April 14 – 16, 2026 | Frankfurt/Hanau, Germany

SafetyTesting Challenge
April 14, 2026
Speakers & Chairmen
Here you see the speakers of the SafetyTesting Challenge 2025. As soon as the speakers of the 2026 conference are confirmed, you will find them here.
CSI Certificazione e Testing S.P.A. VitaLuca Baroncelli is the Operating Sector Manager of the Full Scale Sector in CSI and has been working in Passive Safety for the past 27 years. He is also a qualified Euro NCAP 2nd Inspector and member of the Euro NCAP frontal, side, and Rescue Working Groups. |
CEO IVEX NV VitaMario Henrique Cruz Torres is the CEO and Co-Founder of IVEX, where he drives the company’s vision, strategy, and product innovation. Under his leadership, IVEX has become a pioneer in developing cutting-edge tools for the validation and testing of autonomous driving systems and advanced driver assistance functions. With a PhD in Computer Science, Mario’s expertise lies in the intersection of safety, automation, and AI. Mario’s passion for solving complex, real-world problems has been the cornerstone of his career. He is committed to pushing the boundaries of technology while fostering a collaborative and innovative company culture. |
Global Sales Manager Instron GmbH |
Head of Development Active Safety Functions AUDI AG VitaDr. Roland Kallweit is Head of Development Functions Active Safety in the field of assisted and automated driving at Audi. In this role, he is responsible for the development and testing of active safety functions for assisted driving. Before joining Audi in 2023, he was responsible for the function and system development of automated driving functions and concept validation using simulation at IAV for several years. |
Vector Informatik GmbH VitaJakob Kaths earned his degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Munich, where he also completed his doctorate in 2012, specializing in traffic signal control and traffic simulation. His passion for simulation led him to join the product management team of DYNA4, a vehicle and environment simulator initially developed by TESIS and now managed by Vector Informatik. In his role, Jakob actively contributes to several ASAM working groups, promoting the standardization of scenario descriptions. |
Director Business Development Humanetics Europe GmbH VitaDr. Thomas Kinsky completed his studies of automotive engineering at TU Dresden in 1991 and received a doctorate at TU Graz in 2015. From 1991 to 1995 he worked as an officially certified expert for TÜV Rheinland. Afterwards he managed from 1995 to 1998 the vehicle construction department in a small medium-sized company. From 1999 to 2018 Dr. Kinsky worked for the car manufacturer Opel in the area of vehicle regulations. Lastly as a senior expert, he was responsible for the development of legislation on passive vehicle safety and represented Opel in the discussion with authorities and associations. Since 2018 he is Director of Business Development at Humanetics Europe GmbH. In this role he is the contact for all topics regarding dummy development as well as for requirements on passive and active safety at Humanetics. |
Head of Sales & Support VEHICO GmbH VitaJan Christopher Kolb studied "Vehicle Systems Engineering" and "Mechanical Engineering and international Salesmanagement" before starting as a test engineer in the pedestrian protection division of Bertrandt GmbH in Ingolstadt in 2003. After brief stints as project engineer and project manager, he took over the "Passive Safety" team as team leader. From 2017 to 2022, he was a test manager and network manager at the CARISSMA research center (Center of Automotive Research and Integrated Safety Systems and Measurement Area), which is integrated into Ingolstadt Technical University (THI). Besides the overall supervision of the test laboratories, he did research in the field of VRU protection, automated driving and system development. From 2022 to 2024, Jan Christopher Kolb has worked for the Kistler Group as Business Driver ADAS/AV. Currently he is Head of Sales & Support at VEHICO GmbH. |
Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Optik & Feinmechanik IOF |
Technologist Safety & Automation & AI Andata Entwicklungstechnologie GmbH VitaDr. Andreas Kuhn studied Technical Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Vienna. After his dissertation on the simulation of special satellite formations for the European Space Agency, he began his professional career in crash simulation at BMW. After further years as a consultant for stochastic simulation at EASI Engineering GmbH (today carhs), he founded ANDATA in 2004, where he is responsible for development and research as managing partner. Since 2009 he has also been co-owner of Automotive Safety Technologies GmbH in Gaimersheim. His professional interests are founded in effective and efficient development, validation and assessment methods for complex, safety-critical systems. In particular, he has been working for more than 20 years on the development and combined application of methods from the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning, advanced simulation methods, scenario-based approaches and according process models in the virtual development of vehicles and autonomous robots. His current activities are the development and implementation of cooperative, networked, automated driving strategies for effective traffic automation. |
