In 2006 he was a math and physics teacher, who started experimenting with hops, malt and yeast back home in his kitchen in Copenhagen. Today Mikkel Borg Bjergsø exports his micro brewed beer to 50 countries. His beer brand Mikkeller is first and foremost beer – showcasing all possible styles and ingredients; a world of hops, malt, barrel ageing, spontaneous fermentation, licorice, coffee, passionfruit etc. – but Mikkeller also run restaurants, a beer festival, and a worldwide running club. Last but not least the brewery does an ocean of fun collaborations with talented people from the wondrous world of gastronomy and culture.
Bjergsø’s inventive and constant development of Mikkeller has made him internationally acclaimed as one of the most innovative brewers and entrepreneurs in the world.

As Good Idea Manager or project manager with the reward-based crowdfunding platform Ulule, I coach projects to reach their full potential and help them make their crowdfunding a succes.

Bruno Bonacchelli is co-owner of Brasse&Vous Brewery in Belgium. He is also a consultant for Castle Malting’s R&D Department, Training Manager at Meura S.A., brewmaster and an expert in brewing. After having graduated as an engineer in chemistry and biotechnology from the University of Liège in Belgium and pursued as a teacher, Bruno started his career with beer filtration researches at the same university and commenced his professional journey in industrial brewing worldwide. For more than 20 years Bruno Bonacchelli has been working in different parts of the world for different brew houses including almost all big brewing companies. He was employed at Meura S.A. as R&D Engineer, Project Manager, Technical After-Sales Manager, Auditor and Fine-Tuner, Optimization Specialist or Training Manager. In the meantime Bruno Bonacchelli became a co-owner of a craft brewery in Belgium where he has designed the whole plant and created his own craft beers exploring a complete different world but providing the thrill of mixing tradition and technology.

Cees ‘t Hart (1958) joined Carlsberg Group as CEO in 2015 after seven years as CEO of the Dutch dairy cooperativ Royal FrieslandCampina. Mr. Hart worked for 24 years with Unilever, starting his career as management trainee, and held a range of international management positions in the Netherlands, Hungary, Singapore, Poland and Italy. His last position in Unilever was member of the Unilever Europe Board as SVP Marketing Operations. Mr. Hart holds an MA in Social Science from the Leiden University. During his studies Cees worked in the Parkhotel in Rotterdam and as a taxi driver in their Rotterdam Harbour. He has been a Member of Supervisory Board at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines since 2014. Mr. Hart is married to Nelly and they have two daughters. Passions outside work involve tennis, golf, sailing and skiing.

David Cunningham is Programme Director in the UK for `There`s A Beer For That` an industry wide consumer campaign which is re-igniting Britain`s love of beer, enhancing the reputation and image of beer & helping drive overall category momentum.
David leads Britain`s Beer Alliance – a broad coalition of brewers and pub companies, big & small, as well as a wide range of industry bodies – all of whom have united to promote the total beer category. He has a breadth of experience in marketing, innovation, strategy and business development across all major drinks categories (soft drinks, beer, wine, champagne & spirits) having previously worked for companies including Coca-Cola, Cadbury Schweppes, Guinness, Diageo, Moet Hennessy (LVMH), Constellation Wines & Accolade Wines.

Chemical Engineer, Beer Sommelière, Master of Beer Styles.
Professor at Escola Superior de Cerveja e Malte, in Blumenau – Brazil.
Columnist for Revista da Cerveja.
Speaker and instructor for Chemical Engineering courses.
Beer sommelière, expert in consulting, tasting and pairing for courses and events.
International Beer Judge.

