Dejan Ilic

Education

Ilic studied physical chemistry at universities in Belgrade (1976 to 1981) and Dresden (1982 to 1985). In 1981 he completed his undergraduate degree, got his master's degree at the University of Medon in (France) in 1982 and qualified as a professor at Graz (Austria)in 2002.

Career

In 1987 Ilic started working for Varta AG. As head of research and development he worked on the development of rechargeable energy storages. Based on his studies at the universities in Dresden and Graz, where he examined chemical and electrochemical reactions between lithium metal and metallic oxide, Ilic directed Varta's research towards the development and production of microbattery systems. In 1996, as Chief Technical Officer, Ilic managed the development of an ultramodern assembly line to produce micro batteries.

In 1997 Ilic relocated 500 highly specialized jobs from Singapore to Ellwangen, Germany, contrary to the general trend at that time. This decision and his strategy of producing batteries of exactly the size manufacturers needed for their products) led to a deal between Apple Inc. and Varta. Varta Microbattery became a worldwide leading manufacturer of polymer batteries.

Ilic restructured Varta Consumer Batteries and helped Varta Microbattery to become a worldwide operating company with 150 million Euros volume and the worldwide leading vendor for rechargeable energy storage in only ten years.

Ilic has since left Varta and has taught at universities in New Jersey, Medon and Graz as an honorary professor since 2000.

Honors

In 2005 Ilic was named Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2007 Ilic won the Innovation Award of German Economy. He was awarded for his long-lasting scholarly work with the IBA Life Achievement Award from the International Chemists Association (USA).

Personal life

As a child, Ilic enjoyed playing volleyball. His talent was supported by several coaches from Partizan, Belgrad. At age 16, he was a member of the Yugoslavian National Volleyball Team. In the early 1970s, he became a semipro and played for VC Medon in Italy and later played at TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen to finance his studies. While working at Varta, Ilic played at TSV Ellwangen. Dejan Ilic is married, has a daughter and currently resides in Smederevo.