Markus Elsässer studied mechanical engineering at the University of Stuttgart. He worked for a German manufacturer of solar thermal systems before he founded several companies all in the field of renewable energies.

Markus Elsässer is the founder and CEO of the company Solar Promotion GmbH, an internationally operating exhibition company with a focus on renewable energy, energy storage technologies, electric transportation and energy efficiency. In 1991 he founded Intersolar, the world´s leading exhibition series for the solar industry with events spanning four continents. In 2014 the ees (electrical energy storage) exhibition was started, which has become Europe's largest exhibition for batteries and energy storage systems. In 2018 he founded The smarter E, an innovation hub for events and topics driving the new energy world: renewable energies, decentralization, digitalization and electric transportation.
Solar Promotion has currently 50+ employees in Germany and has representation offices in 14 countries.