Leaseurope’s Future Group Class of 2014 starts work on new ideas

Established in 2013, Leaseurope’s Future Group is a unique European programme designed to provide up and coming individuals with a platform and an environment in which they can develop innovative ideas for the industry as a whole. It also serves to nurture future industry leaders and provides the young talents with exposure to senior industry practitioners.

Chris Boobyer, senior partner at Invigors EMEA, said: “The 2014 Future Group is a diverse group, full of energy and potential. I’m extremely pleased to welcome these talented individuals to the programme and am convinced that they have what it takes to deliver outstanding ideas for industry innovations.”

The brief for the class of 2014 is to come up with an innovative idea which will address or solve the challenge posed by ‘disruptive’ approaches, such as new manufacturing technologies (3D printing, nano-technology), digital strategies (internet of things, big data) or the circular economy.

Jacqueline Mills, Leaseurope’s director of asset finance and research, said: “Leaseurope would like to thank the companies who have continued to support the Future Group programme by nominating their staff to take part in the 2014 exercise. For me, this is proof that the European leasing industry has recognised that people are indeed the key to its success – the programme is a concrete means of delivering innovative solutions to the industry while at the same time recognising that talent.”

Participants’ ideas will be presented at Leaseurope’s Annual Convention in Barcelona in October 2014. Last year three projects were selected for further investigation: Ecoreward, which used technology to make improvements to driver behaviour in order to reduce vehicle fuel consumption; a community and subscription based model offering SMEs short-term, flexible leasing contracts for second life industrial or construction equipment; and an peer-to-peer funding proposition.

Future Group Class of 2014 (from left to right): Pascal Feijt, ING Lease, Philipp Gränz, Deutsche Leasing, Anna Naplocha, De Lage Landen, Mārtiņš Buls, Nordea Finance Latvia, Pierre-Yves Meert, ALD Automotive Luxembourg, Fieke de Haan, ABN Amro Lease, Jon Hanson, Lombard, Paolo Catarozzo, ICRREA Bancaimpressa, Martin Hofmann, Societe Generale Equipment Finance, Krzysztof Rowinski, mLeasing, Vincent Jacquelin, BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, Andrew Hutchings, 3 Step IT UK, Susanne van der Mark, LeasePlan Corporation, Alexandra Embacher, Raiffeisen Leasing, Alberto Onesti, UniCredit Leasing