Board

The EMVA Board of Directors is the representative body which sets the strategic course and oversees the management of the association by representing the interests of all EMVA members. The Board of Directors is formed by the President, the Vice-President, the Treasurer and a number of further members which may be no less than two and no more than nine. The Board is elected by the General Assembly for a term of three years. The board members serve the association voluntarily and free-of-charge.

Dr. Chris Yates | President

”The industrial automation sector is in the process of significant change, with greater connectivity between devices and compute platforms, a proliferation of sensing modalities, and new paradigms for data processing, fusion, and information extraction, all set against a market desire for greater flexibility and speed of implementation. Vision technologies remain critical to this future; however, the competitive landscape will continue to evolve.
In addition to the general responsibilities of the EMVA board, I would like to help ensure that the EMVA and its member companies continue to play a central role in the development of industrial vision and are able to operate effectively in the new market environment, epitomized by the Platform 4.0 and IIoT initiatives. In particular, I would like to support the development of new companies entering the market, advocate broadening the scope of sensor technologies within the EMVA, and promote the awareness of wider industrial contexts and initiatives.”

Short CV

Chris Yates is Partner at Vision Ventures, company specialized in M&A and corporate transactions in automated imaging, machine vision, and computer vision.

Chris has varied background in early stage technology companies having previously been Chief Scientist at AIM listed startup Microemissive Displays developing OLED on CMOS devices for virtual reality applications, as well as tenures with Forth Dimension Displays designing ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon micro-displays, and involved with multiple spin-out projects including with the University of St Andrews, Strathclyde University, and the Technische Universität Berlin.
Afterwards Chris was the founder and CEO of Scottish industrial 3D time-of-flight imaging specialist, Odos Imaging, prior to the acquisition by Rockwell Automation in November 2017. Until March 2020 Chris was the Director of Advanced Technology at the Safety, Sensing, and Connectivity Business Unit of Rockwell Automation Inc.

Chris has a first class degree and Ph.D from Imperial College, London and has focused his career on working with novel technology in the area of electro-optics.

He was elected into the EMVA Board of Directors by the General Assembly 2018 in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and in January 2020 he took over the post of EMVA President.

Dr. Chris Yates
Vision Ventures, Germany

Prof. Dr. Bernd Jähne | Vice president

“My main objective as a member of the EMVA board would be to help EMVA member companies to incorporate newest research results into their products to gain competitive advantage over their competitors. During my first two three-year terms as member of the board of directors, I established the annual European Machine Vision Forum for networking between research and industry (“Where research meets industry”), initiated the new EMVA standard for open optics camera interface (OOCI), and started the certification program for EMVA 1288 experts. If elected, I will continue activities in these directions with focus on extending the EMVA continuous education program with certification.”

 

Short CV

Prof. Dr. Bernd Jähne is professor of physics and computer science at the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR) and the Institute for Environmental Physics of Heidelberg University from 1994 until his retirement end of September 2018. The rector then appointed him senior professor and he continued his research activities.

End of 1995, he founded the Heidelberg Image Processing Forum, a continuous education activity (www.bv-forum.de), which has become the major contact forum between research and machine vision industry in Germany. From 2008 to 2017, he was the coordinating director of the Heidelberg Collaboratory for Image Processing, one of the Industry-on-Campus Projects of Heidelberg University. He is author of several text books in image processing and computer vision, including the Springer text book on digital image processing published in several editions in German, English and Russian language.

Since 2008 he chairs the EMVA 1288 standardization committee for camera characterization. He also serves as a member of the Advisory Board for Fraunhofer Vision. From August 2021 on he is the EMVA Vice President.

Prof. Bernd Jähne
Heidelberg University, Germany

Arndt Bake | Treasurer

”If you ask me: ‘Where do you come from?’ my answer will be: ‘I am a European, living in Schleswig-Holstein, which is in the far up North of Germany.’
Personally, I am a strong believer in Europe, because only if Europe joins its forces we will be able to shape a successful future for our continent. From a business perspective, I love to work at the interface between people and technology. I enjoy identifying technical and market changes in order to help organizations in the change process to adapt to new market structures. For 20 years I am thrilled about the possibilities of Machine Vision and Computer Vision and I would love to bring my experience to the Board of Directors of the EMVA.”

