Dr. Florian Kongoli holds 3 degrees: a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Science/University of Montreal, Canada and a Doctor of Science Degree/Tohoku University, Japan. Since 1996 he is CEO of FLOGEN Technologies Inc.,(www.flogen.com) a Sustainable High Tech applied research institute
incorporated in Canada and USA that today have offices and representations in more than 15 Countries around the the world while carrying out high tech projects in more than 40 countries.
Since 2007 he is Chairman of FLOGEN STAR OUTREACH (www.flogen.org), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to (1) achieving sustainability through science and technology, (2) raising the profile of science and engineering in the society and (3) properly honoring scientists and engineers.
Since 2003 Dr Kongoli has been President of the Organizing Committee of the Sustainable Industrial Processing Summits (SIPS) held every year in several countries around the world with an average participation of 500 authors from academia, industry, government and the entrepreneurship world representing an average of 80 countries.
Dr Kongoli has about 25 years of rich scientific and applied technology experience through direct involvement in numerous invited engagements in all continents. He has managed, involved, or actively participated in about 200 projects, 40 types of reactors, 10 industries, in 45 countries and in 6 continents. Dr. Kongoli has published 113 books and more than 200 scientific articles. He has delivered in numerous countries around the world about 220 plenary, keynote and invited presentations as well as articles, technical reports and research presentations. He has served in many leadership positions in national and international organizations and in many Professional Award Councils such as the Industrial Achievement Award Committee of International Federation of Automatic Control. He is Editorial Board member of several International Journals.
He is an elected Honorary Member of the Lorraine Academy of Sciences and Elected Member of Euro Mediterranean Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was awarded in 2017 the title "The Environmental Tech CEO of the year 2017" by CEO-Monthly UK magazine. He was awarded Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of his contribution toward sustainable development through FLOGEN Sustainability Framework by Tomas Bata University in Zlin (Czech Republic)/Faculty of Applied Informatics. He is honorary Citizen of Rio de Janeiro and Laureate of Gold Medal of the City of Nancy, France. In 2022 he was honored by the Congressman elect of Rio de Janeiro State, Alan Lopes, who will propose to the State Congress to adopt FLOGEN Sustainability Framework developed by Dr. Florian Kongoli in the state law for evaluating any proposed public or private project in the state. Also, in 2022 he was invited to give the Opening Sustainability Plenary Lecture at the United Nation Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on 11 February 2022 about FLOGEN Sustainability Framework at the International Year of Glass 2022.
He has participated in business and government delegations in numerous countries accompanying Prime Ministers, Ministers and other government officials.
A more detailed biography can be found at: http://www.flogen.com/elt/pdf/Kongoli_Short-CV.pdf
Rigoberto Advincula is a Governor's Chair Professor of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He is also a Group Leader at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), ORNL. His area of expertise is in organic and polymer chemistry, nanomaterials, flow chemistry and reaction engineering, additive manufacturing, and biomaterials. He has led major projects including a machine learning (ML) flow chemistry lab at ORNL and advanced nanocomposite manufacturing with DOE. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Fellow of the Polymer Science and Engineering Division (ACS), Fellow of the Polymer Chemistry Division (ACS), Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Netzsch NATAS 2023 Fellow. In 2024, he received the International Prize of the Society of Polymer Science of Japan (SPSJ) He has been appointed to the World Economic Forum, Advanced Materials Council. He has held several visiting Professor positions including Waseda University in Japan and the Max Planck Institute for Polymers (MPI-P) Research in Germany. He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Florida and had Post-doctoral Positions at the MPI-P and Stanford University. He is passionate in mentoring students and establishing interdisciplinary STEM programs.
Prof. Tang received his B.S. and PhD degrees from South China University of Technology and Kyoto University in 1982 and 1988, respectively. He conducted postdoctoral research at The University of Toronto from 1989 to 1994. He joined the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology in 1994 and was promoted to Chair Professor in 2008. He was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2009 and the World Academy of Sciences for the Advancement of Science in Developing Countries in 2020. In 2021, he joined The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, as Dean of School of Science and Engineering, with a concurrent appointment of X.Q. Deng Presidential Chair Professor.
Prof. Tang has published >2,000 scientific papers, which have been cited >218,000 times. His h-index is 204. He has delivered >500 invited talks at international conferences and has been granted >100 patents. He is currently serving as Editor-in-Chief of Aggregate published by Wiley, and is sitting in the editorial boards of >20 scientific journals.
Prof. Tang is mainly engaged in the study of materials science, macromolecular chemistry and biomedical theranostics. He coined the concept of aggregation-induced emission (AIE), and his labs are spearheading the AIE research in the world.
Prof. Tang has been listed as a Highly Cited Researcher in both areas of Chemistry and Materials Science since 2014. He received a series of awards, scholarships and honors, e.g., Croucher Senior Research Fellowship Award in 2007, Honorary Citizen of Guangzhou City in 2015, National Natural Science Award (1st Class) in 2017, Scientific and Technological Progress Award (Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation) in 2017, Nano Today Award in 2021, Biomaterials Global Impact Award in 2023, and CCS–SINOPEC Award (the Chinese Chemical Society) in 2024.
Professor Sabu Thomas is currently Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University and the Founder Director and Professor of the International and Interuniversity Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. He is also a full professor of Polymer Science and Engineering at the School of Chemical Sciences of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. Prof. Thomas is an outstanding leader with sustained international acclaims for his work in Nanoscience, Polymer Science and Engineering, Polymer Nanocomposites, Elastomers, Polymer Blends, Interpenetrating Polymer Networks, Polymer Membranes, Green Composites and Nanocomposites, Nanomedicine and Green Nanotechnology. Dr. Thomas’s ground breaking inventions in polymer nanocomposites, polymer blends, green bionanotechnological and nano-biomedical sciences, have made transformative differences in the development of new materials for automotive, space, housing and biomedical fields. In collaboration with India’s premier tyre company, Apollo Tyres, Professor Thomas’s group invented new high performance barrier rubber nanocomposite membranes for inner tubes and inner liners for tyres.
