SPEAKERS
Aalt Dijkhuizen
Chairman Topsector Agri & Food
Aalt Dijkhuizen was born and raised on a dairy farm. He graduated in Agricultural Economics at Wageningen University and holds a PhD from the Veterinary School at Utrecht University. He was a professor of Animal Health Economics at Wageningen University and left for private industry to become managing director with Nutreco, the then stock-based company active in animal feed, animal breeding and food processing. From 2002 to 2014 he was president and ceo of Wageningen University & Research and afterwards president of the Dutch Topsector Agri & Food. He serves on several supervisory boards of agribusiness companies and is highly involved in working with China. He was awarded Honorary Citizen of Fujian Province in China and appointed as Commander of the Royal Order of Orange-Nassau in the Netherlands.
Cynthia Zhu
CEO Agri-AI
Cynthia Zhu is active at the forefront of artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture. Born and educated in China, Cynthia earned her degree in Business Economics. She has lived and worked in the Netherlands for almost 15 years and recently did her MBA in Strategy and Innovation at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). Her thesis research focused on the potential and acceptance of AI in Dutch agribusiness.
With a solid foundation in both the telecom and agriculture sectors, Cynthia started her own business called ‘Agri AI’. Her company stands at the cutting edge of leveraging AI to revolutionize agricultural practices. Her work focuses on addressing the unique challenges within the agricultural sector, utilizing AI to enhance sustainability and operational efficiency. She is keen on exploring innovative ideas to implement into daily practice.
Suzanne Verboon
FME & NXTGEN Hightech Agrifood
Suzanne has extensive experience with innovative projects and programs, both nationally and internationally. As Program Manager for Agriculture, Water, and Food at FME, she utilizes her passion for these sectors to accelerate solutions.
Dr. Johannes Sonnen
Managing Director / CEO | DKE-Data
Dr. Johannes Sonnen is the Managing Director and CEO of DKE-Data GmbH & Co. KG, a leader in agricultural technology solutions based in Osnabrück. Raised on a family farm dedicated to arable farming and pig growing, Johannes brings a deep-rooted understanding of the agricultural sector to his leadership. Johannes holds a degree from the University of Applied Sciences Cologne, where he specialized in agricultural machinery and developed expertise in simulation technologies using MATLAB-Simulink. He further honed his skills through doctoral studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, focusing on the simulation of harvest process chains.
His career at Grimme in Damme spanned nearly a decade, where he led the department of Simulation and Measurement and later oversaw Product Management for Potato technologies. In 2015, Johannes transitioned to DKE-Data, where he initially served as the Head of Product Management and Business Development before stepping into his current role as CEO in April 2023.
Christoph Apke
Business & Product Management | DKE-Data
Tom Zoellner
Co-Founder and Secretary-General FarmTech Society
Tom Zoellner is a proven expert for innovative agri-tech initiatives and has 25 years’ experience in agricultural consulting as well as in being in the forefront with innovation and resilience solutions in the agriculture community. Tom helped initiate and develop numerous major international projects for acclaimed agriculture innovation showcases in the US, CH, DE and the Benelux and has a MSc. in environmental policy from the Bard Graduate Center for Sustainablity, New York.
He is the co-founder and the secretary-general of the FarmTech Society based in Brussels with many years being part of the agriculture expert networks and policy development working groups in the US and the EU.
Dr. Martin Kremmer
Director Hay & Forage Engineering John Deere
Martin Kremmer was born in 1972 in Saulgau (now Bad Saulgau) and grew up in the South of Germany. From 1994 to 1998 he studied mechanical/agricultural engineering at Cologne University of Applied Sciences (TH Köln). In 2001, he received his PhD in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK).
During his time in England, Martin Kremmer already had contacts with John Deere in the USA and completed his doctoral thesis in close cooperation with the company. In 2002 he began his industrial career at John Deere Mannheim Works where he held a number of positions in product engineering with increasing responsibilities.
In 2013 he became Manager Automation Strategy at the John Deere European Technology Innovation Center (ETIC) in Kaiserslautern and 2019 Manager Integrated Solutions Technology Strategy at the Moline Technology Innovation Center in Moline, IL USA. In June 2019 he returned to Kaiserslautern as Managing Director ETIC. Between 2020 and 2023 he led the Small Ag & Turf Production Systems Solutions Engineering. He is currently working in the position of Director Hay & Forage Engineering and is overall responsible for the global development of all John Deere solutions for Hay and Forage production systems.
Martin Kremmer has become a John Deere Fellow for Technology & Innovation since 2019 and also represents John Deere in manufacturer associations at the national level in the Association of German Machinery and Plant Manufacturers (VDMA Board and Agricultural Engineering Steering Committee) and at the international level through his role in the CEMA Technical Board of the European Agricultural Machinery Association.
Martin Kremmer is a prominent discussion partner in the field of agricultural technology, and is regularly asked to give lectures by relevant trade associations and universities. He has been teaching tractors at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) since 2006, where he was awarded an honorary professorship in 2019. He is also the author or co-author of numerous scientific publications and has filed over 55 patents and patent applications.
