Anna Theil joined Startnext in 2010 and is responsible for communication. She studied Communication Sciences and Media Studies. Previously she worked at DOK Leipzig, the International Festival for Documentary and Animated Film.

Karsten is a trained industrial mechanic for machine and system technology and a qualified product designer. Since his studies he has been working on "New Materials in Product Design".
 
From 2005-2013 he was Director Library & Materials Research, significantly involved in building and managing the world's largest materials library for the New York-based consulting company Material ConneXion. In 2013, the materials expert founded MRC - Materials Research & Consulting, a consulting company for innovative and sustainable product development. MRC advises development departments of well-known companies from Europe, Asia and the USA.
 
In 2019 he founded "The Circular Materials GmbH". The company develops and produces tailor-made materials and products for the circular economy.
 
Since 2009 he has been teaching "Material & Design" and "Sustainability & Circular Design Practice" at various engineering, design and architecture universities.

Sebastian Backhaus is a sustainability and communication expert with over 15 years of professional experience. His work focuses on supporting ministries, municipalities, companies and organizations in all aspects of communication and public relations as well as organizational development. His publications as part of his blog were awarded by the German Unesco Commission as a project of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. He is a member of the advisory board of the DBU project "Digitalization, Digital Communication and Climate Protection". His work focuses on the conception and implementation of both 360-degree campaigns and individual communication measures. In addition, Sebastian Backhaus lectures and gives workshops on communication of sustainability, climate protection and sustainable mobility. He is also the co-founder and CEO of MIKILI – Bicycle Furniture, a design label that designs, manufactures and distributes high quality furniture for bicycles.

As Managing Director of the online market place Avocadostore.de, Mimi Sewalski is always on the look-out for new product ideas. She has been working with many sustainable start-ups from their beginning and helps them with online presence in brand building and product development.

Avocadostore.de offers more than 200.000 green products from 750 retailers from all over Germany. All the products offered must meet at least one of the sustainability criteria set by Avocadostore.de. Mimi Sewalski studied Sociology and Criminology in Munich. In 2005 she moved to Israel and worked there in a high-tech start-up in the eCommercials. At the same time, she became involved in the plastics recycling sector in Tel Aviv.

Since 2011, she is part of Avocadostore.de.

Sebastian Thies, 6th generation footwear professional since 1856, is the Founder x Designer of high-end sneaker brand nat-2™ and CEO of progressive sustainable home and footwear brand thies 1856 ®. Sustainability is key since more than 160 years in the family tradition.

Sebastian is also a Creative Director at various other Projects and has worked with companies such as MCM, Wu-Tang, Sony, Paramount, Activision, Ritter Sport, Atelier PMP, Hasbro, Gabor, HBC, Levi's, Benetton, nowadays, Urban Outfitters, Studio100 ... Sebastian's Designs have been showcased and included to design collections in international re-known exhibitions and museums  such as Grassimuseum Leipzig, Red Dot Museums Essen x Singapore, Kunsthaus Vienna, MKG Hamburg, Shoetopia Detroit, Cube Designmuseum NL, Wilhelm Wagenfeld Stiftung Bremen, VirtualShoemuseum, Deutsches Museum...

Sebastian has already won several international awards such as the Red Dot Design Award, German Brand Award, Innovation x Design Award, IspoBrandnew Award, was nominated twice for Germany's Designpreis and appointed as Fellow and Kultur- x Kreativpilot by the Federal Republic of Germany.

The London Designmuseum has quoted nat-2™ as "one of the 50 shoes that changed the world" in its books.

Editor-in-Chief of professional journal md INTERIOR DESIGN ARCHITECTURE published by Konradin, has critically overseen what has been happening in the industry and international trends in contemporary interior, design and architecture for over three decades now. "Encouraging the use of sustainable products is a matter close to my heart, and it will be reflected to a greater extent in our means of communication in future", says Tamborini-Liebenberg, a former student of literary science, commenting on her commitment to the Green Product Award.

