TEB Forum 2026
Conference Stage Day 2 (Space 28, 2nd floor)
Join us throughout the day for Keynotes & Main Stage Sessions.
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Project Stage Day 2 (Stage in ground floor)
Engage with the community during our EU and National Funded Project Sessions and Startup Showcases
Workshops Day 2(Space 28A, 2nd floor)
Collaborate with the community during our Workshops.
09.00 - 10:00 Registeration and Coffee
10:00 - 10:15 : Introduction to Alliance for Heating and Cooling
Opening Statement - Allianz WärmeZukunft
Speakers: Dl Dr. Andrea Edelmann, Head of Innovation and Sustainability, EVN and Chairwoman, Green Energy Lab
Focus: Heating and Cooling Sector in Austria and need for the alliance
10:15 - 10:30 : Keynote by AIT
The Future of District Heating in Central and Eastern Europe: Transformation, Innovation, Decarbonisation
Speaker:
Dr.-Ing. Ralf-Roman Schmidt, Senior Research Engineer, AIT
10:30 - 10:45 : Keynote by AEE INTEC
Thermal energy storage as the backbone of decarbonised district heating — technologies, scale, and the Austrian activities
Speaker:
DI Gerald Zotter, Group leader Thermal Energy storages, AEE INTEC
10:45 - 11:00 : Large Heat Pumps for Decarbonisation of District Heating in Vienna
Speaker:
DI Georg Danzinger, Development and Implementation of Renewable Thermal Assets, Wien Energie
11:00 - 11:20: Networking Break
11:20 - 11:35 : Geothermal Energy for District Heating Networks
Speaker:
DI Helene Mooslechner, Project Manager, deeep Tiefengeothermie GmbH
11:35 - 11:50 : From River to Heat: EVN's River-Water Heat Pump Projects in Dürnrohr and Korneuburg
Speaker:
Plant Engineering Department
Head of Energy Technology and Process Engineering,
EVN Wärmekraftwerke GmbH
11:50 - 12:35 : Decarbonising Heating & Cooling: From System Constraints to Scalable Transition Pathways
Panel Discussion
What structural, regulatory, and investment shifts are required to unlock large-scale transformation of the heating and cooling sector, which technological and system-level innovations can meaningfully accelerate decarbonisation and be scaled across Central and Eastern Europe, and how can energy companies and public authorities better align to move from pilot projects to full system deployment?
Panelists:
Michael Hübner, Senior Policy Officer, Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology
Head of the Asset Decarbonisation and New Technologies,
Wien Energie GmbH /
Managing Director of
Wiener Wasserstoff GmbH
Director-General, Environment and Climate, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Climate and Environmental Protection, Regions and Water Management
Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Teresa Pachernegg,
Head of Technical Management, Energie AG
Moderator:
Dl Dr. Andrea Edelmann, Head of Innovation and Sustainability, EVN and Chairwoman, Green Energy Lab
12:35 - 13:30: Lunch
13:30 - 13:45 : Austria's Pioneer Cities Mission: Accelerator of Urban Decarbonisation as a Part of Sustainable, Integrated Urban Development
Speaker: Mag. Christian Nussmueller
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Expert Integrated Urban Development, City of Graz
13:45 - 14:00 : Integrating grid transformation and municipal heat planning: Framework conditions and methodological approach for a GIS-based transformation analysis
Speaker:
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Senior Researcher at AEE INTEC
14:00 - 14:50 : How to Transform Cities? Bridging Planning, Investment and Building Cluster Renovation
Panel Discussion
Cities across Europe are setting bold climate targets — yet translating ambition into action remains a persistent challenge. This panel explores why the gap between planning, finance and real-world implementation is hard to close, and what it takes to move from strategy to scalable solutions on the ground.
Panelists:
Herbert Hetzel, Founder and Managing Partner, Beyond Carbon Energy
Mag. Christian Nussmueller, Expert Integrated Urban Development, Urban Climate Action,
City of Graz
Dr. Andreas Köttl, Managing Partner & CEO,
nxt real estate
Mag. Ulrike Rabmer-Koller, CEO Rabmer Group
Gerald Stangl, Co-Founder, Roots Energy
Moderator:
DI (FH) Carina Seidnitzer-Gallien, MA, Senior Researcher AEE INTEC
14:50 - 15:10 : Networking Break
15:10 - 16:00 : The Data Center Dilemma: Balancing Digital Growth with Grid Stability and Waste Heat Integration
Panel Discussion
How can Europe balance data sovereignty and the rapid expansion of data centres with grid stability, which system-level approaches—from smart siting and flexible demand to waste heat integration—can turn data centres into assets for the energy system, and how can industry and public authorities collaborate to scale these solutions across regions?
