Mentors

Klaus joined DELMO in 2008 as an investment professional and he is a member of the executive team. DELMO invests in public companies that are led by entrepreneurial business builders and have a culture of excellence. Furthermore DELMO participates locally in real estate projects and entrepreneurial initiatives. Since 2012 Klaus serves as a director of Gruppo Mutui Online, a publicly listed financial services and credit-related business process outsourcing company. Prior to joining DELMO gained work experience in private equity investing with Auctus Capital Partners in Germany and in auditing with KPMG Italy. Klaus graduated from Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck in Austria and spent an exchange year at Università degli Studi di Firenze in Italy.

I am an innovation strategist that help companies imagine, create, and launch new products. My primary experience is with start-up clients. My skills are in strategy, product management, market analysis, and open innovation. I Hold a master degree in business communication from the LUMSA University of Rome, and an MBA from Hult International Business School in Boston. I authored of several articles on innovation management and I co-founded the mobile start-up Medygo.org. Currently, I serve as regional coordinator for the business association ItaliaCamp, which collects social and business ideas and implement them through the model of corporate venture.

Founder and CEO of Musteus Beside business education, working +20 years as photographer and entrepreneur. Also founder in 1996 of the real-estate platform immo.it.Founded last year the company Musteus, which develops a search and monitoring feature and now the internal social platform. For his innovative engagement, the company is listed as a "startup innovativa" and was finalist at the "Best of Mobile Award 2015" in category "Innovation" and winner at the "Best App Ever Award" in the category "Best Business App".As a passionate of innovation last year I also was mentor at the "Lean Startup course" of the project Redpoint, winner of "Best idea" (http://leanstartup.bz/?page_id=828).

Alexander is the CEO of DELMO, an investment holding company based in Bolzano, Italy. DELMO invests in public companies that are led by entrepreneurial business builders and have a culture of excellence. Furthermore DELMO participates locally in real estate projects and entrepreneurial initiatives. Prior to joining DELMO Alexander was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in Spain. In addition Alexander gained work experience with KPMG in corporate finance in Germany. Alexander holds a summa cum laude degree in economics and business from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano, Italy and was granted the “Agostino Gemelli” award for students with exceptional achievements in their respective academic field. He has completed an exchange year at Hochschule für Bankwirtschaft in Frankfurt, Germany.

I am currently working at the office of Innovation and New Markets of lvh. I give consultancy to craft companies when it comes to the development of new product ideas. One of my main activities is realizing Crowdfunding and Open Innovation projects on www.openinnovation-suedtirol.it. Further, I am working on my own startup idea where at the moment a test sale is going on. I attended the Lean startup course in 2013. So I know the challenges of the course and in general of the entrepreneurship world. It will be a pleasure to support you in bringing your ideas forward.

Founder of Gipsyway Srl, a marketplace to buy and sell second hand clothes. To give a plus to our app, we created Gipsystreet. Its a augmented reality function to place products around your city to reach more people and scale your sales. www.gipsyway.it. .After Gipsyway we create Chap App. Chap App is available only as an app. At the moment only for Android in the future also for iOS. Chap is a new social network that allows people to share images and videos through the augmented reality concept. Users can post their experiences, memories, feedbacks, videos or normal photo shots of special places they may find on their road and share them with friends. The shared content is only visible for a Chap user in a radius of 100 meters where of the place where the Chap was placed. www.chap-app.com .Moreover Gipsyway is also a Web developing Company. We create websites, apps, softwares and manage social media company profiles. www.w2are.online.

Luca Silvestri is an engineer, a coder and an entrepreneur, founder and co-founder of several startups (Ecogriddy, Uma). He graduated in Civil Engineering, worked as a freelance for more than 10 years and started his first cleantech startup Ecogriddy following his technical background and his passion for innovation and ICT. Ecogriddy was incubated at Progetto Manifattura and has been one of the finalist at 2014 EIT ICT Labs Idea Challenge, a competition than spawned across 28 EU countries and involved almost 800 different proposals. In 2015 Ecogriddy has been accelerated by Finodex after a selection that involved 196 proposal from overall EU and subsequently got 50k equity free funding. At Ecogriddy, Luca is CEO and software developer, leading a team of 9 passionate and skilled people, with competencies that spawns from engineering, to design, finance and communication.

