Mr. Wieland has over 39 years of experience with aircraft structural design, analysis and testing.

He began his career as an officer in the United States Air Force designing repairs, performing finite element analysis and damage tolerance analysis.

After joining Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) he expanded his expertise into aircraft usage monitoring, component and full scale testing.  He has been involved with the digital transformation of aerospace structures from the days of 2-D paper drawing and creating finite element models by typing each input card my hand up until todays modern CAD systems with very sophisticated pre and post processors built in.

As a business manager at NLR, Frank Wokke works on aerospace innovation and new project development with a focus on aviation sustainability. He has been involved in a variety of national and European-funded programs aimed at the introduction of hydrogen fuel cell electric propulsion, hydrogen combustion and hybrid electric propulsion in aviation.

After completing a Masters degree in Aerospace Engineering and a PhD in systems integration, I worked for three years in the development and integration of hybrid powertrains for heavy road vehicles, before joining Short Brothers (now Spirit Aerosystems) in 2014.

Since then I have worked on nacelle and air vehicle systems integration, including fire safety and fire testing. I am now leading the setup of two new R&D programmes, spearheading the application of advanced digital testing methodologies including digital twins and Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE).

Todd Leighton is a respected engineering leader with more than 25 years of experience designing, building, and testing complex aircraft modifications. In his current role as AeroTEC’s Director of Experimental Products, he leads both the Product Innovation and Flight Test Engineering teams as they design and test new and novel aerospace products for AeroTEC’s customers. His primary area of focus is in low speed external aerodynamics but has also worked on detailed structural design issues primarily in landing gear structures.  Todd has designed and tested numerous wind tunnel models for commercial and special mission aircraft to investigate low speed aerodynamic issues, design performance goals and validate preliminary design concepts. Todd holds a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Washington, is a FAA Structures DER, and has also worked on three America’s Cup campaigns.

Martin holds a degree in Electrical Engineering. Prior to joining Kistler Instrumente AG in 2012, he held various positions in the lighting industry.

After serving as a Product Manager for laboratory signal conditioners for several years, he took on the role of overseeing Test & Measurement's Data Acquisition and Electronics Product Management Team. Today, he works in Business Development, concentrating on Kistler's aviation applications.

Baptiste holds a Master's degree in robotics from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). In 2021, he served as the Head of Battery Energy Storage System Development for EPFL's Racing Team, and in 2022, he worked as an Electronics Engineer for the Swiss Solar Boat Project.

Since 2023, he has been a Product Development Engineer at H55, focusing on the company's battery modules for electric aircraft propulsion systems.

Raffaele Donelli is the author of several papers and is a referee for the Italian Ministry of University and Research as well as for the European Commission (Clean Sky 1 &2, Clean Hydrogen programs). He has been the CIRA representative responsible for “Instability and Transition and Flow Control” research group in the “Applied Aerodynamics Laboratory”. He has developed a 3D compressible theoretical model to predict the transition of boundary layers from laminar to turbulent by using linear stability theory, ray theory and multiple scale technique.

Raffaele has significant experience in EU and national projects on topics like laminar flow control technology, active flow control, aerodynamic performances both as a technical researcher and as a work package manager. He has worked on the development of fast CFD methods for transonic flow simulations based on Reduced Order Models.

He has been seconded for several years in the Clean Sky 1 and 2 Joint Undertakings as Dissemination, Exploitation, Risk and Liaison Manager. Since 2020 he has been the head of the unit Programming Strategy and Business Development.

Currently, he has the role of Digital Twin Manager in charge to develop and create the digital twins from existing CIRA Research Infrastructures.

Stefan Kruse studied mechanical engineering at the RheinMain University of Applied Sciences, where he graduated with a degree in engineering. He then worked as product manager for a company in the technical toy business. Since 2017, he has been working as product manager at HBK where he was responsible for various sensor types such as pressure sensors, multi-component sensors, and the T210 Shaft Torque Sensor.

Stefan has been working in HBK’s Physical Testing unit since 2023, where he is now involved in product management for DAQ systems and high-channel applications and solutions.

With a varied career in experimental materials science, Peter Bailey is now Instron’s principal expert on fatigue and fracture testing of all types of materials, as well as the durability and dynamic aspects of product and device testing.