Short CV

Arndt Bake holds a degree in Digital Electronics Engineering (University of Applied Science Hamburg) and a degree in Business Engineering (University of Applied Science Wedel).

In his first position (1995) he worked at Lansing Linde, Basingstoke UK, as a Project Engineer. In 1997 he joined NEC Electronics in its European HQ in Düsseldorf to focus on Product Management for Semiconductors. He led a group of Product Managers for Microcontrollers and Microprocessors covering the hole European Market. In a similar role he joined Basler in 2001 to focus on Product Management for Industrial Cameras. In 2003 he moved to head the Business Unit Basler Components and in 2011 he joined the Board of Directors at Basler with a focus on Marketing (CMO) and Innovation. Since 2021 the focus changed to Digitization (CDO) and Innovation.

Arndt is married, has two kids (21 & 18) and lives in Neustadt in Holstein at the Baltic coast. In his free time, he loves to sail at the Baltic Sea.

Arndt Bake was elected into the EMVA Board of Directors by the General Assembly 2021, held in online format.

Arndt Bake
Basler AG, Germany

Arnaud Destruels

”Using my core experience in marketing, I would like to support current and future EMVA marketing actions in order to improve the global visibility of our association into Europe (for customer, media & institutions). As member of EMVA, from a long time, I know that my marketing knowledge could help EMVA team to be more efficient in the development of EMVA brand image. My challenge will be to expand EMVA credibility and to propose new and fresh ideas and disruptive concepts for the representation of EMVA.”

Short CV

Arnaud Destruels holds a Degree in Electrical Engineering and Mechanics with special option: Marketing for Industrial Engineering/Information Technology (ESME in Paris – Engineering School.

He has a long story in the Machine Vision business, having joined SSE (Sony Semiconductor Europe) way back in September 1994. At first being responsible for sales and marketing in French emerging industrial markets (STB, LCD and CCD). Very quickly, he moved on to manage successfully some European key accounts and also developed LCD business. In 1997, he continued his career in business development for Sony Network Product Europe. Then he took over the position of European Product Marketing Manager for ISS (Image Sensing Solution) a division of SES (Sony Semiconductor & Electronic Solution), division of Sony Europe Ltd. His main mission is to develop product marketing strategy (business intelligence, marcom & channel marketing) including new business model for the machine vision market (in emerging or promising sectors)

Arnaud was elected into the EMVA Board of Directors by the General Assembly 2018 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. From 2020 to 2021 he was the EMVA Vice President.

Arnaud Destruels
Sony, France

Dr. Christoph Garbe

”As a member of the EMVA board, I would like to strengthen the intersection between emerging technologies and industrial application of machine vision. Based on the EMVA’s historically strong foundation of sensor and component manufacturers, I will promote and broaden the scope of the EMVA to complete solution providers and more software-centric companies. One of my goals is strengthening the ties between corporates, established companies and start-ups within the EMVA. This will further improve the appeal of the EMVA for young companies and thus future proofing the organization and providing its members a strong competitive advantage”

Short CV

Christoph Garbe studied Physics at the University of Hamburg and at the University of Heidelberg. In 2001 he received his PhD and in 2007 his habilitation at the faculty of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg. He was the head of an independent research group on image processing and modelling at the same University from 2007 to 2020.

Since 2017 he is Founder and CEO, of HD Vision Systems GmbH, a company developing light field-based sensors and products for quality inspection and robot handling. He has a strong expertise on multi-modal imaging, machine learning and industrial applications.

Christoph has been working in different voluntary committees, such as the German Society for Non-Destructive Testing (DGZfP), the SOLAS Scientific Steering Committee and served on the board of an international funding agency. He served as Guest Editor to international scientific journals, and organized international conferences and workshops. He lectures at the University of Heidelberg and served as a substitute chair at the University of Frankfurt. He authored or co-authored 200 publications in international professional journals.

