LIST OF SPEAKERS

Sava Industry in action

EGDF list of speakers 

EGDF is often contacted for speakers, and here we list the experts from our national association community who are more than happy to share their expertise. 

 

EGDF board

Hendrik Lesser, EGDF president 

  • Position: President @EGDF & President @rcp
    • Organization, country: EGDF; remote control productions, Germany 
  • Topics:
    • State of the European games industry / The state of a national games industry ecosystem in Europe
    • The future of game industry 
    • Leadership
    • Games history
    • How to build a studio
  • Bio: Entrepreneur and founder Hendrik Lesser is the CEO of the international production house remote control productions. After starting out more than 20 years ago in the industry, he has been building a family of independent development studios throughout Europe and beyond, which today consists of 16 teams in six countries with more than 450 passionate game makers. Besides his commercial roles, he’s an avid ambassador and lecturer to bring games as a culture technique forward, for example by being President of the “European Games Developer Federation” (EGDF) or as MD and board member for the Bavarian games industry association “Games Bavaria Munich”
  • LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hendriklesser/
  • Contact details: info@r-control.de  

Andreea Medvedovici- Per, EGDF Vice-President

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  • Position: Executive Director of RGDA | Vice-President of EGDF 
  • Organization, country: RGDA, Romania
  • Topics:
    • State of the  European game development industry: history, ecosystem, economic data, employment, trends. 
  • Bio: Listed as one of the Game Changers of the global game development industry by GamesIndustry.Biz, Andreea builds communities for many years and for the past 7 years she is passionate about the game development community,  wearing many hats inside it. She is the Executive Director of RGDA – the Romanian Game Developers Association representing the Romanian game development community all over the world, the Vice-President of The European Game Developers Federation EGDF and the Co-Founder of Women in Games Association Romania. Until recently, she was also the BizDev manager of indie studio KillHouse Games and still considers herself and honorific member of their team and loves their games. 
  •  LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreea-medvedovici-per-b522a217/ 
  •  Contact details: andreea.per@rgda.ro

Koopee Hiltunen, a board member 

  • Position: Director of Neogames Finland industry association | EGDF board member,
  • Organization, country: Neogames Finland Association, Finland
  • Topics / in stock
    • Finnish Game Industry – The Whole Story
    • Look at the Past – around 15 lessons learned in over 40 years of Finnish Games
    • State of the European games industry / The state of a national games industry ecosystem in Europe
    • What next?  EGDF / Neogames roadmap for the future
    • Finnish Game Industry Sexual Harassment Task Force – Why and How
  • Bio: In his twenties, long time ago, KooPee Hiltunen swore that if there was one thing he would never touch, that would be entrepreneurial business. However, over the three decades that followed, he (unwittingly) ended up being a founding member of one co-op, two registered associations, three limited companies, a Swedish ekonomisk förening, Danish foundation and an Icelandic business entity. So it goes. KooPee’s career in digital media began in 1994. He has worked at Neogames since 2004, and as its director since 2006. When Neogames Finland Assn. was founded in 2012, KooPee was one of the founders. In addition to Neogames, KooPee is a founding member and a member of the board in EGDF (European Games Developer Federation) and NGI (Nordic Game Institute), and runs the activities of the Finnish Game Developers’ Association. His academic background is in literature, though he has successfully avoided an actual degree for nearly thirty years now. KooPee’s taste in games is as archaic as the man himself. His powerful PC mostly runs first-person shooters, and he takes up mobile games less frequently.
  • LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/koopee-hiltunen-19226/
  • Contact details: https://neogames.fi/introducing-neogames/meet-the-team/#koopee
  •  

