Prof. Christian J. Bruszies, Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Prof. Bruszies received a degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany and has a Master of Business Administration from Henley Management College in England. Prof. Bruszies is the founding and managing partner of Industrieberatung Consultores Empresariales, a management consulting firm that provides support and advisory services for companies with international trade activities particularly between Germany and Colombia. Prior to founding the firm, Prof. Bruszies has been working in the business consulting industry advising and supporting CEOs and Senior Executives of companies in Europe in aerospace, automotive, electronics, transportation, agriculture and consumer products industries. His work with these clients included strategy development, business planning and expansion, process restructuring and innovation management. Prof. Bruszies is an industry veteran with more than 20 years experience in senior executive roles in such major industrial companies as Siemens, DaimlerBenz, AEG and ALSTOM T&D.

Professor Carlos Scheel-Mayenberger

Profesor, Estrategias de Tecnologías de Innovación y Tecnologías de Información, Director de Cátedra: Creación de Riqueza en base a Tecnología, Innovación y Conocimiento para países en desarrollo.

EGADE, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM).

Prof. Scheel joined Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM) in 1973, and has been full professor since 1989. He was former director of the Graduate School of the Division of Electronics, Computing, Information and Communications of the ITESM, Monterrey Campus from 1985 to 2001. Currently, he is Professor of EGADE since 2002.

He is Senior Research Fellow of the Innovation, Creativity and Capital Institute (IC2) of the University of Texas USA; implementing Technology based and innovation entrepreneurship programs in several countries. He has been Consultant for UNIDO-Vienna from 1985, in the areas of industrial competitive strategies and policy advice in several countries in Asia, Europe, Central and South America. He was the founder of a Program for the Development of Competitiveness Culture funded in part by UNIDO and other countries, with the objective of achieving competitive standards for SME´s of developing countries.

Prof. Scheel has worked in the design of enabling infrastructures (telecommunication, software, and logistics processes) for linking Information Technology strategies with the National Competitive Agendas, as well as to reduce the digital gap for several federal governments, funded mainly by the World Bank, USAID, the Inter-American Development Bank (BID) and national funding agencies.

He has been visiting professor in more than 20 universities in the USA, Europe, Central and South America, and Australasia. Dr. Scheel has been principal investigator on several funded research and applied projects on incubating industrial clusters, and the application of digital technologies and technological strategies, for the global positioning of several Latin American companies.

He is the author of more than 50 papers and several books. His most recent books are Systems Dynamics Modeling Ecosystems, Trillas (1998, 3rd edition 2008) and Competing in Global Arenas, Trillas (2000); and two books in press: Information Technologies and new Business Models: Wealth creation for developing countries (2009) and Strategy for Business Acceleration (2009).
His research, teaching and consulting include information technology strategies, business and industrial complexity modeling using system dynamics, technology and innovation strategies, clustering strategies, and industrial policies for regional economic growth.

He is currently working on the design and development of the WIT Model (Wealth creation through Innovation and enabling Technologies), a framework designed for emerging countries, to transform scarce resources under hostile conditions, into economic growth and social development, through the effective use and management of digital technologies, network structures, innovation systems and knowledge management.

Prof. Sascha Fürst   Universidad EAFIT, Medellin

Prof. Sascha Fürst hold a Master in Business and Engineering (MBE), University of Kaiserslautern (Germany). Postgraduate studies in International Marketing, University of Greenwich (England). International Marketing Coordinator GeoVision Software Inc., Jaipur (India). Project Manager AccessCAPITAL Ltd., Bangkok (Thailand). International Business Consultant Global Entrepreneurs, Oslo (Norway). Founding member of the Colombian Network for International Professions (RCPI). Currently, doctorate study at the University of Flensburg (Germany) and Department Head International Business at EAFIT University, Medellin. Lecturer for International Marketing and International Management. Institutional Member Coordinator on behalf of EAFIT University in the Academy of International Business (AIB) and the Pacific Asian Consortium for International Business Education and Research (PACIBER). Member Coordinator on behalf of Colombian university's in the UNCTAD Virtual Institute for Trade and Development, Geneva (Switzerland). Research interests in internationalization strategies of developing country enterprises, outward foreign direct investment, global value chains, and international entrepreneurship.

Prof. Jorge H. Molano V. Facultad de Ciencias Economicas

Director of the Entrepreneurship Unit at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá which is part of the School of Economic Sciences, he graduated magna cum laude with a PhD in Economic Sciences from University of Mannheim (Germany), as well as a Diplom-Kaufmann with emphasis in Business Organization and Human Resources.

He has a degree in Business Management from Universidad Nacional de Colombia and has worked mostly in academic duties and international and national business consulting. He has been a professor at Universidad Autónoma del Caribe, Escuela de Administración de Negocios, Universidad Central de Bogotá, Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, Universidad Grancolombia, Politécnico Grancolombiano, Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz; he has been a business consultant primarily in the cooperative sector in Latin America in Managerial processes designing, planning, implementing, and process controlling such as: Business creation, strategic planning, quality, reconversion, etc. and in processes related to Human Resources and Business Organization.

Furthermore, he is currently a member of the Advising Committe for the Masters Progam in Health and Labor (School of Nursing), directs the Bio-business Group, and is an advisor in strategic aspects, production chains and business development in the BioTechnology Institute at the Universidad Nacional of Colombia (IBUN), and the current secretary for the Colombian Association of Bio-Technology.