Christoph was elected into the EMVA Board of Directors by the General Assembly 2021, held in online format.

Dr. Christoph Garbe
HD Vision Systems, Germany

Dr. Dirk Berndt

”As a board member I would like to focus on topics related to research and development in the field of machine vision, image processing and other methods of optical inspection. I consider it as our common goal bringing together European research institutes and facilities on a European level. As a representative of the applied Research and Development I also want to work on increasing the cooperation between research institutes and companies in order to strengthen the European industry and competitiveness on the world market. In this context, another key issue is the establishment of a European research program for machine vision technologies of the future.”

Short CV

Dr.-Ing. Dirk Berndt is Head of the Business Unit »Measurement and Testing Technology« at the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF) in Magdeburg, Germany. Effective January 1st, 2021, he has been appointed to Deputy Director of the Fraunhofer IFF.

Dr. Berndt has been working at the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF in Magdeburg, Germany, for almost 30 years. He has been working as a department manager since 1998. After receiving his PhD in 2008 he took over the position of a business manager in the field of measuring and testing technology.

Always having been a networker, Dirk Berndt also represents the Fraunhofer Vision Alliance, a network within the Fraunhofer Society consisting of 15 institutes and more than 500 scientists, where he has been a member of the professional advisory board since 2010.

Since 2018 Dirk Berndt is member of the EMVA Board of Directors and in this role he represents the EMVA in the Photonics21 Board of Stakeholders.

Dr. Dirk Berndt
Fraunhofer IFF, Germany

Dr. Kai-Udo Modrich

”In the EMVA Board I would like to focus on topics which are related to industrial applications and their resulting demands for future machine vision systems. With this focus I want to motivate more system integrators to be part of our community. I also will try to link discussions from end users into our community. Beside this it is important for me to align activities of the different associations on an European Level.”

Short CV

Dr. Kai-Udo Modrich is Head of ZEISS Inline Inspection & Metrology and Managing Director of Carl Zeiss Automated Inspection GmbH. The company is solution provider for inline measuring technology, robot vision and vision-based quality inspection systems in the automotive and manufacturing industries.

Kai-Udo Modrich studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Stuttgart. In 2002 he received his PhD at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the same university. From 1997 until 2007 he worked at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (Fraunhofer IPA) in different positions at last as Head of the Department Information Processing. Since 2008 he has been working at Carl Zeiss AG. At the start of his career, he led in the ZEISS Business Group Industrial Metrology (IMT) the department of Product Management and afterwards he headed the software development. Parallel to his position as Senior Director for software development, he was the Managing Director at the Carl Zeiss Innovation Center in Dresden as well as at the subsidiary Holometric Technologies GmbH in Essingen.

Since December 2012 he is the Managing Director of Carl Zeiss Automated Inspection GmbH in Neuenstein, Germany. From 2016 he was heading in parallel the Field of Business Car Body Solutions. Since 2021 he is heading the new Field of Business Inline Inspection & Metrology within Zeiss Industrial Quality Solutions.

Kai-Udo Modrich has been working in different voluntary committees in the area of machine vision and metrology e.g. for the Vision Show, Messe Stuttgart, AMA scientific committee and others. From 2002 until 2013 he has been working as chairman for x-ray based computed tomography for metrology applications in the VDI/VDE GMA 3.33. Since 2008 he has been working in the industrial advisory board of Fraunhofer Alliance Vision. He serves the board of trustees at Fraunhofer IPA and is member of VDMA Robotik und Automation and AIA.

Kai-Udo was elected into the EMVA Board of Directors by the General Assembly 2015 in Athens, Greece.

Dr. Kai-Udo Modrich
Carl Zeiss Automated Inspection GmbH, Germany

Dr. Marco Diani

”Using my vast experience in the machine vision industry, I would like to serve the EMVA in order to improve the visibility of the Association in lesser represented and emerging countries. Additionally, I would like to serve the EMVA and its members in order to prepare for new challenges the machine vision world is facing.
Finally, my service would also help the coordination of local machine vision associations to have a unified vision in Europe.”