EGDF office 

Jari-Pekka Kaleva, Managing Director 

  • Position: Managing Director
  • Organization, country: EGDF; Neogames – Finland
  • Topics
    • Get ready for the upcoming changes in EU regulation
    • EU funding for game development
    • State of the European games industry
    • The state of a national games industry ecosystem in Europe
    • The future game industry is building for all of us
    • It takes the whole village to raise a game industry talent
  • Bio: Jari-Pekka Kaleva is an institution nerd helping the game industry geeks to revolutionise the world we live in. At the moment, he works as Managing Director at the European game industry umbrella organisation EGDF and as Chief Policy Advisor at Neogames  Finland association. He has more than a decade of experience tracking both national and EU level political decision making from the game industry’s point of view. Before he became a game industry advocate in Helsinki, J-P focused on researching literary institutions in his studies, worked at a games startup in Oulu, and was active in several civic organisations, both domestic and international. Boom Beach and Polytopia are part of his everyday life as much as his morning coffee, but his most unforgettable recent gaming experience has to be Gorogoa.
  • LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpkaleva
  • Contact details: https://www.egdf.eu/about/

Andreea Sava, Communications Coordinator 

  • Position: Events Manager of RGDA | Comms Coordinator of EGDF 
  • Organization, country: RGDA, Romania
  • Topics:
    • State of the European games industry / The state of a national games industry ecosystem in Europe
    • European game industry data collection methodology & process
    • Romanian video game industry / Educational programs in the industry
    • European industry events 
  • Bio: Being passionate about events for more than a decade, Sava made her way into the video games industry two years ago, as an Event Manager for the Romanian Game Developers Association (RGDA). Her creativeness, enthusiasm and love for teamwork perfectly matched the gaming industry vibe and motivated her into supporting the growth of the national games industry ecosystems in Europe. As Communication Coordinator of EGDF (European Game Developers Federation) she encourages European local industries into communicating and connecting to each other as an imperative component of the growing process. Her skills are best measured by the two most important projects she coordinates: Dev.Play Conference for Eastern Europe and the Annual Video Game Industry Report – Collecting national data from more than 20 European Countries. 
  • LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sava-andreea-952a39bb/  
  • Contact details: andreea.sava@egdf.eu 
  •  

National Trade Associations 

 

BELGIUM

David Verbruggen, General Manager

  • Position: General Manager
  • Organization, country: FLEGA/BelgianGames
  • Topics:
    • State of play: the Belgian and worldwide videogame sector in facts & figures
    • Funding for video game development
    • Legal cases and files in videogame sector
    • Future trends in video games
    • Games for good, games in schools, games and well-being, game disorder, online safety, in-game purchases, screen time…
    • Consumer protection: parental controls, PEGI, consumer websites…
    • And many other smaller video game topics such as cheating in video games
  • Bio: David Verbruggen has almost 30 years of experience in the game sector. He represents the video game developers in Flanders (via FLEGA) as well as the publishers & platforms in Belgium (via VGFB). Working closely with his colleagues in Brussels and Wallonia under the umbrella BelgianGames, and with his international colleagues in the global videogame sector. David grew up with videogames and is now a dad of 2 teenagers playing games.
  • LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidverbruggen/
  • Contact details: david.verbruggen@flega.be

FINLAND

Suvi Latva, Chief Business Advisor

  • Name: Suvi Latva
  • Position: Chief Business Advisor
  • Organization, country: Neogames Finland
  • Topics:
    • Game Industry Ecosystems; how to build and maintain
    • Supporting students to get employed at game industry
    • Young Game Industry start-ups
    • Finnish Game Industry
    • Best practices on trade missions
  • Bio: She has roots on virtual reality & real-time 3d graphics from 99 and has Master’s degree from Industrial design (Media- and Interface Design) on 2003. She has been working with game research (PHD -studies) and investigating out how to implement digital games to physical playground environment. 2006 she started her journey with game business development and building game industry ecosystems in Oulu. As a result, solid foundation for game business was built in the area. Game industry business development and -support continued in Tampere 2010. Tampere had already running game industry at that time, but it was under severe disruptions and lay-offs. She helped local developers and studios tackle their challenges and to utilise the new opportunities in changing business environment. Since 2013 she has been working in Neogames Finland, taking care of business relations to Finnish Game Developers and their potential partners. She has been responsible of several studies regarding Finnish Game Industry, investment opportunities and Asian (China, Japan and South Korean) market opportunities and supporting young entrepreneurs.
  • LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suvi-latva/
  • Contact details: https://neogames.fi/contact-us/
  •  

