Markus Ott is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of experience in competitive strategy, portfolio development, market and competitive
intelligence, and customer loyalty management. Since 2009, he has been serving as the Head of Corporate Market and Competitive Foresight at
Festo, where he leads strategic initiatives in market analysis and portfolio innovation. Prior to this, Markus gained international experience as Branch Manager at Festo Australia and held leadership roles at Mannesmann Rexroth and Pilz GmbH. He holds degrees in International Economics from Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg and International Marketing from Reutlingen University.

Festo is a global player and an independent family-owned company headquartered in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany. Since its founding, Festo has set standards in industrial automation technology and technical education, contributing to the sustainable development of the environment, economy, and society. The company provides pneumatic and electrical automation technology to 300,000 customers in factory and process automation across over 35 industries. The LifeTech sector, which includes medical technology and laboratory automation, is becoming increasingly important. Its products and services are available in 176 countries. With approximately 20,700 employees in more than 250 locations across 61 countries, Festo generated a revenue of around 3.36 billion euros in 2021. Each year, about 7% of this revenue is invested in research and development. In this learning organization, 1.5% of revenue is invested in basic and continuing education. Festo Didactic SE is a leading provider of technical education and training, offering comprehensive digital and physical learning solutions in the industrial environment to customers worldwide.