With over 28 years of managerial experience in product, IT, business development, and marketing, Ralf is responsible for bringing many of the world’s leading big data, AI, and machine learning startups to international conferences in Europe. Having worked for five years as a product manager in Silicon Valley, he directly contributed to the building of the world’s first gigabit and terabit routers. Before that, he spent four years in China during the years in which the country opened up to foreign investment from the West. Ralf holds an MA in electrical engineering and radio frequency technology from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany and a degree in data engineering from the UCSC.

Since October 2018, Dr. Benedikt Hofmann is Chief Technology Officer responsible for automation, digitization, AI & drive technology at Voith.
Previously, he held various management positions at Voith in the field of digitization and mobility. Before joining Voith, he worked as a manager at McKinsey & Co.