GERMANY

Henner Hentsch, Director Legal & Regulatory Affairs

  • Position: Director Legal & Regulatory Affairs
  • Organization, country: game, Germany
  • Topics:
    • German games regulation
    • Copyright
    • Collective rights management/collecting societies
  • Bio: Henner Hentsch works as Legal Counsel for game since January 2016. Before he represented VG Media, a collecting society for broadcasters and press publishers and he also was working at the German Bundestag. Additionally he is a professor for copyright and media law at TH Köln.
  • LinkedIN profile:  Henner Hentsch | LinkedIn
  • Contact details: Team | game

Felix Falk, Managing Director

  • Position: Managing Director 
  • Organization, country: game – the German games industry association
  • Photo: Copyright: Dirk Mathesius
  • Topics:
    • State of the German games industry
    • Public funding in Germany
    • Youth Protection
    • gamescom and international events
    • Everything that moves the games industry in Germany, Europe and beyond
  • Bio: Felix has been Managing Director of game since 1 February 2018. In January 2017, he was appointed Managing Director of BIU, the German Games Industry Association. He oversaw the merger of the two associations BIU and GAME into game – the German Games Industry Association and assumed the position of Managing Director of the joint association for the German games sector. Prior to this role, Felix Falk was the Managing Director of Germany’s Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body (USK) from 2009 to 2016. As vice-chairman of the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) during this period, he was jointly responsible among other things for the global rating standard for online games and apps. From 2004 to 2009, he served as the Head of Office for Monika Griefahn, Chairwoman of the Committee on Cultural and Media Affairs within the German Bundestag. In this capacity, Felix Falk was also responsible for the topic of computer games, and oversaw, among other things, the creation of the Deutsche Computerspielpreis, the most important german computer games award, which were passed by the Bundestag in 2008 and were presented for the first time in 2009.
  • LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felix-falk-749138b6/
  • Contact details: https://www.game.de/en/management-team/

IRELAND

Craig Stephens, Founder & Director

  • Position: Founder & Director (Kartridge PR), Board of Directors (Imirt – The Irish Game Makers Association)
  • Organization, country: Kartridge PR & Imirt – The Irish Game Makers Association (both Ireland)
  • Topics:
    • Video games PR – including: developing, executing and reporting on all aspects of a product or corporate PR campaign (from AAA to solo indie);
    • the importance of PR and communications to the success of a game;
    • maintaining player interest in long tail games-as-a-service communications campaigns.
  • Bio: Craig is Founder & Director of Kartridge PR. With clients ranging from AAA publishers to solo indie developers, the Dublin-based agency has been delivering media and content creator campaigns since 2015. Craig is also on the board of directors for Imirt, the Irish video games development association. He has been instrumental in generating media and industry awareness of the Irish video games development tax credit.
  • LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigstephens/
  • Contact details: craig@kartridge.co

Dr Maria O’Brien, lecturer

  • Position: Lecturer
  • Organization, country: Queen’s University Belfast, Ireland & Imirt, Ireland
  • Topics:
    • Tax incentives for digital games as a form of cultural policy
    • political economy of state aids for games
    • political economy of Irish games industries
    • digital games and cultural value
  • Bio: Dr Maria O’Brien is a researcher and current board member of Imirt, the Irish games representative body. She completed a PhD in Dublin City University on tax incentives for the audiovisual industries in Ireland. At the moment, she works as a lecturer on the MA in Arts Management in Queen’s University Belfast. She is a qualified lawyer and brings her knowledge of law and legal practice to analysis of the digital games industries in Ireland and the EU.  
  • LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmariaobrien/
  • Contact details: maria.obrien@qub.ac.uk

NORTH MACEDONIA

Daniela Spasovska, Co-founder and President

  • Position: Co-founder and President of the Skopje Branch of the Macedonian Game Developers Association. She also works as a graphic designer, digital illustrator, and advertising art director.
  • Organization, country: Macedonian Game Developers Association – MAGDA, Macedonia
  • Topics:  
    • Game industry ecosystem in Macedonia and the Balkans
    • Game Jam events cons and pros
    • Game development in a small country with limited resources
    • Challenges and benefits for game developers in countries outside the EU
    • Women in the Macedonian game development industry
  • Bio: Daniela Spasovska is one of the founders of the Macedonian Game Developers Association – MAGDA, and also the president of the Skopje branch. Together with other members of MAGDA and the indie game dev studios, she is working on events and activities that aim to promote game development among young people. Her ambition is to see game development as a studying method in the educational system. She supports women who like to participate in game development and believes that contemporary technologies should be easily accessible to everybody.
  • LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielaspasovska/
  • Contact details: spasovska.dd@gmail.com

