Enrico Chesta is the Head of CERN Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Management Section (also known as CERN Technology Transfer Office) since May 2011.

Enrico joined CERN’s Knowledge Transfer Group in 2010 as Technology Transfer Officer. Before he worked for ten years in the aerospace field, at ESTEC (European Space Agency) in Noordwijk aan Zee (NL) and at CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) in Toulouse (F). He was mainly involved in innovative projects related to the development of advanced electric (plasma and ion) propulsion systems for spacecrafts, used in large telecom platforms for high efficiency station keeping  and in scientific satellites for high precision orbit and attitude control.

Enrico received a diplôme d’ingénieur généraliste from Ecole Centrale Paris (F) in 1998, complemented by an aerospace engineering degree obtained with honors from Politecnico di Torino (I). He worked as research assistant in 1999-2000 at Stanford University (US) to model and characterize plasma perturbations in Hall-effect thrusters. More recently (in 2009), he was granted an Executive MBA from ESC in Toulouse (F).

Silke Bachmann is the Administrative Officer for the Knowledge Transfer Group.

Before joining CERN (2010), Silke worked for 2.5 years at the European Space Agency (ESA) in Frascati, Italy, as Administrative Assistant in the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes (ESRIN). Silke was the Personal Assistant to the ESRIN Director during 1 year and was furthermore responsible for meeting preparation/organization with internal and external partners and for administrational support to the Coordination and Program Planning Office.

Prior to this, Silke worked for 4 years at the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France, where she was dealing with the administrative procedures for international scientific visitors and the organization of special events and seminars.

In 2000-2002, Silke worked for the City of Cologne, Germany, Department of Twin Cities Affairs, where she created and monitored international projects between Cologne and its twin cities, organized international business trips of the Lord Mayor/the City Councillors of Cologne, and edited a monthly journal (EuroCologne) on twin cities activities.

From 1995 to 2000 she worked for the Environmental Department of the City of Cologne, where she managed evaluation/decontamination projects concerning abandoned industrial sites of the city of Cologne before new construction/use on these sites could be permitted.

Silke holds a university degree in Geography, Geology and Botany (1994), University Johannes Gutenberg, Mainz, Germany.

Alexander Brown has been an Administrative Student in the Knowledge Transfer Group since June 2012, assisting with the fundraising activities for CERN in Society. His public engagement and fundraising experience stems from volunteer positions held alongside completing his BSc Natural Sciences with Study Year Abroad (Kaiserslautern, Germany) from the University of Bath, UK.

Alexander is currently studying for the MSc Science Communication at the University of the West of England, UK, carrying out a research project with the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), evaluating Rutherford Appleton Laboratory’s outreach programme.

Manuela has a PhD in Particle Physics from the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa (Italy) and a Masters in Science Communication and Journalism from the Universitå di Ferrara (Italy).

In 2010, Manuela joined the Life Sciences section as technical co-ordinator of the European funded project ENVISION which aims at developing real-time quality assurance tools for hadron therapy. She is also responsible for the communication of the section.

Previously a member of the NA48 and ATLAS collaborations, she has extensive experience in detector and trigger commissioning, data analysis, and databases.  She also participates in a number of CERN outreach activities, such as Expanding Your Horizons and Famelab 2012.

Eduardo joined the Knowledge Transfer Group in September 2012 as a Fellow in the Technology Transfer Section.

Eduardo started his career as a trainee at AT4 Wireless S.A, a Spanish private company in mobile phone certification equipment.
Then he worked in a collaborative R&D project between AT4 Wireless S.A and the University of Malaga focused on digital processing algorithms for synchronization and channel estimation and equalization.
In 2009, Eduardo joined CERN for 2 years as Project Associate, working on measurements on silicon diodes and on the implementation of a simulation model for the front-end electronics of the TPC detector in the ALICE experiment.
From October 2011 to July 2012 Eduardo worked in the Technical Support department at Xilinx.

Eduardo holds a MSc degree in Telecommunication engineering at ETSIT of Malaga (Spain) with major in Communications.

