Ivan Tochev

entrepreneur, physicist, inventor, product designer, robotics engineer, university lecturer

Ivan is a founder and CEO of GENERAL LASER OG/GMBH, with specialization in cm-accurate RTK GNSS positioning, IMUs –inertial measurement units, lidar sensors and mobile robotics, in product development and system integration, soft-and hardware solutions, UAVs and USVs.

Ivan is co-founder and CEO of ALPHA WERKE GMBH, with specialization in mobile robotics and auto pilots for agricultural machinery, in product development and system integration, soft-and hardware solutions.

He also co-founded ARENUM e.V. and is member of the board - technical director, Arbeitsgruppe Energie und Umwelt e.V, Schwarzbach, Lausitz.

2002-2022 Lecturer at the University for Applied Arts Vienna, Austria, teaches CNC Computer Numeric Control and Digital Prototyping

Ivan has a few other patented inventions.

Prof. Rames Najjar
graduated from the Technical University in Berlin and Vienna University of Applied Arts.

He earned his Master of Architecture degree from Vienna University of Technology in 1996. In1999, Rames founded Najjar-Najjar Architects in Vienna, alongside his brother Karim, and branched out to Beirut in 2009.

In 2006, Rames co-founded the ODC (Ocean Design Corporation), focusing on the design of yachts and floating structures.
From 2014 to 2019, Rames taught design and building construction as a professor at the University of Innsbruck in the Institute for Experimental Architecture, Department of Building Construction. Currently teaching and researching at th Lebanese American University in Beirut

Rames is  CEO and cofounder of Najjar-Tochev Innovation- Vienna / Austria

Rames is also the co-founder of “Thinking Hand”, an NGO based in Austria established in 2014 engaged in the design and construction of social projects, which has completed projects in India and Lebanon.

Univ. Prof. DI Peter Bauer

graduation in civil engineering at the TU Vienna with distinction.

He is a co-founder of werkraum Ingenieure ZT-GmbH, Vice president of the Chamber of Architects and Engineering Consultants for Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland, Member of the Presidential Council of the Austrian Standard Institute, Professor for Structural Design, Head of the Department of Structural Design of the Institute of Architectural Sciences at TU Vienna.

His research work is optimization and comparative sustainability studies of load-bearing structures or components, taking into account material-specific indicators.

Dr. Malek de Jaroueh

graduated from Harvard University in 1992 and the Université de Fribourg (CH) 1994, where he respectively earned his Master of Public Administration and a Doctor in Economics

After working for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG),  he became active as an entrepreneur in Europe, the Middle East and Asia in multiple fields

• Co-founder and co-owner of the companies APEX of GULF (UAE), MEGAP GmbH (D), Indo German Brakes (India)
• Co-founder and co-owner of companies active in the field of innovative and ecological construction materials, OPIS AG (CH) Novocrete, Power Colloid GmbH (D), JAGS (Turkey) 

Dr. Raoul Schild

studied Mechanical Engineering and Technical Mathematics at the Technical University of Vienna, the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich and has a Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. Scientific specialization in the aeronautics (experimental designs, systems (navigation, air traffic control and testing).

Entrepreneur since 2001 in the field of traffic and transportation. Active pilot with test flight rating for experimental aircraft.

He is founder and CEO of Schild & Partner GmbH, http://www.schild-partner.com/

Karim Najjar

is the founder and principal of Najjar & Najjar Architects and Professor at AUB’s Department of Architecture and Design.

In 1996 Karim was awarded master’s in architecture at the Vienna University of Technology. Soon after he founded Najjar & Najjar Architects with his brother Rames in Vienna in 1999. Their innovative design approach soon found international recognition, winning several international awards, with contributions to a variety of books, and exhibitions in major cities as Paris, Tokyo, and Berlin.

In 2009 Karim joined the Department of architecture and Design at AUB where he is since then teaching as full-time faculty member. His research interest is in advanced systems such as lightweight and kinetic structures. In 2016 he founded DI-Lab (Design Impact Laboratory) with the purpose of engaging architecture and engineering students in the design and implementation of community-based projects in Lebanon and the region.

In 2018 Karim Najjar founded the D4C (Design for Communities). The D4C platform adopts an action-oriented research and design approach within a professional framework acting as a catalyst for sustainable development in Lebanon.