Thomas Korner joins Heliatek as VP Business Development

After being able to win over Dr. Andreas Rückemann as CEO in November 2008 and Michael Mohr as vice president production in January 2010, Heliatek has now filled another key position with a solar industry expert. Thomas Körner joined Heliatek as vice president business dvelopment in July 2010.

Within the first year of his function at Heliatek, Dr. Rückemann has successfully completed the series B financing round with a volume of €18 million together with Dr. Martin Pfeiffer, main founder and CTO of Heliatek. Heliatek was thereby able to win RWE Innogy and other investors, in addition to the already involved shareholders Wellington Partners, BASF VC and Bosch.

Körner has completed his engineer studies in semiconductor and microsystems technologies as well as his master of business and engineering (MBE) degree. With many years of industrial and business experience, Körner has been working the past eight years for Schüco International KG in several management functions, such as product owner photovoltaic, managing all global solar product and sourcing related activities of the solar division and as VP products and business development for Schüco´s North America solar business. His broad experience in the solar industry and the detailed knowledge of solar system design and development are particularly valuable for Heliatek’s targets in organic photovoltaics (OPV).

Körner is responsible for the business development and sales activities as well as Heliatek´s marketing and product management to drive the product definition and first product communication. With this step, Heliatek prepares now the commercialization of its patented OPV technology in line with the ramp up of its first OPV production site, thus creating a basis for Heliatek’s prospective success as provider of innovative, light-weight and long-lasting PV-modules on flexible substrates. First products are expected to be launched early in 2012.

“We are happy that we have Thomas Körner on board – with him we could hire a top-class, experienced manager with deep solar market knowledge who fills perfectly another central vacancy in our company. This shows that Heliatek is established in the forward-looking area of OPV and is highly attractive for solar market experts due to its tremendous growth and success potential. We are looking forward to this cooperation,” Dr. Rückemann commented.

With Mohr as VP production and Körner as VP business development, Dr. Rückemann was able to complete the management team of Heliatek. Within the next 18 months, Heliatek will now ramp up the first production facility in Dresden and will enter the solar market with its competitive OPV technology, targeting various market segments such as mobile electronic applications, automotive, commercial roof-top systems and building integrated PV systems (BIPV).