About Sopat
The Team
Management
Jörn Emmerich
CEO & Co-Founder
Jörn Emmerich studied industrial engineering and management at the Technical University of Berlin, majoring in technical chemistry.
After his graduation he began his doctoral thesis on multidimensional particle characterization at the Department of Bioprocess Engineering at the Technical University of Berlin focussing on photo-optical sensor technologies. As founder and CEO of SOPAT GmbH, he also specialized in photo-optical measurement methods in the field of process analysis technologies. Smart Online Particle Analysis Technology (SOPAT) has received several research and business awards (ICT-Innovativ; Science4Life; Step Award; ICT Start-up of the Year, German Innovation Award).
Jörn Emmerich is a member of the ISO standards committee for particle measurement technology, co-founder of the “Fördervereinigung zur Stärkung der Normung und Forschung in der Partikelmesstechnik” and co-founder and deputy chairman of the Bio-PAT network.
CSO & Co-Founder
Dr. Sebastian Maaß studied process engineering (Dr.-Ing.) at the Technical University of Berlin. He has detailed expertise in process analysis and simulation as well as in the development and application of computer-aided, optical measuring methods.
As a shareholder of ERM Trade Net GmbH, which was founded in 2007, he was able to acquire comprehensive know-how in the development and foundation of a company.
Currently he is CSO of SOPAT GmbH and first contact person for strategic development, marketing and sales. In addition to his leading position as CSO and co-founder of SOPAT GmbH, Dr. Sebastian Maaß continues his research in the field of particle measurement technology: to date he has published more than 25 peer review articles and has authored/coauthored over 90 lectures and poster presentations at both national and international scientific conferences.
Sales Team
Dr. Mirco Wegener
Head of Sales and Marketing
Mirco Wegener is an Engineer in Chemical and Process Engineering. He studied at the Technische Universität Berlin. After internships at Bayer and BASF he finished his Diploma thesis on the subject of experimental investigations and modelling of population balance equations via measuring the drop size distributions in liquid/liquid systems using an in-situ endoscope – a predecessor of the today’s SOPAT technology.
He published a multitude of scientific papers and his dissertation was awarded the Tiburtius Award of the Universities of Berlin.
Mirco has an extensive experience: in 2011 he joined CSIRO in Australia, where he worked as postdoctoral fellow. In 2014, he became R&D Engineer of Sulzer Chemtech in Winterhur, Switzerland.
In 2016, he joined SOPAT as Director of Sales Europe, being responsible for managing customer relationships, measurement services, providing scientific expertise, etc. Today he is the Head of Sales and Marketing.
Rahul Rane
Sales India
Rahul Rane is a Chemical Engineer (B.E) from Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, University of Mumbai. He moved to Berlin in 2018 to pursue M.Sc. in “Process Energy and Environmental Systems Engineering” (M.Sc.) from the Technical University of Berlin.
He has been associated with SOPAT since 2017, initially through SOPAT’s regional partner in India and since 2019 as a Sales Engineer for the Asian region with a strong experience with various processes in the pharmaceutical industry and the benefits that inline photo-optical measurements can offer. Driven by the need of innovation in process analytical technologies, he takes pride in providing cutting edge solutions to SOPAT’s Asian prospects
Vitor Braz
Gregor Richter is a food technologist with additional training in sales and marketing. He completed his master’s degree at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences (BHT) and gained his first practical experience at the dairy manufacturer Royal FrieslandCampina in the Netherlands. There, he deepened his knowledge of the various components in milk, especially milk proteins, and researched their techno-functional properties.
Later, he continued his research at ZHAW in Wädenswil, Switzerland, where he focused intensively on microalgae. Through his insights, he was able to make a valuable contribution to the use of algal proteins in making food production more sustainable.
From 2022 to 2024, he worked at Südzucker AG as a product developer in the convenience food sector. Following this, he completed training in sales & marketing as well as key account management to further develop his sales skills. In 2025, he joined SOPAT as a sales employee and is the contact person for the Parsum products.
