The Smart Up Accelerator Advisory Board

As we entered the final year of the SmartUp project in 2020, the consortium had the great benefit and honor of putting together an advisory board. The board consists of six members from around the Baltic Sea Region. They all hold competencies and perspectives of value in making final adjustments to our value offer and strategies for BSR consumer cleantech stakeholders. This is the long-term goal of the project, and the experiences from three years of working with consumer cleantech from various approaches in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Poland and Germany provides the backbone for our offer and future activities. 

Please meet the SmartUp Accelerator Advisory Board! We are truly thankful and happy for their support and participation. 

Lutz Göcke
Professor for international business at the University of Applied Sciences in Nordhausen, Germany. Lutz is crazy about creating new products and businesses that have an impact. He is a Thought-Leader for corporate innovation and a Scientist who likes to read and write. Lutz is a Serial-Intrapreneur, a Startup Mentor at Accelerator programs and a Lecturer for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Strategic Management, and has worked as digital product manager and entrepreneur in various mobility innovation projects in the Volkswagen Group, for example.

Esa Kokkonen
Director at The Baltic Institute of Finland (BIF). Esa is the PA Innovation Coordinator of the EUSBSR Policy Area Innovation. BIF was the lead partner of BSR Stars S3, which – like SmartUp Accelerator – is a project under BSR Stars  – a flagship within the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.

Elena Belova 
Secretary General and Head of Development Department at ICSER Leontief Center in Russia. Elena provides coordination, organizational and expert support of international programs, projects of cross-border and transnational cooperation in the Baltic Sea region. Elena Belova is a coordinator of Green Mobility projects and creative director of St. Petersburg Cleantech Cluster for Urban Environment.

Satu Lähteenoja
Senior Expert at Demos Helsinki, who is a geographer and an expert on sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles. She works with companies, researchers, municipalities and ministries to promote e.g. climate solutions, circular economy and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Satu once had a key role in putting the SmartUp Accelerator project together! 

Alexandra Davidsson
Secretary General at Responsible Consumption, a non-profit association aiming to increase awareness about the impact of consumption. Alexandra has a background in political science, business and global studies and a special interest for PR and networking. She’s an experienced speaker and made the Swedish 2020 list of 33 sustainability talents under the age of 33! In May 2020, she also made the Female Leaders of the Future list, which is compiled by ‘Ledarna’ – Sweden’s professional organization for executives.

Daniel Maksym
Director for startups and acceleration projects at PGE Nowa Energia, a subsidy of PGE, which is the largest Polish energy and heat company. He has 17+ years of senior level professional and executive experience in program and project management and  managerial experience in public administration and government related entities. With his thorough knowledge and understanding of R&D funding system for SMEs and large companies, he has been involved in creating international acceleration programs for tech startunslation of best practices for the benefit of the Polish entrepreneurial ecosystem.