Unveiling the Future - The UK Industrial Strategy 2035

Inge Berge, Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder at Wastefront

Inge Berge is the Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder of Wastefront.

He previously co-founded Quantafuel – producers of high-wuality synthetic fuels and chemical products based on non-recycable plastics waste.

He is a serial entrepreneur and has managerial experience working in senior positions at several listed and unlisted companies, from the industrial, lifestyle, and media sector internationally and in the Nordics, having worked in Index, First House, and Amedia.

Simon Justnes, Chief Commercial Officer at Green Mountain AS

Simon Justnes is Chief Commercial Officer at Green Mountain AS, a fast-growing European datacenter operator delivering green and sustainable datacenter services in Norway, UK, and Germany for AI, High Performance Computing (HPC) and Enterprise customers.

Simon has the overall responsibility for the company’s global growth strategy and has 25 years of experience in different sales and executive management roles in the IT and Telecommunications Industry.

Simon has extensive experiences in establishing strategic cooperations across industries, development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships and ensuring growth in highly competitive markets.

Prior to joining Green Mountain in 2023, Simon was the Commercial Director for The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) and held Sales Management roles at GlobalConnect and HPE Norway.

Erik Åsberg, CTO at eSmart Systems

Erik Åsberg is CTO at eSmart Systems, which provides pioneering solutions for power infrastructure inspection. Erik is responsible for the Grid Vision product, including the innovative AI solutions being patented.

With a background in software development, Erik has worked his entire career at the intersection of energy and IT, covering areas such as power exchanges, energy trading, energy flexibility, and smart grids.

He holds a Master of Technology Management from NTNU and MIT.

Erik is also an active mentor for startups and is recognized as a Microsoft Regional Director and a member of the Forbes Technology Council.

Hilde Hukkelberg, Managing Director UK & Ireland at Innovation Norway

Hilde is a former diplomat and special adviser with extensive experience in the USA and Great Britain.

She has collaborated with leading innovation ecosystems and scale-up hubs across Silicon Valley, the UK and Europe.

Hilde established Innovation Norway's Tech City Executive Accelerator (TEA) at Level39 in London and now leads Innovation Norway’s operations in the UK and Ireland.

She specialises in scaling growth companies globally, connecting them with investors and driving the commercialisation of disruptive solutions in AI and industrial tech.

Petter Tollefsen, Head of Governmental Relations and International Affairs at Statkraft

Petter Tollefsen is the Head of Governmental Relations and International Affairs at Statkraft, focusing on international developments in the energy sector.

Prior to joining Statkraft in 2024, he served as Chief of Staff to the Norwegian Foreign Minister. He has held various positions in the Foreign Service, including postings to Norwegian embassies in India and the United Kingdom.

David Cairns, Vice President Policy and Public Affairs Global at Equinor

David Cairns joined Equinor in 2019 as Vice President Policy and Public Affairs Global.

Before joining Equinor he was the British Ambassador to Sweden and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Director for the Nordic Baltic Network.

In his career in the Foreign Office he also served in Japan as the Director for Trade and Investment and in Geneva as the Head of the UK’s WTO delegation.

He studied Japanese at Oxford and worked in investment banking in Tokyo and London before joining the FCO.

He was Vice-Chairman of the Japan Society from 2011-15 and has been the Chair of the Advisory Board for Cambridge University’s Baltic Geopolitics Programme since 2020. He lives in Cambridge with his wife, children, and pets.

Christopher Charles Barton, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Europe at the Department for Business and Trade

Chris Barton is His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Europe, with responsibility for encouraging trade and investment between UK and other European countries as well as Israel. Chris Barton has been HM Trade Commissioner for Europe since summer 2021.

He joined the UK civil service in 1998, after 5 years as an economics teacher. Over this period, he has worked in a wide range of domestic and international-facing roles in departments for business, energy, trade, Foreign Office and No10.

His trade-focused roles have included Director UK’s Trade Policy (2013-2016), Multilateral & EU Trade (2016-2019), Bilateral Trade Relations (2019-20), UK-EU Trade negotiations (2020-21), HMTC Europe (2021-present).

Jan Thompson CMG OBE, British Ambassador to Norway

Jan Thompson has served as the British Ambassador to Norway since April 2023. Previously, she was appointed Deputy High Commissioner to India in August 2018.

She served as British Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2013-2017 and then, temporarily, as Deputy High Commissioner to Canada prior to her arrival in New Delhi.

Leonie Dressel, Head of Regulatory Framework & Trade for Industrial Strategy, Department for Business and Trade

Leonie Dressel is Head of Regulatory Framework & Trade for Industrial Strategy at the UK Department for Business and Trade, where she previously was Head of Goods Regulation Policy for UK-EU trade.

Prior to her work in government, Leonie spent 5 years working as an economist in international development.

Rafed Hossain, Technical Director at Cognite

Rafed Hossain has the role of Technical Director at Cognite, leading the implementation of digital solutions for grid and renewable projects globally.

With almost a decade of experience, Rafed's expertise spans across the utility industry, renewable energy, and digital twin technologies.

He ensures seamless synergy between IT, engineering, and sales teams to optimize plant management and performance at Cognite. He has previously worked at Statkraft on solar, wind, hydro and battery storage projects globally.

Kenneth Fossøy, Global Business and Project Development at Odfjell Oceanwind

Kenneth has 20 years of commercial and business development experience from the energy industry. His previous employments include Maersk, PGS and Deloitte.

He is also partner and co-founder of E&P consultancy focusing on strategy, commercial and business development. Kenneth holds aMSc / cand.merc: Strategy, Organisation and Management from Copenhagen Business School (CBS).

Frank Øverli, Vice President Trade and Industry Policy at Norsk Hydro ASA

Frank has an extensive industry background in energy and aluminum in companies like Enron, Elkem, Alcoa and Hydro Extrusion.

He held leadership roles in trading, portfolio management, risk management and various sourcing roles before taking over Trade and Industry Policy development at Norsk Hydro Corporate.