Panelists:
, Data Centre Solutions Director, EnelPS
Peter Ott, Senior Director, Danfoss
Nöbauer, CEO, Exoscale/ A1 Digital
Slobodan Aleksic , Data Centre Association, Serbia
Business Development Datacenters, Bilfinger SE
Moderator:
Heinz Nusser, Managing Director, Decision Advisory Group
17:00 - 18:00 : Networking Drinks
Project Stage:
Engage with the community during our Project Sessions.
13:30 - 16:00 : Funded Projects & Start-Ups
13:30 - 13:45: ESCALATE Project
The project focuses on towns with over 45,000 people, ensuring they have the tools and knowledge to create local heating and cooling plans that reduce energy use and support the environment
Speakers: Giulia Conforto, Project Coordinator, E-think
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13:45 -14:00 Anergie Leicht Gemacht
Low-energy heating made easy – Development of replicable implementation models for geothermal low-energy networks for decarbonization in existing buildings
Speakers: Gerhard Hofer, Managing Director, E-7 Energy innovation and engineering
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14:00 - 14:15 - infrared.city – An agentic AI framework for climate-aware planning
Speaker - Angelos Chronis, CEO & Co-Founder of infrared.city
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14:15 - 14:25 - From Waste Heat to Value: Unlocking Industrial Energy Streams Beyond District Heating
Speaker - Harald Bartsch, Co-Founder & CEO of Terraformer
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14:25 -14:40 - Transform industrial waste gases into value
Utilize emissions to create products, transforming them into hydrogen (H₂), Biodiesel or Syngas
Speaker - Ronald Bauer, CEO, Zero Carbon Technologies
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14:40 - 14:50 - Transforming CO2 into a Green feedstock
Speaker - Tom Cotter, Founder and CEO, Sisyphus
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14:50 - 15:00 Between Ambition and Economics: What Will H₂ Really Cost?
A critical assessment of production-cost drivers and their consistency with current market projections.
Speakers: Judith Kaper, AIT
15:00 - 15:10 : Networking Break
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15:00 - 15:10 Path to Industrial Decarbonization in Austria
Speakers: Jakob Embacher, Section V - Energie, BMWET
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15:10 - 15:25: Shallow Geothermal for urban Buidlings
Speaker - Sævar Örn Einarsson, CEO, Flexdrill
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15:25 - 15:40 ANEW-LIFE Powering the Clean Energy Transition in Ukrainian Cities
Speaker - Anne Turfin, EU Project Manager at Climate Alliance
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15:40 - 15:55 EPBD.wise Bringing European Building Policy to Life.
Speaker - Francesca Conselvan, Researcher, E-think
15:55 - 16:05 From Weather Data to Heat Pump Flexibility and optimization: comparing grey-box and black-box forecasting materials
Speakers - Peter WIDHALM, AIT, Center for Energy & Bernhard SCHlEIDT, Procon Data
16:05 - 17:10: Innovate Ukraine
16:05 - 16:10 Introduction to Innovate Ukraine
16:10 - 16:20 : EcoVenturi, The Future of Sustainable Cooling
Speaker- Beecham Koonjah, Founder, Unitech Synergies
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16:20 - 16:30: Sustainable ThermoSolutions: Thermal Energy Storage and Low-Carbon Heat for Ukraine’s Energy Resilience
Speaker- Oleksii Martyniuk, Founder and Director of PowerTech Energy
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16:30 - 16:40: H2U - Sustainable and inclusive hydrogen energy for Ukraine’s recovery
Speaker - Iaroslav Kryl, CEO, Hydrogen Ukraine
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16:40 - 16:50: Energy Go - Resilience in Infrastructure
Speaker - Oksana Antipa, Head of the Polish Office at DX Energy
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16:50 -17:00 SHIELD-R290 | Bridging Ukraine and Europe Through Sustainable Energy
Speaker: Olena Rybnytska, SHIELD R290
17:05 -19:00 Networking Drinks
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15:10 - 16:10 : Workshop #2 Local Heating and Cooling Planning: open-access guidelines and tools
Hands-on multi-tool workshop showcasing open-access European tools, guidelines and methodologies for local heating and cooling planning, including district heating and cooling, building renovation, geothermal integration, and sustainable space cooling. Through live demonstrations and practical examples, participants will explore tools including ESCALATE, Citiwatts, SupportDHC, CoolLIFE, SAPHEA, ReLIFE, MODERATE, THERMOS, and EnergyPRO