Marie Christine started as a temporary administrative assistant in the Knowledge Transfer Group in April 2013.

She has a High School Accounting diploma, a technical diploma in Hotel Management and 20 years of experience in the Hotel Business (3 and 4 stars hotels and residences – Accor group, Citadines and La Reserve in Ferney Voltaire) with several areas of expertise: Administrative and commercial management (in charge of operations, administrative records, negotiation of contracts for companies, groups and seminars), customer relations (reservations management and control, follow up of guest files),staff management (supervision of reception and housekeeping team) and French Accounting.

Telma Mantas is the Patent Portfolio Manager of the Knowledge Transfer Group at CERN as of 2010.

In 2005 Telma started her career in consultancy, first as a Quality Assurance Consultant and after as a Technology Services Consultant working in project management in the telecommunication field.

In 2007 she started working in Intellectual Property as a Patent Examiner at the Instituto Nacional de Propriedade Industrial (INPI) in Portugal.

In 2009 Telma got a position at CERN as a patent Engineer.

Telma received a M.S. (5 year degree) in Technological Physics Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) in Lisbon in 2005. In 2007 she attended several trainings in patent field including Intellectual Property Rights in Software, International Patent Classification, US Patent Practice, Patent examination and Patent searching. Since at CERN she has pursued her studies in Intellectual Property related to Technology Transfer (contract basics, confidential agreements, freedom to operate, IP due diligences , etc.)

Vetle Nilsen started as Knowledge Transfer Officer in 2013, after one year as a Technical Student, also within the Knowledge Transfer Group.

Vetle’s academic interests include the creation of new companies, especially support functions for start-up companies. These were his main focus during his time as a Technical Student. Before coming to CERN, he acquired practical knowledge in the field of start-up creation by being involved in two start-ups: one in the fish farming industry and one dealing with solar powered rural electrification.

Vetle holds an M.Sc. in industrial economics and technology management with specialization in entrepreneurship from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Before choosing the M.Sc. at the NTNU School of Entrepreneurship, he spent three years studying applied physics and mathematics. In 2011, he took part in a three-month summer programme on entrepreneurship and business development at Boston University School of Management.

William Rode started as a Technical Student in the Knowledge Transfer Group in February 2013.

He has an academic specialisation in commercialisation of technology and experience from working in a start-up within the telecommunications field during his studies. William is currently pursuing his M.Sc. degree in entrepreneurship and commercialization of technology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The three years prior to his master’s degree, William studied energy and process engineering at NTNU.

Iustin’s main background is communication and he graduated at Bucharest in 2009 with a degree in Communication and Public Opinion with a major interest in international politics especially Peace and Conflict studies. His thesis was on socio-political situation in the Republic of Moldova focussing on the relations between the State, the media and the society. He is currently a Sociology student in Galati.

He also has a Master of Arts degree in Security Studies, with research on the NATO-Russia relations.  He is involved in the node set in Bucharest for the Millennium Project, an initiative on how best to implement the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). His extracurricular activities include attending Summer Schools and conferences in subjects such as the social changes of the late 20^th century East European societies, geopolitics in the Balkans and United Nations’ MDG workshops (within the UN Youth Association of Romania).

Iustin was part of the international student organization AIESEC; the one-year experience helped him with his personal and professional development as the challenges and the environment of the organization gave him the possibility of building his confidence and motivation at the same time as he contributed to AIESEC and the community.    

Maciej joined the Knowledge Transfer Group in February 2013 as an administrative student. He is involved in providing legal support for the Technology Transfer Office.

Before starting his appointment at CERN, he completed an internship in the Office of Legal Affairs, Offices Reporting to the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. He also served as a trainee in the Brussels Office for a Member of the European Parliament.

As an aspiring lawyer having a special interest in technology and legal aspects of its application, he participated in a number of courses organized by the leading scientific institutions such as Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton or the The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste.

Maciej is currently pursuing a law degree at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdansk, Poland.