Professor Martin Charter MBA FRSA is the Founding Director of The Centre for Sustainable Design ® at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) that was established in 1995. Martin has more than 29 year’s experience in a wide range of topics related to sustainable business with particular expertise in sustainable innovation and product sustainability. Martin has sat on many international expert committees and advisory boards including P&G, Interface, World Resources Forum and Eco-innovation Observatory. He is the organizer of the Sustainable Innovation series of international conferences that is now in its 21st year. Martin has authored research on new ‘green’ business models, sustainable innovation, product design and remanufacturing and marketing & sustainability.

Dr. Sascha Peters is the founder and owner of the material and technology agency HAUTE INNOVATION. As an innovation consultant, product developer and designer, he advises customers from the automotive industry, the construction industry and the materials industry. Since 1997 he has led research projects and product development at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen, was deputy Head of Design Center Bremen and Head of Material Competence Center of Modulor GmbH. Dr. Sascha Peters is the author of numerous specialist publications. He lectures worldwide and conducts workshops on innovative materials, sustainable product development and energy technologies. Since 2014, he has been a member of the advisory board of the funding initiative "Zwanzig20 - Partnership for Innovation" on behalf of the BMBF and has been a member of the jury of the Red Dot Award Product Design since 2015.

Xin Liu is Vice Director of the Art and Science Research Center of the Institute of Sustainable Design at Tsinghua University. His main research in on Sustainable Design, User Research and Product Service System Design. He is the director of LeNS-China (The Learning Network on Sustainability), which includes China's top 15 universities and co-founder of DESIS-China, an alliance for social innovation and sustainable design in China. Additionally, he is Chairman of the Tsinghua University’s DESIS International Alliance Academy of Arts & Design. In 2012, he was elected Educational Officer of the "Excellent University Talents of the Turn of the Century".

Thomas Bade sees social entrepreneurship as a central element of his work and has been committed for ten years to the goal of anchoring universal design in business, science and society. He is co-founder of universal design e.V., signatory of the Weimar Declaration, lecturer at the Technical University of Munich and, since July 2016, Managing Director of the Institute for Universal Design there. As managing director of the Universal Design Forum e.V., he represents the association at the German Design Day and is a consultant member of the IAUD (International Association for Universal Design) in Yokohama (Japan).  Thomas Bade is currently working intensively on the digital transformation in nursing and the fields of sustainable universal design in urban and district development.

Since 2018, Thomas Bade, as a member of the board of the German Design Day, has headed the Sustainability Work Group.

Meike Weber developed new contents and formats around the architectural trade magazine DETAIL for 15 years. Among other she worked on DETAIL research as an open network of architecture, business, research and politics. Detail research uses various formats to convey topics on the "future of building" based on research results and studies on the effects of social change and megatrends on architecture and the city. For several years, she has also been responsible for teaching at the Institute for International Trendscouting of the Faculty of Design at the HAWK Hildesheim and advises various committees from business, NGOs, teaching, research and politics.

Claus-Christian Eckhardt was appointed in 2001 as professor and director of Lund University School of Industrial Design in Sweden. He studied industrial design at the Braunschweig University of Art. After graduating, he worked for Silvestrin Design, Blaupunkt and Bosch, where later he became head of design. He led the design activities of Tenovis and Avaya. He also a freelance designer since 2000.

Tina Kammer is together with Andrea Herold InteriorPark. She has been following the developments about sustainability for more than 25 years. As a trained cabinet maker, she gained in-depth knowledge of materials and their processing. She realized her focus on brand architecture for companies like BMW, MINI and IBM worldwide. She developed shop concepts for HUGO BOSS AG and was responsible for various international markets. With Andrea Herold she founded the company InteriorPark in 2010, which brings together architecture, space and communication in high-quality design solutions. At lectures and workshops, she passes on her in-depth knowledge and is involved with the DGNB. For construction projects, her focus is on healthy indoor climate, sustainable design concepts and communication in the room.

Kerstin Andreae is Deputy Leader of the Grünen of the Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag. She has dedicated herself to green and sustainable policies for more than 27 years. Her special focus is green economic policy, in which she is involved in many ways.
She was among others Spokeswoman for Economic Policy of the Grünen Parliamentary Group and Member of the Committees for Business and Technology as well as Finance. In 2013 she was awarded the "German SME Award" for her economic policy work.

