Marc Oman is a Principal in Google’s global data center deployment and energy strategy team. His team is leading Google’s global efforts to provide carbon-free energy supply every hour, in every grid, by 2030. His team is also responsible for Google’s data center deployment strategy, enabling the deployment of enough compute capacity to support all Google products and services globally.

A serial entrepreneur and Y Combinator alum, Shuo has founded and operated companies in both the United States and China. He will always be an entrepreneur at heart, and he brings a strong founders-first mentality to every aspect of his work as an early stage investor.

Guy is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Copenhagen in precision weed control, evolutionary weed biology. He is the developer of the open-source OpenWeedLocator system and passionate about the role of open-source technology in transforming agtech. He recently completed his PhD on the interactions of weeds with machine learning algorithms at the University of Sydney.

Maria Wasastjerna (PhD) is Co-founder & Managing Partner of Kvanted, the Nordic’s first pure-play industrial tech VC. Kvanted invests in innovative startups across Northern Europe with a mission of accelerating industrial transformation. Maria is a former attorney turned investor. Before transitioning into VC, she spent 15 years in business law working with M&A, technology, and digital markets.

Fabien Deswarte is head of the Strategic Partnerships for Sustainability Group within L’Oréal’s International Innovative Ingredients Department. He has over 15 years of experience in the area of green chemistry and biotech and has worked in a variety of roles in academia, government and the start-up sector.

Ali Morrow is a Partner at Clay Capital, investing in early-stage agrifood tech globally. Before investing, Ali worked across sectors in strategy and consultant focused on innovation, sustainability and reputational risk, and was a journalist. Her work has led to her to live and work in Canada, the UK, US and Turkey. Ali is based in London, and is a Kauffman Fellow.

Karim Beguir is the co-founder & CEO of AI company InstaDeep, acquired by BioNTech in 2023. He helps companies harness the latest AI breakthroughs. A graduate of École Polytechnique & New York’s Courant Institute, he has a passion for applied mathematics. A TIME100 Impact Award recipient, Karim advocates for AI & deep tech innovation in developing countries and advises several European governments.

Dennis Michaelis is the founder and CEO of GEMESYS, a startup developing novel analog AI hardware for energy-efficient computing. With a background in electrical engineering and a PhD in bio-inspired computing, he combines technological innovation with sustainability. His focus is on decentralized AI to enhance data privacy, scalability, and energy efficiency.

Alina Bassi is an impact investor, entrepreneur, and former chemical engineer backing mission-driven startups at Ananda Impact Ventures (€200M AUM) in climate tech, health, equality, and education. She’s passionate about funding systemic change.

Anna Heim is a freelance writer for publications including Fortune and TechCrunch and Sesamers’ fractional editor in chief. Her latest work for TechCrunch mostly focuses on Europe, and particularly on the rise of defense, security and resilience tech in the region. She also writes TechCrunch’s Startups Weekly newsletter, rounding up startup news every Friday.

Dr. Sumeet Kumar is CEO of Innatera, the pioneering Dutch neuromorphic processor company. Dr. Kumar was previously with Intel and Indrion Technologies, and has spent his career in microprocessor development. He co-founded Innatera in 2018 as a spin off from the Delft University of Technology. Innatera develops microprocessors that bring brain-like intelligence to sensors.

Laetitia, inspired by her farming roots, has been involved in food and agriculture since childhood. She joined Astanor as an associate in 2020 after working at Orange Ventures, sourcing and funding global data and telecom startups. A former startup business developer, she is passionate about equal rights and serves on the Advisory Board of Sista, a non-profit promoting gender equality in VC.

Professor Tõnu Esko, PhD, is Vice Rector for Development at the University of Tartu. With a background in genetics, he has led the Estonian Biobank’s R&D for 20 years, focusing on precision medicine and innovation. Internationally experienced, he has authored more 450 and advises global companies and consortia. Also acting as Venture Partner at SpecialistVC, a early-stage deep tech fund.

Mike Butcher MBE is Editor-at-large of TechCrunch. He has been named one of the most influential journalists in European technology and is a regular broadcaster. He founded The Europas conference, plus, the non-profits Techfugees and TechVets.

Nicolas Gaume is a French entrepreneur in the commercial space industry. He co-founded and leads Space Cargo Unlimited, which develops REV1 a reusable spacecraft for automated in-space manufacturing for Earth, and Orbite, a space experience and astronaut training company. Gaume also holds leadership roles at Microsoft, leading sales & partnerships for the space technology services.

