Jorma Ollila
Executive Chairman
Ernst Stottinger
Partner | Innovation Programs
Ernst translates technologies and ideas into commercial products for global markets. As a former global MNC executive and founder of an award-winning premier industrial design and engineering consultancy, Ernst brings decades of experience in technology R&D, product development and commercialization. He is deeply skilled in global sourcing, manufacturing, supply chains and marketing.
Ernst enjoys challenging the thinking behind the applications of technologies and is always looking for how products can reach their full potential to delight users and satisfy markets. Like other Xinova Innovation Banking players, he excels at leveraging his extensive network and orchestrating teams to achieve breakthroughs in both technology and business. His firm, Essentiel, uses a unique combination of technical and engineering prowess, user-centered design, and product development capabilities to create innovative products and services for a roster of leading global clients.
While Vice President of R&D at AKG Acoustics and Harman International, he played a decisive role in reshaping the company’s telecom and automotive businesses and leveraged Harman’s global engineering and marketing platforms. He also turned the AKG subsidiary into the wireless technology leader of the Pro Audio Business. As leader of the Acoustic Development Group, he developed AKG into the worldwide leader for automotive hands-free microphones and created the best micro speaker platform in the world.
By combining his global corporate systems rigor with his entrepreneurial passion for solving technical design challenges in an agile agency environment, Ernst is a master of designing elegant solutions to real-world business problems.