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.

Luca Baroncelli

Luca Baroncelli
CSI Certificazione e Testing S.P.A.

Vita

Luca 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.

Dr. Mario Henrique Cruz Torres

Dr. Mario Henrique Cruz Torres
CEO
IVEX NV

Vita

Mario 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.

Dominik Grenz

Dominik Grenz
Global Sales Manager
Instron GmbH

Dr. Roland Kallweit

Dr. Roland Kallweit
Head of Development Active Safety Functions
AUDI AG

Vita

Dr. 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.

Dr. Jakob Kaths

Dr. Jakob Kaths
Vector Informatik GmbH

Vita

Jakob 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.

Dr. Thomas Kinsky

Dr. Thomas Kinsky
Director Business Development
Humanetics Europe GmbH

Vita

Dr. 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.

Jan Christopher Kolb

Jan Christopher Kolb
Head of Sales & Support
VEHICO GmbH

Vita

Jan 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.

Dr. rer. nat. Peter Kühmstedt

Dr. rer. nat. Peter Kühmstedt
Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Optik & Feinmechanik IOF

Dr. Andreas Kuhn

Dr. Andreas Kuhn
Technologist Safety & Automation & AI
Andata Entwicklungstechnologie GmbH

Vita

Dr. 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.

Dr. rer. nat. Malte Kurfiß

Dr. rer. nat. Malte Kurfiß
Head of the Crash Test Center
Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, Ernst-Mach-Institut, EMI

Vita

Dr. 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.

Andreas Mangold

Andreas Mangold
Photron Deutschland GmbH

Vita

Andreas 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.

Alexander  Putz

Alexander Putz
Kistler Instrumente GmbH

Vita

Alexander 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.

Dr. Karsten Raguse

Dr. Karsten Raguse
Volkswagen AG

Vita

With 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.

Perfecte Sanchis

Perfecte Sanchis
Managing Director
ENCOPIM S.L.

Vita

Perfecte 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.

Andreas Schachtner

Andreas Schachtner
ZF Lifetec, ZF Airbag Germany GmbH

Vita

Andreas 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.

Dr.-Ing. Anurag Soni

Dr.-Ing. Anurag Soni
Product Manager
Humanetics Europe GmbH

Vita

Dr. 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.

Dr. Thomas Soot

Dr. Thomas Soot
Fraunhofer-Institut für Kurzzeitdynamik, Ernst-Mach-Institut, EMI

Philipp Tölke

Philipp Tölke
Managing Director European Operations
Seattle Safety Europe GmbH

Vita

Philipp 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.

Thilo Wackenroder

Thilo Wackenroder
Business Development Manager Crash und Passive Safety
DEKRA Automobil GmbH

Petr Záruba

Petr Záruba
TÜV SÜD Czech s.r.o.

Vita

Czech 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