Roland Scheer received his diploma degree in electronic engineering from the University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Germany. He joined AEG Konstanz, Germany, in 1983 as electronic engineer. In parallel, he studied physics at the University of Konstanz and at the Technical University of Berlin where he received his physics diploma in 1990. In 1994, he finished his doctoral thesis in physics and joined the Helmholtz-Centre (former Hahn-Meitner Institute) in Berlin. His RD activities are focused on thin film solar ceils where he invented a new solar cell based on CulnS2. In 2002, Roland Scheer was visiting scientist at the Advanced institute for Science and Technology (AIST) in Tsukuba, Japan. He was lecturer at the University of Potsdam until in 2010 he became full professor holding the endowed chair for photovoltaics at the Martin-Luther-University in Halle-Wittenberg.
Hans-Werner Schock became head of the Institute of Technology at the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin fr Materialien und Energie (former Hahn-Meitner Institute) in the division "Solar Energy Research" in late 2004. He received his diploma in electrical engineering in 1974 and obtained his PhD in electrical engineering from Stuttgart University, Germany, in 1986. Starting in the early 70s, he has taken the development of chalcogenide solar cells from basic investigations to the transfer to a pilot fabrication plant. From 1986 to 2003 he coordinated the research on chalcopyrite based solar cells in the framework of the European photovoltaic program. From 1982 to 2004 he was head of the compound semiconductor thin film group of the Institute of Physical Electronics at the University of Stuttgart. He is author or co-author of more than 300 contributions in books, scientific journals and published conference proceedings. For his achievements in the development of chalcopyrite based solar cells he received the prestigious "Becquerel Prize" in 2010.