Born in Milano in the sixties. Grown up between the Po River and the vineyards of Monferrato.
Fed by a multifaceted family where debate and wets never quit.
I hold a Degree in Electronic Engineering @ Politecnico of Milan and a further specialization in International Enterprise Management @ MIP Business School. 20 year experience working in a wide and multinational group as Omnitel and Vodafone. Since 2013 reloaded as a consultant in the field of energy efficiency business with focus on either the process or the technologies in the metropolitan and manufacturing context. I am Eager to listen to new business ideas and contribute to their development as start up companies.

Project Manager bei Strascheg Center for EntrepreneurshipStani Dobenko is responsible to bring the entrepreneurial spirit closer to the students. In this context he develops new teaching formats and designes special workshops. However he organizes among others the Global Entrepreneurship Summer School, Start Up Weekends in Munich and the International School am Polytech St. Petersburg. Before he started at the SCE he studied international business at ESB Business School, financial management an der European Business School London and used to work in a strategy consultancy. Furthermore he has several years of working experience in banking (retail and M&A).

Graduate in Master Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Free University of Bolzano in March 2015. An open-minded and enthusiastic entrepreneur, who is always looking for new ideas and business opportunities. Determined, ambitious, outgoing and with a desire to learn something new. I am continuously looking forward to building new relationships within and outside the working environment. Extraordinary personal network and high credibility. Good knowledge and experience in the field of entrepreneurship, management and business development. At the moment working on two startup companies, Wams Fashion Srls and Vitamin. Wams creates unique and fashionable socks, designed and produced exclusively in Italy. Vitamin is the first coworking space in South Tyrol, managed by young entrepreneurs for young entrepreneurs.

Born in Oslo, Norway Miriam currently lives and works in Merano, Italy. She holds a BBA from the Business School Utrecht (NL) and an executive MBA from SDA Bocconi (IT). Strategy and Entrepreneurship have been the focus during her Studies. Currently she is co-owner in the company Vision SRL. The company offers various services and products to the Hospitality Industry in Europe. What is E-ship for me? Keep the ideas flowing by embracing diversity. Staying open for challenges brings you a step further.

Elisabeth Tocca founded the start-up CORA Happywear in 2014. CORA Happywear is a socially responsible company which produces sustainable fair trade clothing sold via an innovative social selling community of women. Between 2010 and 2013 she was the International Brand Manager of SALEWA - a brand of the Oberalp AG, after working at Dr. Schär for nine years as Marketing and Brand Manager, building up the new and innovative brand DS-gluten free. From 1999 to 2001 she worked as a Project Manager in the field of Management & Company culture at the EURAC research center. Elisabeth graduated from the Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck in Austria in 1998.

Top-tier graduate in Master in Entrepreneurship at the Free University of Bolzano, I’m enthusiastic and passionate about startups, fundraising, sustainable energy and innovative teaching methods. After several working experiences for some largest South Tyrolean companies, I’ve decided to pursue my passion and specialise in startup consulting and fundraising. I can support you in drafting of your business plan, preparation of your pitch and management of your reward based crowdfunding campaign. My goal is to empower you to reach yours.

My name is Edgar Barroso, I just finished my PhD in Music composition from Harvard University, so I am a composer that got interested in entrepreneurship inside and outside music. I am very interested in trans-disciplinary collaboration for innovation purposes and I’m particularly interested in social, technological, artistic and cultural innovation. When I’m not working in my projects, I love to help young entrepreneurs to get their ideas on their way to make them happen and to share my experience in music creation and collaboration across disciplines. I am always looking forward to learn from the younger generations, as Mexican poet (Jaime Sabines) said: After a certain age, youth is a contagious matter. I currently live in Zurich (Switzerland) keeping myself busy working on two startups, a data visualization, sonification and analysis of data, a piece for an extended bass clarinet, visual and live electronics and eventually a book about transdisciplinarity and innovation. I am connected to the startup community because I always have startups in my head and love to bring them to life. In addition I have been coaching young entrepreneurs for three years now, mainly in Mexico where I come from, but also I am beginning to do so in several countries. Looking forward to meet you!

Lorenzo is Regional Manager and Product Owner at XPeppers, an agile software factory located in Trento, Milan and Rome where he practices lean methodology every day. Lorenzo graduated in Communication Sciences at the University of Bologna and he holds a master degree in Multimedia Communication and Technology from the University of Turin. He is in love with innovation and old-fashioned video games.
He often mentors team and advices startups at InnovactionLab, StartupWeekend and similar event, he has worked with startups since 2008 both in Europe and US until he decided to join one in Trento helping to build the company from the ground.

