Kurt Thielen

Kurt Thielen is the founder and Managing Director of Zebralution, one of the biggest Digital Distributors for music and audiobooks in the World. He started his career working in a record shop in 1979 and was the Head of Rough Trade Records and later Zomba Records in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for more than 20 years, working with a wide range of acts from New Order and The Smiths to Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. After the company had been sold he founded Zebralution as the first real digital distribution company in Germany with a Worldwide focus. In 2007 the Warner Music Group acquired Zebralution. Since 2010 digital audiobook and especially streaming has become an important factor in Zebralution’s portfolio. In April 2017 Thielen bought Zebralution back from Warners together with experienced industry executives. Zebralution works with all big and many smaller audiobook publishers in Germany but the focus is becoming increasingly international. In October 2018 IG Hoerbuch, the body of the German audiobook publishers, awarded him as ‘Audiobook Person of the Year 2018’.

María Álvarez

María Álvarez is the Head of Insights and Digital Business for ¡HOLA! and HELLO! brands. She has many years of experience in the media and the digital ecosystem, with a focus on data, programmatic advertising, ad operations, digital marketing, SEO, subscriptions, affiliates, insights and advertising marketing. In her current role, she collaborates with teams in Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Mexico, which gives her a broader perspective on how things work worldwide and enables her to apply her knowledge and learnings across different markets. Over the past years, she has actively participated in various Spanish Industry Committees such as GFK, Comscore, AIMC, ARI, AMI and online audience measurement pitch.

Paolo Casarini

C.T.O/IT director at Il Mulino publishing house, responsible for the development of Il Mulino digital delivery multi-publishers platforms (Rivisteweb, Darwinbooks and Pandoracampus).
Graduated in Computer Science in Bologna, he has spent more than 20 years working in digital publishing and on how to automate it, developing specific web platforms in order to manage and control all the production chain and their contributors.
In the last 5 years, in collaboration with Fondazione LIA, he managed the transformation of all Il Mulino digital platforms to be accessible, considering accessibility the new frontier for innovation in digital publishing.

Elias Blanckaert

In 2022, Elias received his master’s degree in Communication Studies: Media, Strategic Communication and Marketing at the VUB. Since October 2022, he works as a user researcher at IMEC-SMIT-VUB. His main research activities focus on the innovation of the media landscape through the use of new technologies. He is currently working on the European Möbius project, which attempts to modernize the European book publishing industry. There is a strong focus on uncovering the prosumers potential and delivering new enriched media experiences.

Julio Covacho López

Julio co-founded Quantic Brains Technologies in 2021 and is responsible for the management, financial and planning part. He has more than 20 years in the audiovisual sector as CFO and CEO, having been the CFO of the first company listed on the MAB in Spain. He also has extensive international project management experience and brings market-reach capabilities to the project.

Roy Conan Alonso Rissing

Passionate about technology, as a child I assembled computers piece by piece with my father, a professor of bioinformatics. I learned to read and write to be able to put commands in MS-DOS.

Self-taught to the core, at the age of 16 I started making web pages for companies, and since then I have been learning all the technologies that have fallen into my hands.

To broaden my knowledge, I did a master’s degree in video game design that gave me a foundation on all modeling and texturing programs to be able to interact more efficiently with designers.

I have also been interested in the way companies work, and for two years I lived by investing in the Spanish continuous market. And for another two I was inside a consulting firm, taking a closer look at its operation.

Now I have decided to jump into the pool and with my partners to set up what I hope will be a company that changes the future of the digital entertainment sector.

Manuel Lucania Fesser

Manuel founded Quantic Brains in 2021 and is responsible for leading the technology and R&D strategy, sharing the company’s day-to-day operations.

Graduated in Computer Engineering at ICAI in Madrid, he has spent more than 20 years working as an AI researcher for different startups. He is also an NLP professor at Alcala University and EOI, teaching at AI Master’s Degree programs.

Juliana Rueda

With more than 10 years experience in the audio industry and over 10000 hours of audio produced, Juliana launched in 2020 A.R.S (Audio Entertainment Recording System) , a cloud-based audio production solution that allows audio publishers, production studios, as well as streaming platforms  addresses the inefficiencies, slow progress, and high costs commonly associated with audio entertainment production. The system’s features are designed to maximize productivity and streamline workflows, making it an ideal solution for any audio businesses looking to optimize their operations.
Our goal is to provide new tools to key players in this rapidly growing industry by developing comprehensive that will  allow audio professionals to achieve greater efficiency, productivity, and sustainable audio growth.

Santiago Rosillo

Santiago is a Project Manager in the Business Development and Innovation Department of Hachette Livre, in charge of the Spanish and Latin American territories. His responsibilities are mainly related to identifying new growth opportunities and supporting the development projects of the group’s publishing houses, while fostering an internal culture of innovation.

Beatrice Yong-in Lin

Beatrice Yong-in calls herself a professional Digital Content Specialist (DCS) with technology in heart and the demonstrated career for decades from the licensing, publishing, ed-tech and digital content distribution and security fields, whereas seven years engaged in audio book publishing, production, and distribution for the market of South Korea. As a co-founder and managing director at her company CO.MINT Inc. she is leading rights agency, consulting and digital content distribution of Korean language eBooks and audiobooks. From 2017 to 2022, she had led Storytel’s audio publishing business in South Korea.

As a content reviewer and judge, frequent speaker, lecturer, and writer for Korea’s Digital Book Association and KPIPA of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea on the topic of eBook, audiobook, digital content trends, and copyrights in digital environment, she has been invited to speak at global arenas.

She is studying at Ewha Womans University the Graduate School of Law for ‘the future of copyright in the era of the 4th industrial revolution’ as an extension of her bachelor’s degree of law, to solicit the conversation and movement towards the harmonious application of innovation technology and law for our future content industry.