Alexander Link started his career at the European Space Agency (ESA) in the field of Earth Observation, supporting private, public and governmental initiatives and setting up public-private collaborations on European level. He joined Luxinnovation as Corporate RDI Advisor, supporting industry, SMEs, and public research to successfully participate to national and international RDI initiatives. He is since 2021 Coordinator for defense activities as well as National Project Coordinator (NPC) for International R&D collaborations for the innovation agency.

Benjamin Questier started his career as Innovation advisor and RDI project manager for SMEs, mainly in the field of Biotech and ICT, supporting private initiatives and setting up public-private collaborations on European Level. He joined Luxinnovation as head of European RDI, supporting industry, SMEs, and public research to successfully participate to the Horizon 2020 programme. He is, since 2019, strategic advisor and member of management committee of the innovation agency, and TAFTIE board member.

Christine Leurquin joined RHEA Group in November 2020 as Senior Advisor, European Institutions, with responsibility for increasing awareness of RHEA within European institutions, agencies and national organizations. She also helps to direct RHEA’s position with respect to opportunities in European New Space and cybersecurity programmes, and is a Board member of the 5G Infrastructure Association (5G IA).

Christine has 35 years of experience in the space and satellite communications field in Europe, in both the public and private sectors. Before joining RHEA, she was Vice-President, Institutional Relations, at SES SA, positioning the company within the European Union, African Union and other international institutions, and helping the operational companies to develop new markets. Prior to that, she was the CEO of a company that she founded, which introduced new satellite services in Belgium.

Christine has an MBA from HEC St Louis, Brussels, and a Master’s degree in Germanic languages, and speaks Dutch, French, German and English.

Francisco Melo works as an Advisor on European R&D and Innovation Support at Luxinnovation, where he is mostly in charge of Horizon Europe’s Cluster 4 “Digital, Industry and Space” (with a focus on Industry). Francisco has previously served as a Senior International Consultant & Project Manager at Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovacao (SPI) where he has concentrated his efforts on national and international projects in areas such as the development and implementation of local and regional strategies for development and competitiveness, urban regeneration, territorial marketing, socioeconomic development, mobility and environmental sustainability, energy, among others. Regarding Horizon 2020 / Green Deal / Horizon Europe he has been involved in several proposals and projects in a wide variety of topics, namely those on the topic of Smart Cities and Communities. Francisco holds a degree and master’s degree in International Relations for the University of Minho (Braga, Portugal).

Public Administration in Belgium (2 years, 2011-2013)

Province of Luxembourg, Mobility department

Academic Research at Uni.lu (2013 – 2017)

PhD on transport, mobility behaviour, mode choice modelling

Start-up in Smart Mobility (2017 – 2020)

Co-founder and managing director of Movesion Luxembourg

Consultant (2021)

European projects, missions with World Bank, EIB, etc.

• Polyvalent profile: Research & Innovation project development and management, aeronautic engineer, innovation management.• Multidisciplinary Experience in research, innovation, industry and university.• International multilingual experience (French, English, Italian, Nederland), possibility and willingness to learn another language (German).• Excellent analytical and concept visualization skills – complexity seizing and representation skills.• Events/training organization and planning skills – strategy, development and presentation skills. 

Prof. Dr. Hakan Lucius is Head of Corporate Sustainability at the EIB, the European Union’s bank, covering the sustainability, ESG reporting and auditing dimensions of the institution.  Dr Lucius possesses more than 25 years of sustainability experience. In his career he has structured multiple billions of euros of investments, through both, loans and equity, was quoted by the Financial Times and by Reuters, has led multinational teams and negotiated with governments, corporate and civil society organizations, alike.  Academically, he received a Ph.D. with distinctions in industrial economics, an MBA from INSEAD, France, and an MSc in Engineering from Vienna Technical University, where he graduated as the youngest student of his faculty.

Dr Lucius is Professor of Finance in parallel to his professional career at the EIB, and specializes in sustainable corporate finance and strategy. He has developed masters classes, which he teaches at SciencesPo in France, the Frankfurt School of Finance in Germany and the Welch College of Business as well as the University of Luxembourg.  He has lectured in Europe and the US and is an internationally acclaimed speaker, with TV appearances in multiple European countries, and speeches in over 16 nations globally.   He is passionate about sustainability and is quoted to state that “Sustainability is at the heart of long-term outperformance”.  Prof Hakan Lucius was awarded Best Lecturer, Master of Development Finance, by Frankfurt School and by the by Welch MBA, Luxembourg and has published articles in multiple languages.  

Prof. Dr. Lucius is also on the Board of the Luxembourg Fund labelling agency, Luxflag; member of the European Commission’s Ecolabel expert group for sustainable finance; member of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) on non-financial reporting to the EC; former President of the European Investment Bank’s Pension Board; co-chair of the Digital Funding FinTech working group of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry, and a member of the EIB Institute’s Knowledge Committee. 

Pascal Bouvry is one of the 2 CEOs of LuxProvide SA, Luxembourg national HPC center, part of the EuroHPC network.

Pascal Bouvry holds a Ph.D. degree in computer science from the University of Grenoble (INPG), France, and performed post-doctoral research at CWI in Amsterdam. He gained industrial experience working in various management and C-Level positions in Europe, Asia and North America in the Fintech, Space, and Telecommunication domains. Since 2003 Pascal also serves as a full professor at the University of Luxembourg, for which he founded and manages the HPC service.

Professor Pascal Bouvry takes part in the OECD AI Compute task force that aims at measuring the needs of nations in terms of AI and proposing instruments for decision makers.

Dr. Tommaso Serchi has a background in medicinal chemistry and technology. He obtained a PhD in medical biotechnology and he is an European Registered Toxicologist (Belgian Registry) and holds a habilitation from the Italian Ministry of Education and from the University of Luxembourg. He is a toxicologist with more than 10 years of experience in proteomics and in developing complex 3D in vitro models for a multitude of applications. He is the coordinator of the OITB PHOENIX, the deputy coordinator of the H2020 project RiskGONE and PI on national and international projects (ENVALGRA – mERAnet, SCENARIOS – H2020, NanoHarmony – H2020, etc.).

He is the Head of the Luxembourg delegation for the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) and deputy Head of the Luxembourg delegation for the OECD National co-ordinators of the Test Guidelines programme working group. He participates in OECD working groups and experts committees such as those for “Bioacumulation of NanoMaterials” or for “Intestinal fate of orally ingested Nanomaterials”. Since 2021, Dr. Serchi is the chair of the WG-D – Models and Tools for Risk Assessment group of the NanoSafety Cluster (former chair from 2007 until 2021).

He is co-author of 50 scientific publications and 3 patents, and Google scholar has registered >1500 citations and an h-index of 19.