Frédérique Harmegnies graduated in 1993 as a Biochemical Engineer. After a 2 years research project on beer filtration , she joined Meura in 1995 as engineer in the Research and Development department. In 1998 ,she was involved in the creation of the R&D pilot centre of Meura on the site of the University of Louvain-La-Neuve .From 1998, she has taken part in various projects developments such as milling under water, continuous brewing, direct steam heating, mash filtration, extract production , green malt processing, wortstripping,…
Since October2006 she is holding the position of R&D Manager at Meura

After the degree in Food Science and Technology at University of Parma, Giovanni Campari did some homebrewing for 2 years and then he started his professional brewer’s path with an internship of five months at Birrificio Italiano. In 2007 he founded Birrificio del Ducato with Manuel Piccoli, growing as a visionary and radical brewmaster. He’s actually the alchemist who puts his soul into the beers produced by Birrificio del Ducato. In the newborn brewery he created beers that are now part of the history of Italian craft beer scene, such as Viaemilia and A.F.O. and New Morning Giovanni Campari specialized also in the production of barrel aged beers, conceiving precious pieces such as L’Ultima Luna (barrel aged and oxidized Barley Wine) or Beersel Morning (a saison blended with Lambic). With his brewery he won a lot of awards in the most prestigious international competitions, as World Beer Cup and European Beer Star. Nowadays he continues working as General Manager and Brewmaster, putting his creativity and efforts at the service of the growth of the brewery. In December 2016 Birrificio del Ducato has joined the Duvel Moortgat family of breweries.

After a career in food, Jan co-founded his own sustainability advisory company in 1997. Today Finch & Beak has grown into a European consultancy focused on designing value generating sustainability strategies for corporate clients and how to effectively implement them into the core of the business. Since 2003 Jan is a frequent case writer and guest speaker on the topic of value creation from sustainability at IMD Lausanne, INSEAD Singapore and SKOLKOVO Moscow. In 2013 Jan was granted the prestigious EFMD Case Writing Competition Award for co-authoring an IMD case about Bavaria’s green guerrilla marketing.

Johan Swinnen is Professor of Economics and Director of the LICOS-Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance at the KU Leuven; Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels; a part-time Visiting Professor at the Centre for Food Security and the Environment (FSE) at Stanford University. Earlier he was President of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (2012-15), Lead Economist at the World Bank (2003-4) and Economic Advisor at the European Commission (1998-2001); and is a regular advisor to institutions such as the FAO, World Bank, EBRD, OECD, etc.

He is the President of the global Beeronomics Society (www.beeronomics.org), and has published several books on the business and economics of beer and brewing: “The Economics of Beer” (2009, Oxford University Press) and “Beeronomics: How Beer Explains the World” (2017, Oxford University Press) and “Economics of the Craft Beer Revolution: A Comparative International Perspective” (2018 Palgrave Macmillan).

He has also published widely on global value chains, standards, international development, agricultural and food policies, political economy, institutional reform and trade. His recent books include “The Political Economy of Agricultural and Food Policies” (2018, Palgrave Macmillan). “Quality Standards, Value Chains and International Development” (2015, Cambridge Univ Press); “Political Power and Economic Policy” (2011 Cambridge Univ Press), “The Economics of Chocolate” (2015, Oxford Univ Press), “Global Supply Chains, Standards, and the Poor” (2007, CABI).

Owner of the “Biergasthof Riedberg”, Upper Austria – www.riedberg.at
Unique beer cellar – 400 international beers
Official Diplom Biersommelier since 2012

Kevin Verstrepen is professor in Genetics and Genomics at Leuven University and Group Leader in Systems Biology at VIB (Flanders Institute for Biotechnology). He serves as the director of the VIB Center for Microbiology, director of the Leuven Institute for Beer Research and as Honorary Professor at Nottingham University.
Verstrepen obtained his MSc and PhD in biological engineering from Leuven University. Between 2003 and 2005, he served as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Gerald Fink at M.I.T. In 2005, Verstrepen was appointed as Fellow and lecturer at Harvard University, where he led a team of researchers specialized in yeast genetics. In 2007, he was appointed as professor in Genetics at Leuven University and after he was also appointed as team leader at the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology in 2009, he moved his team from Harvard back to Leuven. In 2011, Verstrepen Founded the Leuven Institute for Beer Research and in 2016, he was appointed as director of the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology.
Verstrepen authored more than 100 publications in various scientific journals and books and received several distinctions, including the Harvard Derek Bok Award for teaching, the EMBO Young Investigator award, the Léo Errera prize for general biology of the Belgian Academy for Arts and Sciences, an Honorary Professorship form Nottingham University and a golden chalk award for best teacher from the Leuven Bio-Engineering students.