Katja Lucas, senior project manager Design Works, has been working for Dutch Design Foundation (DDF) in Eindhoven since 2003. She studied at the renowned Design Academy Eindhoven. During her studies she developed a passion for design and collaborations. Katja has extensive management experience in design projects and programs. She has contributed to the success of Dutch Design Week (DDW), the event that is nationally and internationally recognized as the leading design event in Europe. In 2018  it attracted 350,000 visitors and offered a platform for 2500 designers with over 500 events. For over 12 years Katja was responsible for the content and quality of the program. Since 2018, she has been responsible for talent development within DDF. Tthe focus is on the master and coaching program Driving Dutch Design together with the partners BNO and ABN AMRO. Every year, 20 studios are selected who undertake an intensive professionalization process for 10 months. She scouts and invites designers and strengthens their studios by making productive connections. Katja Lucas among others was also responsible for several exhibitions at the Design House Eindhoven commissioned by DDF. She cooperates in the online international design platform Dutch Design Daily’s, and is a member of the advisery board of TEDxEindhoven. She is a jury member for several awards in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

Prof. Dr. Martin Jänicke is the founding director of the Research Center for Environmental Policy at the Free University of Berlin and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam. He worked as a political advisor at home and abroad. Jänicke was among othes a member of the UNESCO Commission and the National Committee for Global Change Research.
He has participated in publications of the IPPC, is a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the magazine "Umweltpolitik und Umweltrecht" and has received several awards for his engagement in nature conservation and sustainable research.

Michael Weber has been working for Project Management Jülich in the sustainability research management department for more than ten years now. He is head of the Department of Sustainability Strategy and EU environmental research. That's why he is aware of a wide range of topics concerning innovative ideas and solutions. After his opinion, sustainable innovation should be seen primarily in the development of a social action - that's how we can keep and even improve the quality of life for ourselves and future generations.

Julius Wiedemann's book "Product Design in the Sustainable Era" is one of the most influential books on sustainable design. Julius Wiedemann was born in Brazil where he studied design and marketing. As Executive Editor for Design and Pop Culture as well as Director for Digital Publications at the international publishing house TASCHEN, he was responsible for more than 40 books. He is the author of numerous magazine contributions and has already been involved as a juror in several international competitions. In total, more than 1.5 million copies of Wiedemann's publications have been sold worldwide, including titles such as "Information Graphics," "Product Design in the Sustainable Era," "Illustration Now!", "Logo Design," and "Japanese Graphics Now! ", and many more.

Kiersten Muenchinger is an Associate Professor in the Product Design Program and one of the principles in the Green Product Design Network at the University of Oregon. She was honored with the Sustainable Practice Impact Award in 2018. Muenchinger researches and teaches the intersection of materials, manufacturing and design with an emphasis on sustainability tactics and metrics. Her research utilizes Kansei engineering principles to measure how consumers perceive the sustainability of materials. Kiersten was named “Young Educator of the Year” in 2011by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), and one of the Design Intelligence 30 Most Admired Educators for 2015. Before joining UO, Kiersten was a design engineer with IDEO, Fitch, Sottsass Associatti, and Walt Disney Imagineering.

Sarah Dorkenwald works as a designer, curator and writes for trade publications. She is currently Professor of Design Theory at HfK + G in Ulm. She holds a diploma in Visual Communication from the State College of Design in Offenbach.

Before moving to Toronto to work for Bruce Mau Design, she worked as art director for the design magazine form. In 2002, she founded the design duo Dorkenwald and Spitzer together with Ruth Spitzer.

From 2012 to 2016, she was responsible for the bayern design program and curated exhibitions such as 'Hit the Future Design beyond the borders' and 'Hit the Future_Metropolitan Design'. In her practical and theoretical work, she explores the expanded role of design at the interface of industry, science, society and art.

She is co-founder of the studio UnDesignUnit , which develops formats to establish design as a critical practice.

Robert Pludra is an industrial designer and an assistant professor at the Faculty of Design, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he was a Deputy Dean ( 2016-2019).  His design office is focused on product, social and exhibition design as well as leading design workshops .  In 2013 Robert defended his PhD thesis in social design. He is a member of the Association of Industrial Designers (associated in BEDA). He participated in more than fifty exhibitions at the most important design festivals (in Milan, London, Paris, Berlin or Tokyo). He is a laureate of many competitions and scholarships.