Dr. Michael Maschek

Deep-Tech Founder | Materials Scientist | R&D, Product & Scale-Up Leader

Delft, South Holland, Netherlands

About

I am a deep-tech founder, materials scientist and R&D/product leader with experience turning advanced material research into manufacturable climate-tech hardware. For the past 7 years, I have worked on the development and commercialization of magnetocaloric heat-pump technology at Magneto B.V., moving from metallic alloy and powder processing toward functional heat-exchanger components. My work connects materials science, thermodynamics, product development, industrial scale-up, funding strategy and technical team leadership. At Magneto, I started as co-founder and managing director and currently hold product director and material-development leadership roles. I am helping to build the company from early-stage technology into a deep-tech organization, leading activities across TRL 3–6 product development, R&D strategy, production process development, supplier collaboration, grant funding, investor processes, IP transfer, business development and technical partnerships. Key experience includes: - Deep-tech company building from early-stage technology to industrial product development - TRL 1–3 Magnetocaloric material and component development for novel heat-pump systems (TU Delft) - TRL 3–6 product development, from powder and shaping processes to heat-exchanger components (Magneto) - Production process development from lab scale toward outsourced industrial scale-up - R&D collaborations with TU Delft, Fraunhofer and industrial partners - Fundraising and grant acquisition, including EU and Dutch innovation grants - Investor, legal and IP activities, patent transfer and NDA contracts - Technical team leadership, recruitment, HR processes and organizational development - Project and program management, including introduction of Scrum in a deep-tech hardware setting - Data-driven R&D processes and data analysis, statistics, Power BI and structured reporting Before co-founding Magneto, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at TU Delft and Radboud University on optimization of magnetocaloric materials for different applications. I completed my PhD in physics at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology using neutron and synchrotron X-ray scattering to study magnetic and superconducting materials.

Experience

  • Magneto Systems (7 yrs 2 mos)
    • Director Material Development
      Jul 2022 - Present · 4 yrs 1 mo

    • Co-Founder and Managing Director
      Jun 2019 - Jul 2022 · 3 yrs 2 mos

      Magneto B.V. is a deep-tech company developing magnetocaloric heat-pump technology based on advanced metallic materials and component-level innovation. Responsibilities and achievements: - Co-founded and helped build a deep-tech company of up to 20 people at peak - Led development of magnetocaloric material and component technology from TRL 3 to TRL 6 - Directed product development from metallic alloy and powder processing toward functional heat-exchanger components - Developed and optimized production processes from lab scale toward outsourced industrial scale-up - Worked on shaping and processing routes including powder-based approaches and 3D-printing-related component development - Managed R&D projects and collaborations with TU Delft, Fraunhofer Institute and other technical partners - Supported and led fundraising activities, including Dutch and EU grants totaling approximately (e.g EIC Accelerator) - Contributed to investor processes - Managed legal and IP-related activities including patent transfer, NDAs and collaboration agreements - Introduced and implemented Scrum-based project management in a deep-tech hardware/R&D environment - Built structures for technical data management, Excel-based databases, statistical analysis procedures and Power BI reporting - Led recruitment, hiring, employee development conversations and organizational development during company growth - Supported early business development, customer discussions, supplier development and public communication Focus areas: deep tech, climate tech, magnetocaloric materials, heat pumps, TRL development, R&D leadership, product development, industrial scale-up, technical program management, fundraising, IP, team building.

  • Scientist at Radboud University
    Oct 2018 - Mar 2020 · 1 yr 6 mos

    Theoretical Chemistry "Energy Conversion with Highly responsive Magnetic Materials for Efficiency" - Python - Computational Screening of novel magnetic materials - Density Functional Theory

  • Application Scientist at Technische Universiteit Delft
    Nov 2015 - Oct 2018 · 3 yrs

    Fundamental Aspects of Materials and Energy: "Novel magneto-caloric materials for efficient waste heat conversion in thermomagnetic generators" - Supervised students and contributed to academic-industrial collaboration through user committees and research projects - Developed expertise in thermodynamics, magnetic phase transitions, material synthesis, structural analysis and magnetic characterization - Development of magnetocaloric heat pump and power conversion technologies - Enhancing efficiency of magnetocaloric technologies - Optimization material synthesis - Novel magnetocaloric materials for energy conversion and heat pumps - Basic characterization (mechanical, magnetic & thermal properties) - Advanced characterization (X-ray and neutron scattering techniques)

  • Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) (9 yrs)
    • PhD Researcher
      Apr 2012 - Jun 2015 · 3 yrs 3 mos

      Institute of Solid State Physics - Neutron and X-Ray scattering group Helmholtz Young Investigator Group "Competing Phases in Superconducting Materials" - Completed PhD in materials physics on lattice dynamics in manganites and charge-density-wave systems - Used inelastic neutron and X-ray scattering at international large-scale facilities

    • Research Teaching Assistant
      Jan 2012 - Dec 2014 · 3 yrs

      Solid State Physics, Experimental nuclear physics

    • Research Assistant
      Jul 2006 - Dec 2011 · 5 yrs 6 mos

      Institute for Pulsed Power and Microwave Technology Electron microscopy - Investigation of corrosion resistant metals in heavy liquid metal flows

  • Research Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory
    May 2013 - Jun 2013 · 2 mos

    Advanced Photon Source Inelastic neutron scattering experiments using high pressure diamond anvil cells