Project Monitoring & Funding opportunities at TISMy name is Luigi Cavaliere. I studied Economics at the University of Trento, where I also graduated in Net-Economy (Master Degree).Since 4 years I work in TIS Innovation Park of Bolzano, the institution that supports innovation in South Tyrol.I deal with public funding opportunities for innovation projects, analyzing EU public calls and providing advices to local businesses.One year ago, I started to work during my free time to a personal project: Memoree. The hope and the will is to develop the project and to begin the entrepreneur career.During the last Software Factory Course, I had the possibility to become "customer" of the course. Some students worked on Memoree, developing the first prototype of the idea. It was really an exciting experience, thanks to which I received really good products and the possibility to work in team with students.

Prof. Dr. Sc. math. Dr. h.c.CEO / Founder / Partner at innova.venturesProf. Dr. Mark Harris is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in the high-tech industry and in entrepreneurship. Prof. Harris recently retired from Intel to follow his passion in entrepreneurship and in new venture creation. While at Intel, Prof. Harris built Intel's global Technology Entrepreneurship program together with UC Berkeley California's Lester Center for Entrepreneurship. During this period Prof. Harris experienced first hand the difficulties, especially in Europe, of building entrepreneurial Eco-Systems. Addressing this area has become Prof. Harris' passion which resulted in founding innova.ventures. innova.ventures is a globally active New Venture Enabler. The mission is to support young new ventures throughout their journey from a start-up to a scalable enterprise. innova.ventures' services span from light weight coaching,mentoring, consulting through Summer Schools and Boot Camps to heavy lifting access support to global markets. innova.ventures has a network of over 100 experts who can "on demand" deliver the required services or fill an essential interims advisory/board function.

Alessandro very recently joined Reply group in a new venture dedicated to innovation and innovative models for management consulting. In the last 3 years Alessandro has lead operations in TechPeaks Accelerator in Trento. In this period, Alessandro has met approx 1000 startups, selected and coached 100+ startup ideas, help founding 25+ companies, and helping them to kick start with his coaching and raising 4+M€ in private investment. Alessandro has also some successful experience in writing public financing calls (e.g. H2020) and he is a Lean Startup and Business Model experienced practitioner and coach. Prior to design and execution of TechPeaks accelerator, Alessandro was a McKinsey consultant and he holds an industrial engineering degree and an international business degree.

Michael is a web developer and entrepreneur who hails from New York City. While there, he has been part of the core staff of several start-ups, including as a founding member of WorkNation, a social network geared towards professionals. He also worked for several years as a trial graphics consultant creating demonstratives for clients such as Apple, Samsung and Motorola in high-profile patent cases. Most recently, he headed up the front end development for Stockpile, a Palo Alto based startup in the investment industry, aimed at simplifying the purchase and gifting of stocks. With a degree in Visual Studies from Harvard University, his interests extend to filmmaking, animation, and computer games. His work as a director in the field of marketing and advertising has been screened in international festivals world-wide, and has earned him several Clio awards. He is a frequent volunteer for the Coder Dojo, Trento and is currently collaborating on projects geared towards the sharing economy, attempting to find new solutions to old problems through the application of technology in the service of the greater good.

Head of Free Software & Open Technologies Department at TIS innovation parkManager of the Free Software & Open Technologies department at the TIS innovation park South Tyrol. http://www.tis.bz.it/open. Team leader of project managers with specialization in the coordination of various European Research & Development Projects in the field of SMART Tourism, SMART Mobility, SMART Energy and SMART Food. He and his team promote a strategy for innovation build on top of Open Data, Open Standards and Free Open Source Software. Honorary dedicated to the build up of a Free Software community in South Tyrol since the mid of the 90ties, cofounder and board member of the Linux User Group Bozen-Bolzano-Bulsan (http://lugbz.org/), organizes the annual South Tyrol Free Software Conference (http://sfscon.it). Coordinates mailing lists about software-projects, involved as IT-expert in various work-groups and committees for Free Software and for the IT-Community, member of the core-team of the Free Software Foundation Europe (http://fsfe.org/about/team.html), Patrick Ohnewein formerly worked for many years as software developer and multiplier in the software area.