Within Instron he provides expert interpretation and advice on market and customer needs for software development and complex sales projects, and helps communicate product capabilities. He is an active member of several ISO and ASTM standards committees, in addition to writing and presenting technical papers and articles on novel approaches to mechanical testing and analysis.

Ramani Sankar holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Systems Engineering from the University of Freiburg. His expertise lies in structural tests using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) ranging, from quasi-static to high-speed tests.

Currently, he is actively involved in the Smarter Testing Project alongside Airbus, Dassault Systèmes and other collaborators, concentrating primarily on large-scale DIC tests on aircraft wings.

Henno is the lead flight test engineer for production and experimental test flight and has worked on the test programs for Airbus Helicopters. He has worked on test programs for aircraft such as the EC135, BK117, CH-53, Sea King, Sea Lynx, as well as most recently the CityAirbus Alpha, CityAirbus NextGen.

Before joining Airbus Helicopters, he was head of rotary wing flight test for the RNLAF (Royal Netherlands Airforce) and a flight test engineer, working on flight test programs for aircraft including the AH-64D Apache, Agusta-Bell AB-412SP and Pilatus PC-7, and also worked in pilot and technical officer training. He is a graduate of the Empire Test Pilot School and achieved an aerospace engineering degree from Technical University Delft.

Dr Matthieu Pettes-Duler holds a PhD in Hybrid-Electric Aircraft Propulsion, with a distinguished career at the forefront of aerospace innovation. He played a pivotal role in the HASTECS project, a collaborative effort with Airbus, spearheading a team of six PhD students, two post-doctoral researchers, and four research laboratories. Together, they explored the future of aviation, culminating in groundbreaking research on fuel cell-powered aircraft.

His expertise continued to shape the industry landscape with Blue Spirit Aero, where he led the design of a CS23 aircraft powered by fuel cell technology and pressurized H2.

Dr. Pettes-Duler's contributions extended to Airbus UpNext in June 2021, where he joined the fuel cell demonstrator project as part of the ZEROe Program, leveraging his expertise in aircraft design and propulsion systems. Today, Dr. Pettes-Duler serves as the Head of Powertrain, overseeing critical aspects of flight testing and ground activities as well.

Abhishek Alladi is a Fellow in Software V&V CoE and an Electronics and Communication graduate with about 19 years of experience in software development and verification activities for avionics systems, specializing in the Real Time Embedded domain. With extensive knowledge in verification of system requirements, coding, system integration, system testing and verification & validation of real time embedded systems, his innovative ideas resulted in 4 publications, 7 Trade Secrets and 7 Filed Patents. He leads Generative AI adoption for Software testing leveraging state-of-the-art On-premises Large Language Models. Additionally, he holds a private pilot license from DGCA, India since February 2013, and have flown Cessna 172R in a G1000 glass cockpit.

Eric is the founder of Elfly Group which aims to bring electric aviation to the consumer and has been working with electric aviation since 2017.
The company's ambitious project is to build and certify a 9-passenger electric flying boat.
Eric has work in successful startups within IT and as an investor in companies Zaptec, Otovo and Bye Aerospace. Now he is fully focusing on electric aviation.

Steve Summers is a director of offering management at NI focusing on mechanical systems and structural test for aerospace and defense customers. He has worked in roles as an application engineer, sales engineer, account owner, and product manager. He has worked in the test and measurement industry for more than 25 years.

Florent Mathieu founded digital imaging software company EikoSim four years ago as a result of research work at the University of Paris-Saclay’s LMT laboratory.

The startup’s main product EikoTwin is image-processing software that enables information to be more accurately transfered between test and design engineers by creating a digital twin that connects directly with simulation pre/post processing tools.

Nichola joined Boeing following a decade-long career working with early stage and scaling startups, where she championed the role of the SME to 
government, particularly in the security and resilience sector. Nichola brings extensive experience of international business development and 
fundraising for growth, from strategy through to execution; with a wide network across governments and industry. Having also gained experience of 
working inside one of the world's largest corporations, she has become even more passionate about the benefits of collaboration between startups 
and corporates. In her role as Managing Partner for Aerospace Xelerated, Nichola invests in and supports startups using innovative technologies to 
the benefit of the aerospace sector and related industries.

