TNO
Maurits Butter graduated at the faculty of chemical engineering at the Delft University of Technology. He started his career as an environmental consultant with Dutch consultancy firm Tebodin, where he was involved in the prevention of waste disposal and emissions. In 1994-1998 he worked for the Netherlands’ Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment, department of Strategic Planning (VROM). In 1998 he joined TNO as senior advisor innovation policy. He is involved in the interface between technological innovation and policy, focussing on foresight studies and the non technological aspects of technological innovation. He is the coordinator of the European Foresight Monitoring Network and conducted several projects in the field of foresight such as the recent Defence Outlook and TNO-Innovation Benchmark. Currently he is involved as project leader of the Dutch Innovation Outlook.
Miriam Leis (Dr. rer. soc.) works as a researcher at TNO/IPg since May 2009, specialising in emerging technologies (e.g. NBIC, biomedical engineering, Human Enhancement Technologies (HET), advanced robotics and AI, synthetic biology), future issues (e.g. megatrends, weak signals, EFMN), ELSI/ELSA of emerging technologies and vision assessment. Recent projects include “Robotics for Healthcare”, innovations for the food industry, “Megatrends”, technological innovations in various areas, ethical issues of synthetic biology and SESTI. She studied political sciences (with specialisation in biopolitics) and sociology (specialization: sociology of technology) at University Konstanz (Germany) and got her PhD in sociology with an interdisciplinary thesis about non-industrial robots. Prior to TNO she worked as a researcher at University Duisburg-Essen and the German foresight consulting firm. Miriam Leis is also involved in the WFUNA Millennium project and societal/ethical discussions about Human Enhancement Technologies.
Felix Brandes works as researcher / consultant on future studies at TNO Innovation and Environment, the Netherlands (TNO IenR). Recent projects include a study on (open) innovation practices in Dutch manufacturing sectors of opto-electronics and chemicals. A study on New Jobs and New Skills for the European Commission (DG EMPL). Other recent studies also include a study for the European Competitiveness Report (2007) on the ‘Future of EU Manufacturing’ as well as for the European Parliament on offshoring. He was also part of the rapporteur-team of the High Level Group EU Chemicals industry and is a member of the European Foresight Monitoring Network (EFMN). He holds a degree in Science and Technology Policy and Management as well as International Business, Finance and Economics from Manchester Business School, UK. His work focuses on issues related to the future competitiveness of manufacturing and businesses taking into account factors of technological and social change.
