Dr. Holger Bengs

Keynote Speaker "Networking is your new life insurance"
Managing Partner BCNP

Chemistry makes the world go around.

I grew up with Sesame Street.
 
This is probably the reason why I was always curious to ask my questions, why I started studying chemistry and why I am interested in people and what they do. Today, many see me as the prototype of a networker.
 
Networking is part of my life, from a professional point of view: as founder and managing partner of BCNP, as initiator of the Industry Speed Dating Event known as ECP, or e.g. the regulars' tables of the Association for Chemistry and Business in the Society of German Chemists.
 
A hybrid character characterises my strengths today: Chemistry studies - industry experience - business.

My work in the Bundestag mainly takes place in the committees, which are organised according to different subject areas. I am a member of the Budget Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee for my Green parliamentary group. In the Budget Committee, we decide what our government is authorised to spend money on. Among my Green colleagues, we have divided up the budgets of the ministries: I am responsible for the budgets of the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Home Affairs.

The Foreign Affairs Committee deals with German and European foreign policy. This is where we decide, for example, on foreign deployments of the German Armed Forces or on Germany's relations with other countries. Within the Green parliamentary group, I am responsible in this committee for the United Nations (and therefore also sit on the subcommittee "United Nations, International Organisations and Civilian Crisis Prevention"), for Western Europe and for Central and Southern Africa. I am a deputy member of the newly established Committee of Inquiry into the end of the Afghanistan mission.

I also have a deputy seat on the Europe Committee, which deals with all issues relating to our neighbouring countries and the European Union as a whole. Here I am responsible for all issues relating to euro finances.

Michael Brandkamp is one of the three founders and General Partners of the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF). Michael and his team’s goal is to speed up the transformation from a fossil-based to a bio-based circular economy in Europe. The German entrepreneur wrote and executed the business plan of High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), the most active early-stage fund in Europe, investing in innovative technologies and business models since 2005. As the first managing director, he led HTGF until 2019. Michael has 25 years of experience in investment and management in the venture capital industry.

About ECBF
The European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF) is the first venture fund exclusively dedicated to backing up businesses, driving the shift from a fossil-based to a bio-based economy. ECBF aims to catalyse the transition towards a sustainable future by investing in biobased and circular growth-stage companies with high potential for innovation, favourable returns, and sustainable impact. As a growth-stage venture capital fund, the ECBF offers project funding and venture capital investments. ECBF shares its industry expertise to raise awareness among private and public investors to increase their financial participation in bioeconomy companies.

Gina Dunlevy holds a PhD in environmental microbiology with a focus on metal-microbe interactions. She joined BRAIN Biotech as a scientific project manager in 2020 and moved in 2021 into the Business Development team, where she is responsible for its cleantech business solutions. She is currently complementing her role by doing an MBA at ESMT Berlin. Gina’s focus at BRAIN is the development of various cleantech applications mainly focusing on the recovery of metals from waste streams, saving carbon emissions and the upcycling of other side streams.

BRAIN Biotech Group, leading European provider of bio-based products and solutions for industry, develops and provides specialised enzymes and microbial strains used in many industrial sectors. The Group´s customers benefit from its first-class R&D work, specialized production expertise, access to attractive markets and manufacturing capabilities.

Gina says: “I look forward to showcasing our current, extensive technical portfolio and how we offer it to industrial cooperation partners to help them achieve their goals.