Speakers & Expert Committee

How can material flows be used efficiently, and systems be designed to close loops? That’s the question Manuel Bickel explores. At the Wuppertal Institute, he researches the circular design of product and service systems. His work also focuses on sustainability assessment, resource efficiency, ecodesign, digitalisation and industrial applications.

Dr. Anna Braune is Head of Research and Development at the DGNB. She studied environmental engineering at the Technical University of Berlin and engaged early on with life cycle assessment. After working in sustainability consultancy, she was a research associate at the University of Stuttgart, focusing on holistic assessment. As initiator and founding Managing Director, she played a key role in establishing the DGNB and has been working for the organisation again since 2015. She is an experienced DGNB auditor and led the DGNB Expert Group on life cycle assessment for many years.

Christian Eichenberger demonstrates how circular business models work in practice. Through the Rent.Group, he connects the sharing economy with circular design – from event equipment to office furniture. His goal: to save resources, reduce energy consumption, and design products for multiple lifecycles.

Jürgen Fuchs has been specialising in Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) since 2000. Since 2007, he has been working at Landbell on the ongoing developments in this field. Following the integration of the European Recycling Platform (ERP) into the Landbell Group in 2014, he expanded his focus beyond packaging to include WEEE and batteries, and supported the Group’s international expansion. With 25 years of experience, he brings his expertise in take-back systems and approaches across different countries to the development of circular solutions for textiles.

Isabelle Gola has been with Bosch Power Tools since 2006, holding various international roles in marketing and sales. In 2020, she assumed global responsibility for sustainability and initially established this area. Today, she drives the sustainable transformation, with a clear focus on sustainable product design and materials, circular economy approaches and responsible supply chains. A particular emphasis of her work is on partnerships, including with WWF, as well as collaborations with startups to explore new approaches to circular economy practices.

Jonquil Hackenberg has more than 20 years of experience in climate action and business transformation. Since 2024, she has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Founded in 2010, the non-profit organisation aims to accelerate the transition to a circular economy – eliminating waste, keeping materials in use and regenerating natural systems. Prior to this, Jonquil was CEO of Eunomia Research & Consulting and held senior leadership roles at PA Consulting, including Global Head of Sustainability and Climate Response, as well as a 13-year tenure at Infosys, most recently as Global Head of Sustainable Business.

Paula Holzhauser explores how circular design can address textile overproduction. Her project You may also like transforms industrial leftover yarns into new functional materials, revealing the design potential of pre-consumer waste. By letting residual colours shape the pattern, she turns discarded material into a resource for future-proof textile systems. In 2025, she was part of the GDG exhibition “Dare to Design – Spaces of Care”.

Rob Hopkins is one of the leading voices of the global Transition movement. In his keynote, he explores how imagination and community can lay the foundations for circular and resilient economies. As an author, speaker, and trainer, he inspires people to design the future with creativity, courage, and connection.

Patrick Hypscher supports companies on their path towards the circular economy – from regulatory requirements to strategic circularity development. Through his podcast Circularity.fm, he offers perspectives on Product-as-a-Service, recycling, and circular product design. Previously, he advised industrial companies in Berlin’s InDiCE programme and helped scale the Product-as-a-Service model BlueMovement at Bosch Siemens Hausgeräte.

Daniel Ishikawa develops flexible, circular furnishing solutions for office and residential sectors. Lyght Living offers rental furniture and appliances across seven countries, enabling multi-use refurbished solutions in place of new. His goal: strengthen material loops, support global mobility and empower organisations with circular solutions.

Kristina Kölling drives Tchibo’s shift towards circular business models. After years in product management, bringing more than 300 products to market, she now focuses on a key question: how can a mainstream retailer truly become circular? Through the Circular Solutions Lab, which she co-founded, she develops strategies that extend product lifecycles and connect circular design with scalable circular services.

Leo Lübke stands for furniture that is part of a circular system. Under his leadership, COR designs durable pieces that can be repaired, reused, and reintegrated into material cycles. With initiatives such as COREVER, he shows how design takes responsibility and contributes to conserving resources.

Laurelie Martin leads the circular transformation in the real estate sector through data-driven solutions. With 20 years of experience in real estate, she makes energy and CO₂ savings measurable and builds scalable ESG-ready platforms. Her approach links technological innovation with circular value creation and economic performance.

Dr Max Marwede leads the Circular Design Lab at Fraunhofer IZM, developing sustainable technologies and circular value-creation strategies. He supports companies in designing sustainable products and has trained hundreds of professionals in ecodesign and circular design. With his interdisciplinary background, he combines creativity, systems thinking and sustainability to drive the transition towards a regenerative, circular future.

Susanna Minato-Torkler works at the intersection of industry and circular economy, driving projects that support the transition to circular systems. At the BDI, she contributes to the Circular Economy Initiative, connecting stakeholders from business, policy and research. Her focus is on strengthening the conditions that enable circularity and supporting companies on their path towards sustainable business models.