Head of the Crash Test Center Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, Ernst-Mach-Institut, EMI VitaDr. Malte Alexander Kurfiss is head of the crash test center at the Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, EMI. He studied physics in Saarbruecken and Hamburg where he graduated in the research group of nano-structured physics. After graduating he worked as a scientist at the Institute of Applied Physics, Hamburg, and gained his doctorate in the field of semiconductor and thin film physics. In 2006 Dr. Kurfiss joined the YXLON International GmbH as product manager responsible for X-ray sources and generators. After three years, he specialized on the field of computed tomography. In 2011 he was made director of the product marketing department within the same company. Before moving back to the research field at the Fraunhofer Institute in 2015, he took over the position as director for product management, marketing and business development departments at the Allied Visions GmbH, a company specialized in developing and producing industrial camera systems. Most prominent scope of his work being head of the crash test center at the EMI, is the X-ray Car Crash X-CC aiming for high speed crash data of internal structures. The crash test center of the Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, EMI, is located in Efringen-Kirchen nearby the Swiss border. |
Photron Deutschland GmbH VitaAndreas Mangold is Managing Director of Photron Deutschland GmbH - a subsidiary of the Japanese Photron Limited, a leading manufacturer of high-speed cameras. Mr. Mangold is a trained electronics engineer and has been working in the field of high-speed image analysis for over 15 years. For more than 6 years he has been responsible for the "Automotive" area throughout Europe at Photron, where he is the interface between end customers and the development team. |
Kistler Instrumente GmbH VitaAlexander Putz is Head of Business Development in the Vehicle Safety division of the Kistler Group. In this role, he oversees the development of products and systems for passive vehicle safety. Active in this field since 1999, he began his career as a systems engineer and project manager at Kayser-Threde GmbH before joining the Kistler Group in 2010. Since 2011, he has been responsible for the Munich site, where data acquisition systems and software are developed and manufactured. His focus lies in delivering the entire measurement chain—from sensor to cloud—as a complete solution. |
Volkswagen AG VitaWith over two decades of experience, he heads the Safety Test Technologies division, ensuring both passive and active safety measures are top-notch. Dr. Raguse's journey from Development Engineer to his current role showcases his dedication to advancing safety standards. Beyond Volkswagen, he contributes to organizations like crash.tech and Fraunhofer Vision. He earned his Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Hannover. |
Managing Director ENCOPIM S.L. VitaPerfecte Sanchis (1961) has a master degree in Mechanical Engineering (EUETIB), also in Industrial Engineering (ETSEIB) and PDG (IESE Business School). After having worked in companies like PEGASO (now part of IVECO) and SEAT (now part of the VW Group) and having taught during some years, Mr. Sanchis decided to found ENCOPIM in 1995 together with another partner. Today, he has been leading the company as Managing Director for over 20 years. |
ZF Lifetec, ZF Airbag Germany GmbH VitaAndreas Schachtner is the Director of Global Testing at ZF LIFETEC. In this role, he oversees testing activities at over 15 ZF LIFETEC facilities around the world. The graduate mechanical engineer has over 30 years of experience in occupant safety. He has system expertise in the domains of prototype development, inflators, airbags and seat belts, and encourages his global team to pursue a continuous learning approach based on centralized data management. |
Product Manager Humanetics Europe GmbH VitaDr. Soni is working as Product Manager at Humanetics Innovative Solutions, Inc., leading the development and management of advanced digital products that drive innovation in automotive safety and biomechanics. With over 20 years of experience in occupant safety research and product development, he has participated in the development and validation of several Human Body Models (HBMs) that are now widely used across the industry. His expertise spans HBM applications in restraint system design, with a focus on developing and implementing virtual testing solutions to improve crashworthiness and occupant protection. Passionate about innovation in digital safety solutions, Dr. Soni is committed to integrating cutting-edge technologies into occupant protection strategies. |
Fraunhofer-Institut für Kurzzeitdynamik, Ernst-Mach-Institut, EMI |
Managing Director European Operations Seattle Safety Europe GmbH VitaPhilipp Toelke is general manager of the Seattle Safety Germany GmbH which is a 100% daughter company of Seattle Safety LLC in Seattle. Philipp is responsible for the European market and works very close with the engineering in Seattle at the development and market introduction of new Seattle Safety products. Philipp has a diploma degree in Engineering from Braunschweig University (Germany) and he worked in the field of vehicle safety for the last 17 years. |
Business Development Manager Crash und Passive Safety DEKRA Automobil GmbH |
TÜV SÜD Czech s.r.o. VitaCzech Technical University in Prague, MSc Motor Vehicles, Manager of Computer Aided Service Department of TÜV Süd Czech working on FE simulation, crash and occupant safety simulation, virtual homologation |