Prof. Dr. Walter Rust (chairman)

Dr. Walter Rust is an attorney and notary in Berlin. He studied law and political science at the Universities of Freiburg, Geneva and Konstanz, receiving his doctoral degree from the University of Konstanz in 1990. In the same year, after further studies in Washington, D.C., he received his accreditation as an attorney-at-law in the State of New York. He advises technology companies throughout Germany, particularly within the area of life sciences, on issues of company law, venture capital financing, licensing agreements and international contract law. He is a lecturer and member of the MBA Advisory Board for the Berlin School of Economics as well as a lecturer at the Technical University of Berlin. He also serves as chairman of the supervisory boards of Teles AG, an information technology firm, and SHF Communication Technologies AG.

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang M. Heckl

Professor Heckl is considered one of the world’s leading experts in the field of nanotechnology. His commitment to ongoing research in nanotechnology from its very early stages and to building public awareness of this groundbreaking technology were recognized in 2004, when he received the European Union’s Descartes Prize for Science Communication. Dr. Heckl was named professor of experimental physics at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich in 1993, and has been general director of Germany’s largest science museum, Munich’s renowned Deutsches Museum, since 2004. Since 2009 he has additionally held the Oskar von Miller Professorship in Scientific Communication at the Technical University of Munich (TU München). He is involved in various scientific associations, including the Excellence Network NanoBioTechnology, as well as centers of scientific excellence such as the Center for NanoScience and the GeoBioCenter at the LMU in Munich.

Achim Lindner

Achim Lindner is chief financial officer of Börsenmedien AG, a leading German publishing and media house for finance and investment. Following completion of his business administration studies in 1987, he held professional and management positions for several corporations before joining Börsenmedien AG at the start of 1999 as a member of its executive board, where he holds board-level responsibility for the areas of finance, accounting, controlling, taxes and human resources, as well as for the company’s overall business. In addition to these responsibilities, he directs group finance, with responsibility for controlling subsidiaries and affiliates. Mr. Lindner also serves on the supervisory boards of LivingLogic AG (as chairman), flatex AG (as deputy chairman), Deutsches Anleger Fernsehen AG and Nanostart AG.