SET Award 2025

Corinna Enders has been Chairwoman of dena’s Management Board since October 2023. In this role, she is responsible for dena’s operational and strategic development as well as its content. Her work focuses on supporting the German government and all stakeholders involved in the transformation to climate neutrality.

Corinna studied law in Germany and Italy and is an expert in environmental and climate policy, working briefly as a lawyer before spending many years as a government civil servant. Before joining dena, Corinna established and expanded Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH, a non-profit, in Berlin as Managing Director.

Angela is one of the world’s leading global energy futures experts, an experienced energy executive, a distinguished Oxford scholar and a published author. She has 30 years of experience in leading national, international and global multi-stakeholder transformation initiatives on a wide range of economic, energy, climate and sustainable development related challenges. Angela has worked as a senior executive in the public-, private-, academic- and civic sectors. She joined the World Energy Council in 2017 to create a practical energy transition leaders toolkit and direct a new strategic insights programme. Prior to that Angela led an upgrade in strategic foresight at the OECD, based in Paris. Prior corporate experience includes decades in Royal Dutch Shell and British Gas plc. Angela is an Associate Fellow, Said Business School, Oxford and a Strategic Foresight Fellow of the GOA, USA. She sits on two international advisory boards (HSE, Russia; ECI, Oxford) and is a Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Science. She has published four books and numerous articles. Angela has a PhD in Physics.

Jane is the Managing Director for Venture Cup China which is an international Innovation and Entrepreneurship Service Platform based in Shanghai. It specializes in global competition, talents attraction and STI transformation primarily in Green & Sustainable Technology. The current operating projects include University Startup World Cup and Nordic Innovation Centre (Shanghai).  She is also the Executive Secretary General for World Young Scientist Summit as an academic event held once a year for the world young talents. The summit is jointly sponsored by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province. It highlights the importance of integrating science with industries, venture capitals, arts and other societal endeavors as well as encourages multidisciplinary innovation among young scientist.

Before returning to her hometown, she has over ten years international management experiences in USA, Europe and Hong Kong.

Robina is an Investor at Contrarian Ventures, the pan-European climate tech venture firm focusing on early-stage companies that work on innovations to decarbonize the energy sector, transportation industry, heavy industry, and urban space. Next to these industries, Contrarian looks at Carbon & Climate as markets separately. Robina has joined the team recently and manages the DACH market after founding and building the first circular economy software start-up in Germany for the last five years.

Robina holds an MSc in Politics, Economics, and Philosophy from the University of Zurich and ETH and recently joined the advisory board at dena.

Freerk Bisschop is a seasoned investor and advisor in energy transition innovation. He has a long background in the energy industry, as a scientist, strategist, consultant, manager, entrepreneur, executive, non-executive, investor and advisor. Currently he acts as Venture Partner to Inven Capital and as an independent advisor to startups, scale-ups and investors.

Antje Danielson joined MIT in April 2016 after 8 years at Tufts University where she directed the Institute of the Environment and was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health. She was elected President of the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors in 2012, and holds a number of board positions. Antje received awards from Harvard University and an Exceptional Contribution Award from Durham University. In 1999/2000 she co-founded the car-sharing company Zipcar.

With over 15 years of experience in the energy, mobility, and sustainability sectors, I am passionate about supporting innovative start-ups that drive electrification and decarbonization. As a Partner at Vireo Ventures, an early-stage VC firm, I leverage my expertise in business development, strategy, and marketing to identify, evaluate, and mentor highly scalable ventures that align with our mission and vision. I am also a certified business trainer, with a proven track record of delivering impactful training and coaching programs to entrepreneurs, executives, and teams.

Julia Padberg is Partner at SET Ventures, Europe’s leading energy VC that is currently investing from its 4th fund (€200m). SET aims to create a carbon-free energy system by endorsing pioneering founders with the capital, community, and insights to deliver financial and impact returns. Julia joined SET 8 years ago after 6 years being a corporate finance advisor in the energy & climate tech sectors. She is a director on the supervisory boards of FlexiDAO, Trunkrs and Sensorfact.

Tina Schirr is the Executive Director of the BusinessNZ Energy Council (the New Zealand representative of the World Energy Council). In her role she is shaping policy on matters relating to climate change, energy, transport, and innovation. She is a member of the Transpower Consumer Advisory Panel to help communities better understand energy. Tina a board member of the Young Energy Professional Network (YEPN) and part of the World Energy Council’s expert groups (for example on clean fuels and energy trilemma). She recently joint the start-up competition jury ‘Get in the Ring’. Due to her passion for entrepreneurism, she is always looking out for the next game-changer in the energy sector.

Kendra Rauschenberger is General Partner at Siemens Energy Ventures, the venture arm of Siemens Energy, focused on building, piloting with and investing in start-ups that will transform the energy systems.

Kendra has worked for Siemens companies for more than 20 years and has extensive experience in the areas of corporate venturing, sales, business development and strategic projects across innovation and renewable energy. Her previous role was in Additive Manufacturing, one of Siemens’ key innovative technologies, where she was Head of Business Development, Sales and Marketing and responsible for developing new business for this exciting technology with global customers across multiple industries. Prior to this she worked in the UK and Denmark for the company now known as Siemens Gamesa in various management roles including Head of Sales, Bids and Strategic projects.

Kendra holds an MBA in New Venture Creation from the University of Louisville and is located in Erlangen, Germany.

Danijel Višević is a General Partner at World Fund. He is a recognised climate tech thought leader, policy professional and journalist by vocation. Before co-founding World Fund, he was Director of Communications at Project A Ventures, co-founder of Zetra Project and Krautreporter. Danijel was also co-responsible for the audio-visual appearance of Angela Merkel for nearly half a decade.

Aziz is a principal at the Siemens Energy Ventures, the venturing arm of Siemens Energy, focused on building, piloting, and investing in start-ups that will transform the energy systems. His investment focus is on global climate tech startups in Clean Energy, Carbon Tech, H2 Economy, and Long-duration-energy-storage that play in the intersection between hardware and software that can significantly contribute to a net-zero economy. Aziz has more than 10 years of experience as a strategist, leader, entrepreneur, and investor with an extensive network across automotive and energy from investors to corporates, to entrepreneurs and thought leaders.

Luis is managing partner at kopa ventures, a Germany- and UK-based early-stage VC with a focus on the most promising European climate tech startups in the fields of Energy, Mobility and Nature & Carbon Tech.

Luis has more than 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur, manager and investor in mobility and energy with a broad network to entrepreneurs, start-ups, corporates, investors, and the public sector. In addition to his consulting experience, he co-founded a company in the AI sector. At EIT InnoEnergy, Luis was part of the early-stage DACH investment team and also restructured and further developed the global mobility portfolio.

As President of Women in Renewable Energy Mexico AC, (MERM) she co-founded MERL, the Latin American Network of Women in Energy that seeks the inclusion of more women in the energy sector, empowering and promoting initiatives with triple impact in the field of renewable energies in LATAM. 

She is part of the boards of directors; Mexican Solar Association (ASOLMEX), Path to 100# by Wartzila, Latin American Council of Renewable Energy LACOORE, member of the MX Alliance and the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.  

She has been named 100 Powerful Women in Mexico by Forbes, 200 Important Women in Mexico by Executive World, 10 Women in Energy 2021, among other publications where she writes opinion articles, and actively participates in international conferences and forums as a speaker. 

She is a delegate for Mexico in the official women’s group W20 G20 working group that forms a transnational network of women’s organizations, associations.