Marco Philipsen has been working for over 25 years at Mitra, a chain of liquor stores in The Netherlands. Started as stagier and at this moment the Managing Director of the company. He’s still responsible for the beer category and for the last twenty years a pioneer for craft beers. When he started there where 10 craft brewers in the country and the consumer knew only lager as style. He managed to tell people about the diversity of beers and this reached to a market share of more the 30%. Nowadays there are more then 520 breweries in The Netherlands and is it hard for brewers to stand out. Mitra has proven to be the specialist. Especially by the way the beers are presented and sold in the stores, the events that are organized and using moments and suggestion of food in the communication. From Bottle sellers to Storytellers! Together with Rick Kempen he wrote a book about beer “Minder Trammelant in Bierland and it’s still the beer book who’s sold the most copies in the country (50.000 copies) Marco is a Doemens Beer sommelier and teaches at StiBON (Beer education) He is also the co- founder of the Week of Dutch Beer end the Dutch Beer Challenge.

Michel Moortgat was born in Ukkel on 5 May 1967. He earned a licence degree in Commercial and Financial Sciences and later received a Master of Business Administration from the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School.
Upon graduating, in late 1991, Michel Moortgat began his career at Brewery Duvel Moortgat, where he has been a member of the management since 1992.
As CEO since 1999, he has been responsible for the day-to-day management of the brewery group. Since 1999, the turnover of Duvel Moortgat has increased tenfold and foreign sales have grown to represent almost 75% of total sales.
The ambition was clearly set to grow in the niche of premium specialty beers by investing in quality, diversification and geographical expansion. The company evolved from a mono-brand / mono-country strategy to a complementary brand portfolio and international presence in more than 50 countries.
Today Duvel Moortgat is one of the largest independent brewing groups in Belgium and distinguishes itself from its competitors by focussing on the segment of specialty beers. The company markets strong brands such as Duvel, Vedett, Liefmans, Chouffe, Boulevard, Firestone Walker or ‘t IJ with production sites in Belgium, the US, the Netherlands, Italy and Czech Republic. A clear M&A strategy and a continuous focus on quality and organic growth have definitely contributed to the success of Duvel Moortgat.
The group currently counts ~1450 employees; close to 700 people work in the US, 75 in the Netherlands, 60 in France and a team of 70 people pioneering in China.
At the beginning of 2011, Michel Moortgat was elected by the Belgian business and finance weekly Trends as Manager of the Year 2010. The jury also praised Moortgat’s “no-nonsense” approach to business. In 2014 he won the 2014 Vlerick Award for taking Duvel “to the top in a sustainable way”. In the spring of 2017, Michel Moortgat was awarded the brand-new title of Nieuwe Vlaamse Meester (New Flemish Master).
He has a very strong interest in contemporary visual arts, as evidenced by his positions on the boards of: the Wiels Centre for Contemporary Art (Brussels) and President Heritage Fund of the King Baudouin Foundation (Brussels).

Cofondateur et maître brasseur de la microbrasserie “Cerveja Vadia” au Portugal depuis 2006.
Né en France en 1973, au Creusot (71), sud de la région de Bourgogne.
Ingénieur Brasseur diplômé de l’ENSAIA (École National Supérieur d’Agronomie et Industries Alimentaires) de Nancy en 1996.
Installé au Portugal depuis 1998, je démarre le projet de la microbrasserie “Vadia” en 2006 avec 2 amis Portugais.
La marque “cerveja Vadia” est pionnière au Portugal sur le marché des bières artisanales et dynamise le mouvement de ce secteur depuis 2011.
Nos bières sont les premières bières portugaises à gagner des médailles dans des concours internationaux (Brussel Beer Challenge, Lyon, WBA) depuis 2012.
La marque “Vadia” est actuellement la marque de bière artisanale portugaise la plus médaillée au niveau international.
Membre de la direction de l’APTCM (Association des techniciens de brasserie et de malterie au Portugal).
La brasserie “cerveja Vadia” fait partie de l’association des brasseurs du Portugal.
Je mène en parallèle une autre activité professionnelle en tant que directeur technique d’une filiale du groupe GEBO au Portugal, spécialisé dans les lignes d’embouteillages.