Manoj Sarang has spearheaded numerous high-profile projects, including the delivery of multiple turnkey jet engine test cell facilities for some of the world’s largest OEMs. After nearly a decade of hands-on project execution, Manoj has transitioned to a pivotal role at MDS as the DAS Business Strategy Lead. Here, he champions the development and market integration of MDS’ flagship DAS product, nxDAS.

MDS is a pioneer of the iDDS protocol, a game changing communications protocol rapidly gaining traction across the gas turbine testing industry among OEMs, MRO end users, and instrumentation vendors. In his current role, Manoj works to steer the nxDAS product development to align seamlessly with both business objectives and evolving market demands. MDS is a flagbearer for the iDDS protocol and he, along with the MDS team, are working on expanding its adoption and continuous advancement ensuring greater protocol accessibility and enhanced industry-wide collaboration.

Rui Pedro Silva is a seasoned professional with over 30 years of experience in the aerospace industry. Having led multidisciplinary teams across multiple Bombardier sites, his focus ranges from Flight Testing, Supplier Integration and Product Development.

In his current role as Vice President, Functional Engineering, Rui Pedro assumes responsibility for the development and retention of all engineering skills and expertise. He ensures that Bombardier’s Engineering teams are readily scalable to support the company’s growth, as well as fully apt at maintaining sustaining aircraft programs.

Prior to his appointment, Rui Pedro served as Bombardier’s Senior Engineering Director, Structures Integration and Aircraft Interiors, for which he was responsible for providing design and operational support for both interior completion and assembly activities of the Bombardier Global business jets production.

Rui Pedro holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the École de Technologie Supérieure University in Montréal, Canada.

Tim Rossiter is Head of Propulsion at electric aircraft manufacturer Heart Aerospace. Tim has spent most his career as an aerospace propulsion and systems engineer at Rolls-Royce and ITP Aero. He is a well-proven, commercially driven leader of large engineering, programs and supply chain teams with multi million-pound budgets and business case accountability within the civil aerospace propulsion industry. Tom has proven expertise in new product development and production project and programme management, with a passion for systems architecture and engine/aircraft product optimisation via engineering and business case development.

Carmine Salzano holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from University of Napoli (Italy). He was a professor at University of Salerno (Italy) in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department (2003), teaching noise and vibration control. Carmine has worked for over 30 years in the market of sensors and instrumentation. Presently, his title is International Manager at PCB Piezotronics, Inc., Aerospace & Defense and Test Sector.

Raphael Hallez is an aerospace testing specialist with nearly 20 years experience at Siemens. He has been involved in many testing and simulation projects with leading aviation, space and defense companies worldwide and is currently in charge of the business development activities for testing products at Siemens Digital Industries Software.

Aerospace research engineer/scientist with a multidisciplinary background in fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, aeroacoustics, and aeroelasticity. Aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice through research on complex engineering flow systems. Has addressed critical issues encountered in extreme engineering environments within the aerospace, energy, and household sectors.

David joined DSMA (Aiolos’ predecessor company) in 1984 and has been with Aiolos since its formation in 1994.  David is responsible for the aerodynamic and process design of test facilities, the aerodynamic design of wind tunnel fans, and the start-up and commissioning of new facilities.  David holds a B.A.Sc. (1980) from the University of Waterloo and an M.Eng. (1983) from Carleton University.

Emanuele Bezzecchi is the AI roadmap manager at Leonardo Helicopters. He holds a degree in Aerospace Engineering with a specialization in Aeronautical Engineering from the Politecnico di Milano and a master's in Deep Learning. He is a member of the G34 Aerospace AI Implementation and Certification Committee, which sets standards for AI technology implementation and certification in flight systems for safety. He focuses on AI investments and technology strategy at Leonardo Helicopters, coordinating a research team, collaborating with startups and universities to accelerate corporate innovation.

AI can contribute to safer flight operations in numerous ways. Daedalean AI has been developing certifiable systems with machine-learned algorithms to offer pilot assistance in the detection of non-cooperative traffic, landing guidance and navigation in GPS-denied environments. All of these functions are potential game-changers. Leonardo Helicopters sought to find out how these AI-enabled systems would perform in real life trials. Engineers from both teams will present their findings on how AI is poised to bring about a revolution in air safety.