A trained engineer, Hélène joined GTT in 2014 as an innovation manager, before becoming head of corporate development where she oversaw the company’s M&A projects. Since its launch in 2023, she now leads the Group’s VC arm, GTT Strategic Venture, and has invested in 7 climate tech startups.

Eva Van Hende joined Biotalys in March 2022. With over 15 years of experience in the crop protection industry, Eva excels in regulatory affairs and innovation. Sustainability is at the heart of all her work. Eva is a chemical bio-engineer and holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Ghent, as well as an MBA from Vlerick Business School.

Mae Wu has worked to protect public health and the environment. She most recently served as the Deputy Assistant Administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water under the Biden-Harris Administrator. Mae holds a chemical engineering degree from Rice University, an environmental policy degree from the University of Cambridge, and a law degree from Duke University.

Meron Gribetz is the CEO of Inner Cosmos. Inner Cosmos is advancing psychiatric care by creating a first-of-its-kind, neurotech device that is embedded in the top of the skull to transmit neurostimulation that can treat cognitive disorders and mental health diseases like depression.

Dr. Fajer Mushtaq is the CEO and Co-Founder of Oxyle. With a PhD from ETH Zurich focused on novel nanocatalysts for water treatment, she has distinctive expertise in developing innovative solutions for advanced water treatment. Committed to preserving our bodies of water, she co-founded Oxyle to eradicate persistent toxic forever chemicals from our waters.

Simon joined Sofinnova Partners in 2021 after consulting for corporates seeking to develop partnerships with digital health companies. He worked closely with business development functions to identify, assess, and structure strategic investments. Prior to that, Simon was at Baxter International, where he was part of the External Innovation Department. He has worked with various innovation agencies

Clara Ricard is Principal at Transition VC, backing climate founders at Seed/Series A. We are a group of founders, operators and investors from Unity Software (NYSE:U), Index, USV, Tesla, Solugen, Redwood Materials, Frontier, Northvolt. Before Transition, Clara was an investor at Balderton Capital and consultant at McKinsey & Company.

Manuella is an entrepreneur and climate tech expert turned VC. She invests in early-stage startups reshaping the food system at Mudcake. Manuella co-founded Good Tech Lab and Climatescape and spent a decade working at the intersection of impact and technology.

Prof. Dr. Vareska Van de Vrande is Professor of Collaborative Innovation and Business Venturing at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. Her expertise focuses on the areas of corporate venturing and open innovation, including external technology sourcing, corporate venture capital investments, strategic alliances, and corporate-start-up collaboration.

Sabrina Maniscalco is CEO & co-founder of Algorithmiq, a quantum software startup, and Professor of Quantum Information at the University of Helsinki. A global leader in quantum technologies, she has held positions worldwide and published 250+ papers with 10,000+ citations. At Algorithmiq, she pioneers quantum solutions for healthcare & life sciences.

Jen Schenker is Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Innovator. A veteran tech journalist who has worked full-time, at various points, for The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, International Herald Tribune, Red Herring, BusinessWeek and Les Echos. She served as a World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer judge for 20 years and is on the board of the European Innovation Council’s Scaling Club.

Tom Nugent is the newsletter editor at Sifted, the FT-backed publication covering European tech and VC. He covers university spinouts, and is interested in all things deep tech, including AI, chips and the future of compute.

Johannes Triebs is partner at Earlybird-X, the (pre-)seed fund of Earlybird Venture Capital. Earlybird X backs deep tech innovation, including AI, novel computing, industrial & climate tech, at the earliest stages – tapping into a network of leading European universities.

David Dana is a seasoned LP, with almost 20 years of investment into VC funds. He has recently turned into a GP in the leading VC fund Expansion Ventures, focusing on Sustainable Aerospace & Defence.

Ashwin Shashindranath is a Partner at Energy Impact Partners (EIP), investing out of the EIP Frontier Fund. He focuses on moonshot ideas that will have a major impact on mitigating the effects of climate change. He is passionate about working with entrepreneurs who are genuinely excited about being agents of change in the climate tech landscape.

Carolina Aguilar is CEO and Co-Founder of INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, a graphene BCI therapeutics company pioneering real time precision neurology. She has over 20 years of expertise in consumer goods and healthcare with major roles during 13 years in the European Headquarters of Medtronic in Switzerland, leading globally businesses in brain modulation and diabetes.

Thomas works on energy policies, technologies and sustainability and leads the International Energy Agency’s work on AI.

Gaëtan Bonhomme co-founded Kurion, a nuclear waste treatment startup launched in 2008. Notably Kurion deployed its technology after Fukushima (2011) and was later acquired by Veolia in 2016. Gaëtan joined BEV in 2020. He holds a PhD in Materials Science and an MBA from MIT Sloan’s first Entrepreneurship & Innovation cohort.