Martin Pauli drives circular strategies for the built environment at Arup. He works with public-sector clients and leading industry partners to redesign products, processes and business models for a circular future. Together with a global team and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, he developed the Circular Buildings Toolkit, now used across the construction value chain. His work shows how circular design accelerates innovation and sets new standards in architecture and industry.

Nikolai Pauli combines hands-on experience with architecture, energy efficiency and systems thinking. At the Klett Group, he is responsible for property management and develops solutions that translate future viability into practice. His focus is on making complex interconnections usable and keeping design processes open and adaptive. For him, circular design succeeds when materials, knowledge and rules circulate in equal measure.

Manuela Sánchez works at the intersection of architecture, editorial design and visual communication, creating user-centred wayfinding systems that enhance navigation and strengthen placemaking. Her practice combines research-based methods with collaborative processes to make spaces more accessible. She approaches circular design as a process of awareness and learning: design should foster mindful engagement and a deeper connection between people and their environments.

Johannes Schmidt is a designer specialising in digital products and branding. He runs his own design studio and is currently developing a new operating system concept that rethinks how we interact with information. His work combines design expertise, entrepreneurial thinking, and a strong curiosity for technological innovation. Johannes collaborates with startups as well as global companies, such as Google, and teaches as a guest lecturer at the Weißensee Academy of Art in Berlin.

Julia Schmitjans advises companies on sustainable finance and ESG topics, including ESG reporting. She has been working in sustainable finance since 2018 and brings experience from both advisory and investment roles. She holds a Master’s degree in International Economics from Goethe University Frankfurt.

Philipp Sieber works on holistic, sustainable architecture with a focus on circular timber construction. He is engaged in research and professional discourse on sustainable building.
He is part of his practice’s internal sustainability team and a member of the Sustainability Competence Group of the Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Architects. In addition, he holds a teaching assignment at Biberach University of Applied Sciences.

Since 2022, Florian Sorg has been coordinating Stuttgart’s circular economy strategy. Previously, he built the Circular Economy and Ecodesign unit at Umwelttechnik BW and advanced support programmes for green start-ups. A geoecologist with experience in Tübingen, Cape Town and Switzerland, he focuses on scaling circular solutions for cities.

E-Lin Tan drives circular business models for home appliances and leads the rental and subscription services of Bosch. With leadership experience across Europe, Asia and North America, she combines innovation with operational excellence. Her focus: customer experience and accelerating resource-efficient future-proof solutions through strategic partnerships.

Jos Vlugter supports companies in developing circular products, value propositions and innovation strategies. With a background in industrial design engineering, he brings together design, user behaviour and value creation to shape holistic approaches. His work focuses on enabling collaboration across value chains and helping organisations apply circular design in practice. He is also one of the organisers of the Circular Design Forum.

Carsten Waldeck is a designer, philosopher and inventor from Hessen, Germany, and the founder of SHIFT. With the m-series launched in 2016, SHIFT introduced one of the most modular and sustainable smartphones and advanced the concept of “Universal Computing”. SHIFT operates as a purpose-economy company, focusing on maximising positive impact rather than profit.
Carsten earned his Diploma in Communication Design and also studied computer science and philosophy. He conducted research at the Fraunhofer Institute in Darmstadt on mobile information visualisation and published on Liquid Browsing and other innovations in human-computer interaction.

Benjamin Wilson represents the Braun approach to circular design. For him, design is not about aesthetics, but about responsibility, about creating products that are clear, useful, durable and repairable. For more than two decades, he has advocated how design decisions shape material use, product longevity and circular value creation.

Dr Katharina Weiss-Tuider inspires as a host, speaker, and science communicator, by turning knowledge into impact – enabling future-ready decisions. As Communications Manager for the largest Arctic expedition of our time, she learned to “navigate” PR under extreme conditions. She led communications for the charitable foundation of Eckart von Hirschhausen, as well as the global food initiative Veganuary in Germany. Her award-winning non-fiction books have been translated internationally.

Steffen Erath drives innovation and sustainability at Hansgrohe. He combines practice-oriented innovation management with a clear focus on circular design to show how companies can shape the future through circular strategies and the circular economy.

Anne Farken is responsible for sustainability and creative consulting at Designworks. She systematically integrates sustainability into design processes and supports companies across industries in developing new, future-oriented business models – with a clear focus on the opportunities of circular design and innovation leadership.

Karel J. Golta is the founder and CEO of Indeed Innovation. He stands for sustainable transformation through design. With his holistic innovation processes, he combines ecological responsibility with economic impact to implement circular design and innovation leadership as the key success factors.

Bernd Müller is responsible for international relations and sustainability at the German Design Council. With his experience at the interface of design, business and sustainability, he brings a global perspective and demonstrates how circular design drives transformation worldwide.

As Sustainability Manager at Rosenthal, Alissa Ritter drives the further development of the traditional porcelain manufacturer. She optimises processes in a resource-efficient way, bundles knowledge within the company and firmly anchors sustainability across all areas – with a clear link to circular design and the circular economy.