
Prof. Jacob Bortman
Univeristy of the Negev Beer-Sheva, Israel
Jacob Bortman is currently full Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Head of the PHM Lab in Ben- Gurion University of the Negev. Retired from the Israeli Air Force as Brigadier General after 30 years of service with the last position of the Head of Material Directorate. Chairman and member of several boards: Director of Business development of Scoutcam Ltd, Chairman of the board of directors, Selfly Ltd., Board member of Augmentum Ltd., Board member of Harel Finance Holdings Ltd., Chairman of the board of directors, Ilumigyn Ltd. Member of the committee for “The National Initiative for Secured Intelligent Systems to Empower the National Security and Techno-Scientific Resilience: A National Strategy for Israel”. Editorial Board member of: “Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology Advances (Springer, Quarterly issue)”. Member of: BINDT – The British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing, Head of the Israeli Organization for PHM, IACMM – Israel Association for Comp. Methods in Mechanics, ISIG – Israel Structural Integrity Group, ESIS – European Structural Integrity Society. Received the Israël National Defense prize for leading with IAI strategic development program, Outstanding lecturer in BGU, The Israeli Prime Minister National Prize for Excellency and Quality in the Public Service – First place in Israel. Over 80 refereed articles in scientific journals and in international conferences.

Rune Prytz
Head of Research, Stratio
Rune Prytz is Head of Research at Stratio. An academic whose research on machine learning for predictive maintenance has been cited in hundreds of scientific papers, eliminating downtime has been at the forefront of Rune’s interests for nearly two decades. His previous positions include the role of Uptime Systems and Service Specialist at OEM Volvo, and that of Director of Research and Development at software company TrialBee. His most recent research is the Battery Cortex project on predictive battery analytics for Electric Vehicles (EVs), developed in partnership with his alma mater, the University of Halmstad.
This talk “Transitioning to EV Buses Successfully and Beyond” will introduce the need and market for EV buses. The problems to be solved for optimal vehicle operation and range are described with emphasis on prediction for 1, 2, and 5 years’ time. New challenges and synergies to other domains are highlighted leading to audience discussions.