Tiffany Tsui
CEO Springtide Strategy | Co-owner Vertical Farm Institute
Tiffany is a global strategist at the forefront of green development and founder of successful pioneering startups. Her international career spans across the US, China and Europe. She focus on sustainability and digital transformation, and bridging East with West. She is the founder and CEO of Springtide Strategy that leverages a unique blend of cultural insight, interdisciplinary expertise, and sector-specific knowledge to deliver strategic research and advisory services that are at the forefront of digital transformation and sustainability.
From 2001 to 2005, Tiffany was the founding director of EMSI China, the first international consultancy firm to develop industry standards and digital tools for LEED certified ‘green buildings’ in the Chinese market, a market which developed to be about 6.5 billion square meters 20 years later!
After moving to the Netherlands in 2005 till 2013, she joined the internationally leading engineering & consultancy group Royal HaskoningDHV and was the project director for large scale integral projects in the area of sustainable urban developments, metropolitan food clusters and eco-city developments in China. Tiffany regularly speaks at international conferences and is also the author/co-author for publications including ‘Feeding Tomorrow’s Cities’, ‘DNA of Westland’, ‘Green Cities China’.
Ilario Ingravallo
Mission Lead | EIT Food
Ilario Ingravallo (MSc, MSc in Food Science and Technology) is a senior food industry professional with a passion for innovation and extensive expertise and technical knowledge across R&D, Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Quality (acquired across different roles within several international organizations).
Joined EIT Food in 2018, where he was involved in running the Innovation Programme and leading the strategic portfolios related to circular food systems and digital traceability. Currently leads the EIT Food’s Mission on “Reducing Risk for a Fair & Resilient Food System” where he supports the Missions strategy execution and delivering against impact programming and plans.
Mark Frederiks
Founder | amped.nl
My name is Mark Frederiks. Founder of amped.nl specialist in transition of food systems using gamification, data and IT, founder of short food chain enterprise local2local.nl active in Amsterdam, partner of Climate KIC, EU4advice consortium and co-founder of the foundation taskforce short foodchain.
Currently I’m active as Living Lab manager in the Metropoleregion of Amsterdam building a short food supply chain EU learning eco-system of experts and policymakers.
About my ambition: check out my blockchain and Local2Local presentation. 10 minutes. You really must see.
Stephan Nilsson
CEO and Co-Founder | UNISOT
Stephan Nilsson, CEO and Co-Founder of UNISOT, stands at the forefront of transforming Asset Traceability in Global Supply Chains through innovative technology. With a rich background in Supply Chain Management and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Stephan leverages his extensive experience to pioneer the integration of Public Enterprise Blockchain, AI and IPv6 into the realm of supply chain management. Boasting over 30 years of technical experience in IT-system integrations, Stephan has spent the last two decades honing his skills as an SAP Integration Architect. His deep understanding of system integrations has been pivotal in shaping the solutions offered by UNISOT. Stephan’s vision and leadership in integrating cutting-edge technologies into supply chain solutions position him as an innovator and influencer in the industry. Through UNISOT’s partnerships in EU consortiums like EU4advice and Trace4EU, Stephan exemplifies the collaborative spirit necessary for driving positive change in the food system.
Sebastian Bosse
Head of Interactive & Cognitive Systems Group | Fraunhhofer HHI, Berlin; Chair of the FAO/ITU Focus Group on AI and IoT for Digital Agriculture
Sebastian Bosse is head of the Interactive & Cognitive Systems group at Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), Berlin, Germany. He studied electrical engineering and information technology at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, and Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain. Sebastian received the Dr.-Ing. degree in computer science (with highest distinction) from the Technical University Berlin in 2018.
During his studies he was a visiting researcher at Siemens Corporate Research, Princeton, USA. In 2014, Sebastian was a guest scientist at Stanford University, USA.
After 10 years as a research engineer working in the Image & Video Compression group and later in the Machine Learning group, he founded the research group on Interactive & Cognitive Systems at Fraunhofer HHI in 2020 that he has headed since.
Sebastian is a lecturer at the German University in Cairo. He is on the board of the Video Quality Expert Group (VQEG) and on the advisory board of the Interational AIQT Foundation. Sebastian is an affiliate member of VISTA, York University, Toronto, and serves as an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Image Processing. Since 2021 he has been appointed a chair for the ITU focus group on Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture.
His current research interests include the modelling of perception and cognition, machine learning, computer vision, and human-machine interaction over a wide field of applications ranging from multimedia and augmented reality, through medicine to industrial production with a special focus on agriculture.
Samreen Nurmohamed
CEO | TecGrw
Samreen Nurmohamed has over 15 years expertise and experience in building AI solutions for industry leaders in the multiple industries.
TecGrw understands the process of building an AI solution from the start to rollout with special focus on indoor agriculture and Agri digitilisation. Some of the current projects are building a one stop platform with resources, tutorials and GPT based chatbot to educate farmers on Short Lived Carbon Pollutants and an alternative scoring model that will be implementing in the farmer loan process.