Emil Wes Lambert is a Partnerships Manager at AeroDelft, a student-led organization that aims to design, build, and fly the world's first liquid hydrogen-powered aircraft. In this role, I am responsible for securing and maintaining partnerships with various stakeholders, such as sponsors, suppliers, media, and universities, to support our project's vision and goals.

Bruno Dahan joined Aerospace Valley, the local competitive cluster cluster in the aerospace sector serving 3 strategic sectors in Occitanie/Pyrénées-Méditerranée & Nouvelle-Aquitaine regions more than two years ago. Previous to this, he worked for Airbus for more than 20 years in senior technical and managerial positions.

Anne JANY, a former VP at Airbus, held various leadership roles, including Head of Propulsion and Mechanical System Product Development for the A350XWB, and Head of Propulsion Systems Procurement Operations, managing the A320 NEOs ramp-up. She managed numerous test programs at the aircraft, engine, component, and structure levels. In 2022, after a successful 33-year career, Anne founded JANY Coaching & Consulting (JC&C), specializing in aviation consulting and individual and team performance. She co-created the STOKE Method to optimize company effectiveness and offers PERFILMENT® , a coaching system enhancing job fulfillment and performance. With over 30 years of aviation experience, Anne is an MIT graduate and holds an executive coaching certificate from HEC Paris.

Nathan specialises in supporting aerospace and defence companies through test related digital transformation initiatives. He helps to identify solutions to complex challenges at A&D organisations which incorporates NI technology, best practise, and industry standards to improve and modernise test workflows, tools, and methodologies.

Nathan’s background is in Physics. He holds an PhD from Swansea University, UK with a specialism in nanotechnology.

As Business Development Manager for NI, Javier Gutierrez is the expert on embedded software validation application (like Hardware in the Loop or Functional Test). He is a consultant on how to apply National Instruments technologies on his V&V applications in the Aerospace market. He is also responsible to develop strategic relationship with customers and prospective partners to better integrate platforms and solutions to customer needs.

Gutierrez joined NI Spain in 2000 as an application engineer, where he also held positions as a Field Sales Engineer, District Sales Manager and Applications Engineer Manager. He transferred to NI Corporate in Austin in December 2006 to hold the role of Product Marketing Manager for LabVIEW Control Design and Simulation, PID Toolkit, System Identification toolkit, LabVIEW Statechart and LabVIEW. In 2010 he returned to Europe where started the Business Development program in EMEIA as Business Development Manager for HIL.

He has the equivalent of an electrical engineering degree with a master in controls from the University of Malaga, Spain.

Before co-founding Ascendance in 2018, Thibault started his career as an Aerospace Engineer at Airbus. He was involved in several research programs about hybridizing aircrafts ranging from UAVs, rotorcraft and regional airplanes.
Thibault then moved to the E-FAN program at Airbus - one of the very first 100% electrical aircraft in the world - where he led the development of the Central Electronic Control Unit (ECU) and oversaw the electric propulsion system architecture as System Architect.
Thibault holds a MEng. in Aeronautical engineering from Ecole Centrale de Lyon (FRA) and a Msc. in Thermics and Energy from Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1.

Cedric Savineau is one of the four co-founders of Hynaero, where he heads up the Engineering, Program Management and Industrial activities.
He previously held roles as Vice-President Manufacturing Engineering at Daher, General Manager of Avcorp Industries (now Latécoère) in Canada, and Business Unit Director – Aerostructures- of SABCA in Belgium.
Cedric obtained his Master’s degree in Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA, and his MBA in Project Management from the George Washington University in the USA.

Jean-Marie Dès has over 20 years of experience in aeronautical development and qualification testing. He is currently the Test Center Director of IRT Saint Exupery, a research institute dedicated to the aerospace fields, based in Toulouse, Bordeaux and Sophia-Antipolis (France).

Christophe Bénaroya, a graduate of Toulouse Business School (TBS Education), holds a master's in Management Science from Toulouse University and a PhD in Marketing from Lyon. He worked in the industry for 15 years in various marketing roles before joining TBS Education as a professor. He led the "Business to Business Management" program in Barcelona and an international specialized master’s in marketing & Communication.
From 2015 to 2020, he directed the Aerospace MBA programs in France and India, and the "Aerospace & Mobility Center of Excellence." Currently, he heads the MSc Aerospace Management. He has published multiple articles and books on marketing. He is Honorary Consul of Latvia in Occitanie.