Martin Petkovski, programmer

  • Name: Martin Petkovski
  • Position: C++ Programmer
  • Organization, country: KAMAi MEDIA, Republic of Macedonia
  • Topics:
    • Non-linearity in video games,
    • non-linear storytelling,
    • methods and tools for developing interactive narratives
  • Bio: Martin Petkovski is a programmer and a passionate gamer, born and raised in Bitola, Macedonia. There he finished high school, graduate and post-graduate studies in computer science and worked at various undergraduate and graduate teaching assistant posts. At the moment, he works as a C++ programmer in the game development studio KAMAi MEDIA. He has more than 6 years of professional experience working as an external consultant on both AAA and indie games. He has participated on more than 20 game jams thus far and has been part of the organization of the Macedonian edition of the Global Game Jam. In his spare time he plays guitar, piano and drums.
  • LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-petkovski/
  • Contact details: https://www.najjak.com/; martin@najjak.com

SERBIA

Kristina Janković Obućina, Executive Manager 

  • Position: Executive Manager 
  • Organization, country: Serbian Games Association, Serbia
  • Topics:
    • State of the Serbian game dev (and regional for Adriatic/Balkans)
    • Diversity in the game dev industry
    • Indie dev in Serbia and/or CEE
    • Showcase of Serbian games
    • SGA activities and programs (overview or selected topic)
  • Bio: In charge of member relations, ecosystem building, our programs, as well as events and initiatives, Kris is here to communicate with relevant stakeholders and provide all information about Serbia’s growing gaming ecosystem. With a strong background in journalism, communications, project management and dozens of trophies on her PS4 profile, she is always in the mood to talk about gaming and find a way to support young creatives and new projects. She has been with SGA since the very founding of the association and is dedicated to developing the domestic gaming industry and the visibility of our teams, companies and games locally, but also globally.
  • LinkedIN profile:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristina-jankovi%C4%87-56225161/ 
  • Contact details: kristinajankovic@sga.rs

Relja Bobić, Program Director

  • Name: Relja Bobić
  • Position: Program Director
  • Organization, country: Serbian Games Association, Serbia
  • Topics:
    • State of the Serbian game dev
    • SGA activities and programs (overview or selected topic)
    • Game dev stakeholder/ecosystem topics (Serbia and in general)
    • International cooperation within the creative industries in general, and game dev
    • Game dev and the creative industries in general
    • EU projects, funding etc. 
  • Bio: Relja is the author of numerous cultural and artistic projects realized in Serbia, as well as throughout Europe, in the USA and Canada. He is active as an independent curator, manager in the field of arts and cultural events, music promoter, radio author and translator. He has initiated and participated in hundreds of events, founded four international festivals, conceived many exhibitions, conferences, publications and informal educational programs. In 2012, he was one of the founders of the creative hub Nova Iskra, and later the European Creative Hubs Network. He prefers to design physical and cognitive spaces where young creatives can collaborate and create in new ways.
  • LinkedIN profile:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/relja-bobic-b3472740/ 
  • Contact details: reljabobic@sga.rs

SLOVAKIA

Maroš Brojo, Executive Director

  • Name: Maroš Brojo
  • Position: Executive Director
  • Organization, country: Slovak Game Developers Association / Slovak Design Museum, Slovakia
  • Topics:
    • Slovak Game Industry Landscape
    • Game developer community management on a national level
    • Game preservation and historical research
    • Curating digital games exhibitions
  • Bio: Maroš Brojo is the Executive Director of the Slovak Game Developers Association. He also works as a project manager for Game Days, an event focused on independent digital games. As a curator, he works for the Slovak Design Museum, where he focuses on historical research, archiving and preservation of digital games and multimedia, and where he has compiled the exhibitions Pirates and Pioneers and Concepts and Phases, focusing on the history and current trends of Slovak video game design. As part of the CEE Animation, he is the project coordinator of the AnimationHub and New Talents projects, which serve to promote animated films internationally. Maroš Brojo worked for 5 years as program director of the International Animation Festival Fest Anča.
  • LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marosbrojo/
  • Contact details: maros.brojo@sgda.sk

