The engineering world is full of innovative solutions to complex problems and start-ups are often key sources of innovation. This session will explore what career opportunities they can present for engineers and what large organisations can learn from them. We will look at questions such as:
- What types of company can we consider as “start-ups”?
- How do the engineering roles there and the work environment differ from larger, more established organisations?
- How would I identify if an opportunity is the right fit for me?
- What can we learn from engineering roles in start-ups which can be applied in larger companies?
“I work in developing engineering curricula for the high school level. We attempt to model the professional experience as much as possible, so it was great to hear about this pathway available to engineers from those who have walked it.”
-Live session attendee
Missed the Session? Watch the Replay
Meet the Speakers
Marwa El Hefnawy
Senior Telecom & Electrical Engineering Leader
Marwa El Hefnawy is an experienced 5G wireless system engineering and architecture leader and strategy planner with expertise in modem/SOC roadmap definition and wireless ecosystem.
She received her B.Sc. degree in electrical and communications engineering, with highest honor, from the German University in Cairo. Marwa completed her bachelor project at Stuttgart University in Germany. She pursued her M.Sc. studies at Ulm University, and received her PhD degree from the Technical University of Munich (TUM). During her PhD studies, she worked at NTT-Docomo Euro Labs with a research focus on 5G. She participated in the EU FP7 funded project METIS for the 5G radio link concepts work package. Afterwards, she worked at Intel then Apple, on 5G topics and beyond.
Marwa is a long standing global ambassador for SWE, a co-chair for the advisory board of the WE Local Europe conference and also a mentor at the Technical University of Munich.
Kathrin Khadra
Co-founder, RYVER.AI
Kathrin Khadra is the co-founder of RYVER.AI, responsible for shipping their AI models into production and developing the tech around them. RYVER is a start-up, helping medical AI companies to make their algorithms safe for everyone by providing synthetic data. During her time at university Kathrin researched in building ethical and causal AI algorithms. Prior to RYVER she worked as a software/AI engineer in the medical field and as a consultant with big corporates and BCG.
Karim Mansour
R&D Director, Candela Technology
Karim is leading the autonomous driving team in Candela Technology, considered a world leader in hydrofoiling electric boats and vessels. Karim has been working in the autonomous driving and the automotive field for 15 years. This has included working in the R&D department of different technology companies such as, Audi, BMW, Qualcomm and Valeo, in addition to creating his own start-up in Munich, which focused on building autonomous driving cars in urban environment. Karim is currently working with a fabulous team in Candela to enable the next clean energy, carbon-, noise-, hassle- and traffic jam-free marine public transportation.
Sofia Ramirez Bernini
Co-founder, 1point8
Sofia holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering physics from the Technical University of Munich, Germany. She was head of Power Supply of the team that won the four consecutive SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competitions in Los Angeles, California, and holds the world speed record for the Hyperloop in SpaceX’s vacuum tube of 482 km/h. Today, she is the founder and CEO of 1point8, a start-up developing technologies that have the potential to absorb 1.8 Gt of CO2 per year.