Short CV

Marco Diani has 38 years of experience in Machine and Computer Vision. He developed a keen interest in Machine Vision in 1983 while he was a student at the University of Pavia, where he received his degree in Electronic Engineering in 1986. His thesis was in Machine Vision and he continued his education, ultimately receiving his PhD in Machine Vision in 1989. His PhD research project was in vision to determine the best path of movement of an object in 3D space. He also authored and co-authored nearly 30 national and international scientific publications during his studies.

Marco has spent his entire carrier in the Machine Vision industry. In 1987 he established a system integration company that developed industrial vision systems that is still in business. Among the company’s many achievements, he is most proud of the company’s design and manufacture of the first blister pack inspection system made in Italy for the pharmaceutical industry.
In 1994, he was one of the founding partners of iMAGE S, a leading distributor of machine vision components in Italy and one of the original members of the EMVA. Over the last 27 years he was instrumental in leading the company, together with his partners, to become the reference point for all the Italian system integrators and OEM’s that are working in vision. iMAGE S prides itself in its contributions to the Machine Vision industry by furthering its reach to prospective students and scientists. This is done through teaching machine vision courses and seminars to high schools, universities and research laboratories throughout Italy. After the acquisition of iMAGE S by Next Imaging in 2018, Marco has continued as one of the CEOs of iMAGE S and provides leadership for the group’s new challenges. He is also member of the board of Next Imaging.

For nearly three decades Marco has attended many industry events globally searching for new technologies that can be integrated into Machine Vision systems and ultimately learning about emerging trends in Machine Vision. Over the past seven years, this has expanded to embedded vision and edge processing. His globally participation includes EMVA conferences, the Vision Show, A3 (AIA) events, JIIA conferences and meetings, and Vision China Show.

Marco was elected into the EMVA Board of Directors by the General Assembly 2021, held in online format.

Marco Diani
iMAGE S, Italy

Dr. Ronald Müller

”For 20 years, I am fascinated by Machine Vision as one of the key technologies and innovation drivers of the 21st century. The international Machine Vision industry is blessed with many small and medium-sized enterprises, which develop and produce outstanding products for various target markets. Such as my company Vision Markets, I am eager to dedicate my work at the EMVA board to making Machine Vision companies thrive, globally.
In line with such mission, I will support the EMVA in providing its members with competitive advantages. EMVA members shall benefit from enhanced access to their target customers, shared market intelligence as well as facilitated know-how exchange and collaboration.
Since my business activities are by 80% international and by 50% outside Europe, I would also like to add my global view to the design of a sustainable growth strategy with the EMVA board and support with the acquisition of new members from my client base and personal network across Europe, North America, China, and Israel”

Short CV

Ronald Mueller is an expert in the global machine vision industry. He is known for his technical know-how, his management skills, and his first-hand experience in machine vision sales in Europe, North America, and China. Based on these competencies, Ronald founded the consulting firm Vision Markets in 2014. He, his team, and the Vision Markets Network of experts are dedicated to making businesses thrive in the globalized growth market of machine vision. The consulting services are focused on 4 areas: Strategy, M&A, Recruitment, and Marketing.
Ronald has a Ph.D. in computer vision and machine learning from Munich University of Technology (TUM). He then joined Altran (now Capgemini Engineering) as Business Unit Manager for automotive engineering consulting services before he joined the EMVA member company Framos as VP Marketing in 2010 where he built up the company’s first American office as COO in 2014.
Today, Ronald serves as member of two innovation award juries and six advisory boards of international trade conferences about imaging technologies. He is invited speaker at various trade events to share his insights into trends of the machine vision market. His regular columns are published in the leading trade magazines of Europe and North America.

Ronald was elected into the EMVA Board of Directors by the General Assembly 2021, held in online format.

Dr. Ronald Müller
Vision Markets, Germany