SPAIN 

Emanuele Carisio, Technical Secretary

  • Position: Technical Secretary
  • Organization, country: DEV, Spain
  • Topics:
    • State of the Spanish game development industry: history, ecosystem, economic data, employment, trends
    • Public policies supporting game development industry: the Spanish case
    • From consumers to producers: how to change (in positive) the public perception of video games in a country
    • How to analyze the game development industry: key indicators, surveys, sources.
  • Bio: Telecommunications Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy), MPhil in Biomedical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain). Consultant for cultural and digital industries, specialized in public policy, project management, institutional relations, strategic communication, internationalization and business development. He is currently the technical secretary of DEV, the Spanish Association of Video Game Development Industry, and coordinator of the projects promoted by the association, including the several editions of the White Paper of Spanish Video Game Development Industry. He has been a collaborator and adviser for different Spanish associations in the digital technology sector (ICT and digital animation).
  • LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecarisio/ 
  • Contact details: info@dev.org.es

SWEDEN

Johanna Nylander, Head of Policy & Analytics

  • Position: Head of Policy & Analytics
  • Organization, country: Swedish Games Industry, Sweden
  • Topics:
    • State of the Swedish Games Industry, data, trends, history, ecosystem, etc.
    • Education, skills and talent needed for and by the games industry
    • Games industry facts for non-gamers
  • Bio: Head of Policy & Analytics at the Swedish Games Industry organisation, using data to make a better industry and improving policy decisions about it. Bachelor’s degree in video games development as a graphic designer, but ended up working in marketing. After a detour in politics and as an op-ed columnist and published author, recruited to Gameloft in Copenhagen as Senior Marketing & PR manager for the Nordic & Baltic market, managing local releases for over 50 games on mobile platforms.
    Now working with policy and public affairs to create a better environment and international growth for Swedish game developers, and to educate local policy makers on games and the needs of the industry. Managing the annual Game Developer Index on Swedish Game developers, along with other reports on the national industry.
  • LinkedIN profile:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannanylander/
  • Contact details: johanna@spelbranschen.se

Per Strömbäck, Head of Secretariat

  • Position: Head of Secretariat
  • Organization, country: Swedish Games Industry, Sweden
  • Topics:
    • Success factors for video game eco-systems
    • Trends in games
    • Swedish games, talent, business, creativity
    • Intellectual property in games
    • Digital policy and its commercial implications
  • Bio: Per Strömbäck takes interest in digital culture, now in his fourth decade in the games industry as game developer and -publisher, and since 2005 heading the industry association Swedish Games Industry. In parallel, Per has engaged in the theory of digital culture and its economy as editor of Netopia – a web magazine and forum on the digital society. Published author of two books and editor of two anthologies on digital culture and society. Per divides his time between Stockholm and Brussels. He is level 968 on Candy Crush Saga.
  • LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perstromback/
  • Contact details: Dataspelsbranschen — Dataspelsbranschen

UNITED KINGDOM 

Dr Richard Wilson OBE, CEO 

  • Position: CEO, TIGA
  • Organization, country: TIGA, UK
  • Topics:
    • UK video games industry.
    • Skills and education.
    • Video Games Tax Relief and funding for UK games studios.
    • Small and medium-sized businesses.
  • Bio: Dr Richard Wilson OBE Is the CEO of TIGA, the trade association representing the video games industry in the UK. At TIGA, Richard has successfully campaigned for the introduction of Video Games Tax Relief, introduced an accreditation system for university and college games courses, launched the prestigious TIGA Games Industry Awards and TIGA Games Education Awards, dramatically raised the profile of the industry in media and political circles and won 29 business awards and commendations.
  • LinkedIN profile:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardwilsontiga/
  • Contact details:  https://tiga.org/about-tiga-and-our-industry/contact-us
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