Dr. Elke Ploenjes is the scientific coordinator of the LEAPS-INNOV innovation pilot. The EU project aspires to foster technology development and innovation for Europe’s synchrotron and free electron laser (FEL) sources. Elke has been at FLASH, the vacuum-ultraviolet and soft X-ray FEL user facility at the German Electron Synchrotron DESY, since 2002. She is currently the group leader for FLASH optics and beamlines development. Elke holds a PhD in physics from the University of Bonn, Germany and has spent six years at the Mechanical Engineering Department of The Ohio State University, U.S.A. during her PhD studies and as a postdoctoral researcher, prior to joining DESY as a senior scientist.