Master of Science in engineering and production management
In his current profession, he is responsible for the implementation, monitoring and ongoing optimization of the green energy concept at the brewery Göss in Leoben, Austria. The Focus is controlling interactions between multiple energy technologies, e.g. the brewing process & beverage packaging, as well as the social interplay. Economic aspects along with simplicity of operation are main matters for the green transformation.
Beside the energy sector, he is managing and technically supporting projects across the whole brewery. During his professional activities, Peter worked in the fields of mechanical engineering, production technologies and total productive management (TPM).

Brewery related project:
• Optimization of the kieselguhr filtration plant
• Reconstruction of brew house CIP-Set
• Modification of fermentation tank to BBT
• Replacement of returnable bottle labeler & inliner system
• Reactivation of the outdoor maturation tank area

Stefan Hanke was born in 1980. From November 1999 to July 2004 he studied Brewing Science and Beverage Technology at TU München (Weihenstephan), graduating as an engineer with a Dipl.-Ing. degree. In 2010 he received a Ph.D. degree for his research on the influence of hopping technology on harmony of beer. During his studies he worked for and received practical training at different German brewing and malting companies. From 2004-2010 he has been a scientific employee at the Lehrstuhl fuer Technologie der Brauerei I, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany (Professor Back). From 2006 until 2007 he headed the institute’s Small Scale and Pilot Scale Brewery Department. From 2007-2010 he was responsible for the HPLC and GC Laboratory of the Institute for Brewing and Beverage Technology (Prof. Becker) in Weihenstephan. Since 2010 he is head of the pilot plant of the Bitburg Brewing Group, Bitburg, Germany and therefore responsible for R&D issues of affiliated breweries. Since 2013 he is also responsible for the craft subdivision Craftwerk Brewing. He is a member of the Technical Advisory Board of the German Society of Hop Research as well as other scientific committees.

After completing his Masters in music performance from Boston University 2005, Sturlaugur turned to brewing. 2009 he finished the brewing science and engineering diploma from the American Brewers guild, followed by an apprenticeship at Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa, California. Shortly thereafter he was hired by Ölgerðin brewery in Reykjavík, Iceland, where he took an integral part in the development of the company´s award winning craft beer brand, Borg Brugghús. Sturlaugur is currently the head brewmaster at Ölgerðin brewery.

I started exploring beer as coincidence while my short stay in Belgium. Back in 2008 I was in Bruxelles for fair for telecommunications, optical electronics and stuff like this and just after my arrival to Bruxelles I stoped in a bar for a beer. I was not sure what I ordered, but after I drunk one glass I was hooked on blanche. Some months later it was plain curiosity that made me google ”how beer is made” and that was it, like the love on the first sight, like lightning bolt from the clear sky. I realised there are home brewers, home brew shops, books about brewing and whole new universe of beer and micro organisms that are involved into it. I became avid home brewer and in same breath I dreamed of my own brewery. In fact, I wrote my first (of course very sloppy) business plan for the brewery before I even got my little malt mill that I ordered from States. Then let us fast forward to 7th Jan 2013, when I delivered first bottles of beer. And now it is 5 years later and we are 14 employees, have a great brewing setup, lots of great beer and tons of fun creating it

From 1986 to 1988: Brewers apprenticeship at Dortmunder Kronen Brauerei
From 1988 to 1994: Study in Weihenstephan, Dipl.-Ing. Brauwesen und Getränketechnologie
In 1994-95: König Brauerei
Since 1995: at GEA Westfalia Separator in different positions, actual head oft he beverage department