and Applied Geophysics
NTNU Trondheim – Norwegian University of Science and Tehchnology

Arild Rødland was born in 1947 in Norway. He graduated in 1966 at the High School in Bergen – Norway, where he continued his education at the University. He received a Masters’ in Mechanical Engineering in 1971 - his outstanding exam results were specially commended to the King of Norway.

He started his career as a researcher at Sintef in Trondheim. Subsequently he was Chief Engineer at Scanpet – Oslo in 1973, Editor of the Norwegian Offschore Index in 1973, trainee engineer at Occidental Petroleum Corporation (USA), and the CEO of CorrOcean Entrepreneurship Developer in 1976. In 1979 he became Division Director at Sintef Petroleum – Trondheim. He continued his career in Petroleum Engineering at the Norwegian Institute of Technology NTH, as Department Leader, becoming the Professor of Petroleum Deep Drill Engineering in 1980.
He held the position of Minister of State at the Norwegian Government Ministry of Oil & Energy from 1983 until 1986. In addition he was also appointed as a Member of Parliament (Alternate) at the National Assembly Norway from 1985 through to 1993.
He continued his career as Board/Commission Member- & Chairmanships in Norway and Human Resource Developer in Russia (1995 – 2011). From 1996 till today he is has been active as a Technology Developer ‘Electro Pulse Breakage (Drilling)’.

He now lives with his wife, children and grandchildren in the Norwegian coastal countryside. His leisure priorities are boats and fishing, timbering, old vehicles and heavy manual work. His passion is to see fresh students’ innocence transform into fully fledged engineers with expert knowledge and a high level of responsibility.

R.K. Pachauri

Director General
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Rajendra Pachauri, Nobel prize winner and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri is the Chair of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the scientific intergovernmental body that provides decision-makers and the public with an objective source of information about climate change. He is also Director General of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), an independent research organisation providing knowledge on energy, environment, forestry, biotechnology, and the conservation of natural resources.

Dr Pachauri is a prominent researcher on environmental subjects, recognised internationally for his efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change. He has also been appointed as Director, Yale Climate and Energy Institute from July 2009. He is active in several international forums dealing with the subject of climate change and its policy dimensions.
He was awarded the second-highest civilian award in India, the 'Padma Vibhushan' in January 2008 by the President of India and received the 'Officier De La Légion D’Honneur' from the Government of France in 2006.

Dirk Fransaer

Managing Director
VITO

Born in Dendermonde on August 9, 1958
Graduated as Civil Engineer Construction in 1980 at the University of Ghent and as Civil Biomedical Engineer in 1985 at the K.U.Leuven
Vlerick Advanced Management Program (2004-2005) at the Vlerick Leuven Ghent Management School

Present activities

• Managing director of VITO, the Flemish Institute for Technological Research in Mol. VITO is an independent and customer-driven research organization which provides innovating, technological solutions and scientifically based advice and support, to stimulate sustainable development and to reinforce the economic and social structure in Flanders. VITO conducts customer oriented contract research and develops innovative products and processes in the fields of energy, environment and materials, and this for both the public and the private sector
• Member of the Belgian Academy of Science since 2011
• Chairman of LiboVITO since 2010, joint venture of VITO and Antipollution in PR China
• Vice-chairman/member of the board of i-Cleantech vzw since 2012
• Chairman of the Audit Committee of the University of Antwerp (UA) since February 2014.

Job description

Employment history

• From September 1980 till January 1986 assistant at the Laboratory of Hydraulics of the University Ghent (Head of Department: Prof. Ir. G. Tison).
• From January 1986 till January 2000 project engineer at Eurosense with a short break
• From July 1986 till May 1987 project engineer at T.E.R.A.D.E.C., Travenol Europe Research and Development Centre, a division of Baxter-Travenol World Trade
• From February 2000 till October 2000 project leader at VITO
• From November 2000 till March 2001 director Business and Market Strategy (BMS) at VITO
• As from April 1, 2001 until now managing director of VITO.

Philip Eeckels

Strategy & Sales Manager BMW i

Philip Eeckels is currently working as Strategy & Sales Manager for the new sub brand ‘BMW i’; the BMW Group’s innovative EV brand. By doing so, he is at the cradle of this newly emerging market, and pinpoints BMW as an innovative and sustainable organisation bold enough to take the leap into a new era. BMW i is besides innovation on the EV market, the “test room” for further developments on “360° Customer Journey Experience” and many other strategic projects.

Being a passionate for cars, he earned his stripes as Product Manager at Rover & Land Rover and as Launch & Marketing Manager at MINI. During this period he was responsible for putting the “new MINI” in the Belgian and Luxembourg market and, although the adepts of the vintage version were reluctant, the launch became a great success.

As a member of the World Lead Markets Launch Team for MINI and BMW i, he also participated in developing the Brand Strategy on an international level.