Francesco La Via was born in Catania, Italy, in September 1961. He received the M.S. degree in physics from Catania University, Catania, Italy, in 1985. From 1985 to 1990, he had a fellowship at STM, Catania. In 1990, he joined the CNR IMM in Catania as a researcher. During this time, he was a Visiting Scientist at Philips NatLab, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. In 2001 he became senior researcher of the CNR IMM and he is responsible of the research group that work on the new metallization schemes for silicon and silicon carbide. From 2003 he is responsible of the division of CNR-IMM that developed new processes for silicon carbide epitaxy and hetero-epitaxy. From 2020 he become Research Director. He is responsible of several industrial research projects and coordinator of two European projects: CHALLENGE (http://h2020challenge.eu/) and SiC Nano for picoGeo (http://picogeo.eu/). Now is the coordinator of the Wide Band Gap Pilot Line. In this period, he has published more than 350 papers on JCR journals and 4 edited books. He has presented several invited contributions to international conferences and has organized several conferences and tutorials. He has 6 patents on SiC technology and growth. The main research interests are in the field of silicon carbide growth, power devices, detectors and MEMS.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Jörg Schulze is the Chair of Electron Devices at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg and Director of the Fraunhofer IISB. With a background in physics and decades of experience spanning academia and industry, his work bridges innovation in semiconductor technologies, power electronics, and photonics. He previously held senior roles at Siemens Corporate Technology and has led pioneering research in silicon-germanium-tin heterostructures and wide-bandgap devices. Prof. Schulze is a recognized expert in integrated systems and quantum electronics, and actively contributes to shaping the future of microelectronics through interdisciplinary research, strategic collaboration, and thought leadership.

Manuel Gärtner joined STMicroelectronics Munich in 1999 and is Director of wide bandgap & Electrification for automotive applications. He has worked as a development engineer for smart power products and as a research engineer at the university of Berlin and in the Fraunhofer Institute ISiT in Berlin. He has published over 35 articles and conference speeches on automotive power electronics and holds several patents. He is member of the EEHE Scientific Advisory Board, the SIA POWER TRAIN & ELECTRONICS scientific committee for Power Electronics, Member of Technical Program committee for CIPS 2026, and he represents STMicroelectronics as principal partner and is Member of the Board of Directors in ECPE.

David joined Amkor in 2013 and is currently responsible for Global Product Marketing, Market Analytics and Market Strategy. Before joining Amkor, David had held various sales management, product development and engineering positions at FlipChip International (FCI), Leica Microsystems and Agilent Technologies. David has been granted five patents in Optoelectronics and Device Packaging and holds a BEng Honours Degree in Electronic, Electrical, and Optoelectronic Engineering from the University of Glasgow.

Mike Rosa is chief marketing officer (CMO) and senior vice president responsible for strategy at Onto Innovation. Prior to his current role, Mike served as CMO for Applied Materials ICAPS and Advanced Packaging Groups, where he was responsible for leadership of strategic and technical marketing, marketing communications, charting device segment inflection roadmaps and providing strategic business development support toward M&A activities. He has over 25 years’ experience in semiconductor engineering and technology, with roles that span device design and fabrication, equipment development, marketing and sales. His technical qualifications include B.Eng. (Hons) and Ph.D. degrees in Microelectronic Engineering and an MBA with dual majors in Marketing and Business Strategy. Mike has authored over 40 journal and conference publications and holds over 29 U.S. patents

Dr. Milan Rosina is Principal Analyst, Power Electronics & Battery, at Yole Group (Yole). Dr. Rosina has 20+ years of experience due diligence, technology, and market surveys in the fields of renewable energies, xEV, EV chargers, energy storage, batteries, power electronics, thermal management, and innovative materials and components. Dr. Rosina received his Ph.D. degree from National Polytechnical Institute (Grenoble, France). He previously worked for the Institute of Electrical Engineering in Slovakia; Centrotherm in Germany; Fraunhofer IWS in Germany; CEA LETI in France; and the French utility company ENGIE.

Dr. Rainer Kaesmaier is leading the semiconductor business of Hitachi Energy with its global manufacturing and R&D footprint for the power semiconductor product portfolio which compromises GTOs, IGBTs, IGCTs, Thyristors, Diodes and SiC for market segments such as energy transmission & distribution, transportation & rail, renewables, industry and eMobility. Rainer is a semiconductor industry veteran having held various management and executive positions in the sector for close to 30 years, covering areas of global responsibility in business strategy and development, business transformation, technology and engineering, operations and production, R&D, as well as sales and marketing. After stations at Siemens, Infineon, Qimonda, and the European semiconductor manufacturer LFoundry, he assumed 2018 the responsibility for the global semiconductor business of Hitachi Energy. In addition to that, Rainer is since 2019 also member of the management board for Hitachi Energy Switzerland. He was a member in various industries strategy committees in Europe and the US, and currently in the advisory board for International Semiconductor Industry Group (I.S.I.G.). Rainer holds a Master’s degree in Physics from the Technical University Munich and a PhD in Physics from the University Kassel in Germany. He is based in Lenzburg near Zurich, Switzerland.