Speaker Profiles
Thursday, 18 June 2026
09:30 – 14:00
Stage 3
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Omar Abukhlal
Presentation
Achieving European Sustainability Goals: The Role of Electric Motorcycles
The European Union has set ambitious goals for phasing out new internal combustion engine (ICE) sales in Europe by 2035, and achieving Net Zero in terms of carbon emissions by 2050. Yet there are a number of fears that this scenario cannot be achieved. Practical challenges include the costs of changing over an entire passenger fleet within the EU; building out charging stations within cities, rural areas and highways; assuring battery capacity; and more. Omar will discuss policies and changing mobility markets in light of these events.
Profile
Omar Abukhlal is a globally experienced wealth-management professional and co-founder of GR1T Motorcycles, based in Zurich, Switzerland. With over two decades in banking and finance, he has cultivated a broad international network and deep expertise serving ultra-high-net-worth clients across continents. He held senior roles in private banking, including at Banque Cantonale de Genève and BNP Paribas Suisse, where he led teams across diverse regional desks and managed significant client portfolios.
In his role as Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GR1T Motorcycles, Omar has pivoted from pure wealth management into the mobility innovation space, aligning his strategic, investor-facing skillset with a passion for electric vehicles and motorcycle culture. His leadership spans product development, manufacturing, commercial strategy and ecosystem partnerships, making GR1T a platform where finance meets engineering, design and sustainability.
GR1T Motorcycles is a Berlin-based electric motorcycle startup founded on the principle that urban mobility should be powerful, stylish and engineered from the ground up for the cities of tomorrow. Their first models, the G1S Street and the G1X Scrambler, are built with removable battery packs, premium connectivity features (4G/5G, wireless phone charging, over-the-air updates), and a design ethos of “precision, premium, performance”.
Michele Riccobono
Michele Riccobono is an experienced aviation professional who serves as Director of Engineering, Head of Flight Operations, and HDO at Kopter Group AG since July 2017.
With over three decades of deep technical expertise in avionics systems engineering, flight-test operations and rotorcraft development, particularly from his tenure at Leonardo Helicopter Division, he brings a rare blend of hands-on engineering, operational readiness and certification experience.
A graduate from the Milan Politecnico, Michele joined Agusta S.p.A, now Leonardo Helicopter Division, as an Avionics System Engineer. He earned his Category 1 Lead Flight Test Engineer qualification in 2005, logging almost 3,500 flight hours in rotary wing development and certification tests.
At Kopter, Riccobono has overseen the flight-test programme, engineering risk mitigation and scaling of the manufacturer’s rotorcraft development cycle. Under his technical leadership, the AW09 program progressed from a technology demonstration stage to more advanced prototypes.
During this phase, major engineering challenges have been addressed through extensive aircraft re-design to achieve the level of performance, riding qualities and safety which are the market requirements for modern rotorcrafts complying with the most recent Certification Standards.
His role has required coordination across design, flight and laboratory tests, certification and production readiness, making him an important bridge between technical engineering teams and operational deployment of the product. He understands how engineering constraints, test-programme milestones and aviation regulation must align with business and financial strategy.
His experience has been especially relevant for navigating the Kopter transition from a startup phase to a full fledged OEM. This included initially helping the original investor in assessing the risk in asset-intensive, regulation-heavy sectors such as aerospace and later supporting a successful integration with Leonardo Helicopter Division that acquired Kopter in 2020.
Holder of a PPL(A), Michele in his free time is a test pilot in light airplane development and also mentors students at the Milan Politecnico Aerospace Masters’ Degree in Flight Test Engineering. He is a regular flyer, especially around the stunning scenery of the Swiss Alps.