Stephan Barth has been working in the wind energy sector for almost 20 years. Since 2008 he is the managing director of the Center for Wind Energy Research of the Universities of Oldenburg, Hannover and Bremen (ForWind). Stephan studied physics and holds a PhD in natural sciences from the University of Oldenburg. He is the Alternate German Member of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Executive Committee of the International Energy Agency Technology Collaboration Programme Wind Energy Systems (IEA TCP Wind) and is also the Chairman of that body. Stephan is currently a member of several other regional, national or international committees and bodies, e.g. EERA JP Wind, ETIPWind, EAWE.

Philip Bechtle is Privatdozent at the Physikalisches Institut of Bonn University. He works as an experimental Particle Physicist in the ATLAS experiment at CERN, where he analyses particle collisions to understand the Higgs Boson and to search for yet unknown fundamental particles and forces. As a phenomenological Particle Physicist, he plays a key role in the HiggsBounds, HiggsSignals, Fittino and SCYNet projects, which embody advanced statistical techniques and Machine Learning to Particle Physics interpretations. Moreover, he is passionate about airborne wind energy. He was the initiator of the AWEsome open-source test platform for airborne wind energy systems. His recent contributions to the field concentrate on the first analysis of the AWE resource potential using the ERA5 re-analysis of very high-quality and high granularity global atmospheric data, and analyses of the uncertainty of its wind information.

Mike Blanch (Operations Director, BVG Associates) has over 30 years of experience in the wind industry that started in research and managing a wind test site. He combines his technical, economic and business expertise to advise and help wind developers, financiers, government, trade bodies, research enablers, start-ups and large energy users address challenges. This includes supply chain, workforce development, LCOE, technology and innovation to grow the wind and associated industries like hydrogen. Mike has led various independent Airborne Wind Energy analyses and support over the last nine years. He advises the UK Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on renewables innovation, led the Technical Advisory for the BEIS EU DemoWind programme and was a joint author of the UK Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy. He is technical advisor to The Crown Estate for the Celtic Sea Floating Leasing Round that aims to enable the world’s first 4GW of large scale commercial floating wind farms.

Paula Nardone has worked in the renewable sector for nearly a decade. Paula is an engineer specializing in renewable energy. She graduated from Oldenburg University with a master's degree in renewable energy and from the Technical University of Buenos Aires with a diploma in industrial engineering. Since 2019 she is Associate Professional at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). IRENA is an intergovernmental organisation that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future and serves as the principal platform for international cooperation, a centre of excellence, and a repository of policy, technology, resource and financial knowledge on renewable energy. IRENA promotes the widespread adoption and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy, in the pursuit of sustainable development, energy access, energy security and low-carbon economic growth and prosperity.

Kristian Petrick (Industrial Engineer, Technical University Berlin) is Secretary General of Airborne Wind Europe, the industry association for Airborne Wind Energy. He joined AWEurope in 2018 focusing on policy and regulation. Since 2021 he is Operating Agent of the IEA Wind Task 48 on Airborne Wind Energy. For the last 15 years, he has also been working as policy advisor in the fields of renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainability, providing policy and strategic advice to public and private clients. Clients include the European Commission, the Green Economy Coalition, IEA-RETD, IRENA, the Union for the Mediterranean and various governmental institutions and ministries in the Middle East and Central Asia. He is an expert in policies for distributed generation, prosumers and energy communities. He is Board Member of eco-union (Barcelona). The first ten years of his career he worked as supply chain manager for Siemens in Germany and Canada.

Chris Vermillion is an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the North Carolina State University. Since 2011, he has been involved in the airborne wind energy sector, first as a Lead Engineer for Altaeros Energies, and subsequently as the Principal Investigator for the Control and Optimization for Renewables and Energy Efficiency (CORE) Lab at NC State. He additionally serves as a Technical Advisor to both Windlift, Inc. and Altaeros, in addition to serving as a topic area leader for the newly formed IEA Wind task on airborne wind energy. His contributions to the field of airborne wind energy (and its marine hydrokinetic energy counterpart, underwater kites) include the development and experimental validation of multiple open-source dynamic modelling and control tools.

Stephan Wrage is the Founder and Managing Director of the SkySails Group GmbH. He is responsible for Sales, Marketing, Certification & Permission, Investor Relations & Public Affairs. After having completed his studies in industrial engineering and having worked for several years as an IT consultant and management trainer, Stephan Wrage founded SkySails in 2001. His vision of using the power of wind to tow cargo ships with large kites became reality for the first time in 2007. Today, SkySails develops and markets systems for electricity generation from high-altitude wind - so-called airborne wind energy systems. With this technology, SkySails enables the harnessing of the so far untapped powerful resource of high-altitude wind for the first time ever. In 2004 Stephan Wrage was honored by the British JCI with the Outstanding Young Person Award for the development of the SkySails towing kite system. In 2008 he was awarded the title "Eco-Manager of the Year" by the WWF and Capital magazine.