Founding Partner of Visionaries Tomorrow, an early-stage fund backed by today’s industrial & entrepreneurial giants investing in the next generation of era-defining companies rebuilding the tech stacks of the world’s largest industries. Founder of AMORELIE (sold for EUR 100m+) and Vice Chairman of the German Startups Association.

Dr. Conny Wittke is President of Forager, Ecovative’s materials division, leading the commercialization of mycelium-based leather alternatives and foams. A proven leader, she drove global growth for beauty tool companies and has experience consulting at McKinsey & Company and in startups. Forager is scaling bio-based textiles that rival traditional materials while reducing environmental impact.

Mariëtte Abrahams is the CEO and Founder of Qina, a strategic nutrition innovation consultancy and platform focusing on the area of Personalised nutrition. Qina leverages domain expertise, data and technology to help companies create the next generation of solutions that improve health.

Cecilia is a Barcelona-based award-winning applied futurist, working at the intersection of entrepreneurship, technology, science, and design. Her company, Futurity Systems’ futures-as-a-service platform helps companies and organizations build better futures faster. She is a PhD researcher studying Algorithmic Futuring at the Institute of Design at IIT.

Jessica Lovering was a co-founder of the Good Energy Collective, and is currently a Senior Visiting Fellow with the Fastest Path to Zero Initiative at the University of Michigan. In 2020, she completed her PhD in Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. She is also a Fellow with the Energy for Growth Hub, looking at how advanced nuclear can be deployed in sub-Saharan Africa.

Dave is General Partner of the Future of Health Fund at Pioneer Fund. He invests in pre-seed and seed companies that can make a large impact in how long we live, how well we live, and how we experience healthcare. He also co-founded RNA+machine learning company Cofactor Genomics and led it to national Medicare reimbursement. Dave is a Y Combinator alum and worked on the Human Genome Project.

Lena is a co-founding partner at Planet A Ventures, a Green Tech VC supporting European startups, where she leads scientific impact assessment. Previously, she worked as a senior government official on sustainable finance, led biodiversity programs in East Africa, and conducted environmental research for European research institutes and the OECD.

Christian brings over 20 years of global leadership and investment expertise. He has a strong focus on biotech, with notable investments in Invert Bio, Reshape Biotech, and Again Bio. Previously, as CEO of Heptagon, he drove exponential growth, leading to a $2.5B acquisition. Christian has advised on $10B+ in transactions, including major M&A deals, IPOs, and private placements.

Dr. Prateek Mahalwar, an entrepreneur and bioeconomy enthusiast, holds a PhD in Genetics from Max Planck and was a strategy consultant at EY-Parthenon before founding BIOWEG. On a mission to transform fossil-based economies, starting with microplastics, BIOWEG replaces fossil polymers using waste streams, biotech, and green chemistry for a sustainable future.

Stephanie Marrus is Managing Director, Entrepreneurship, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), the leading scientific research and medical graduate school in the US that is ranked #16 among the world’s best universities. She is a Silicon Valley life science/healthcare startup expert who has facilitated the start of numerous companies through delivering training, mentoring and utilizing her deep network of investors, serial entrepreneurs, CEOs and industry experts. She has built the Entrepreneurship Program at UCSF that has informed thousands at UCSF, in Silicon Valley and globally, to facilitate the translation of science and medicine into commercial entities.

Freeke’s passion is to grow the European quantum industry for a more sustainable world. She has co-founded and led The Dutch Quantum Ecosystem approach and raised 615 ME for QDNL. Her quantum journey started at QuTech at TU Delft. She is active in the WEF as a two-term co-chair of the GFC for the Quantum Economy. Currently, She is working for NATO, TNO, OrangeQS and Qblox as an independent consultant.

Matt Jones, Managing Partner at Syensqo Ventures, supports startups driving sustainability with advanced materials across various sectors. With a Mechanical Engineering degree from UC Davis and an MBA from Duke University, he brings 25 years’ experience in Venture Capital accross various sectors including power, energy, and chemicals.

At SOSV, Duncan invests exclusively in start-ups that use physical sciences to solve some of the world’s toughest problems driven by climate change, a reconfiguration of global industries and equitable access to healthcare. He uses his diverse experience in design, engineering, manufacturing and GTM to help pre-seed start-ups scale. Over the past nine years, he has invested in 200+ start-ups at SOSV.

Rajesh Swaminathan is a Partner at Khosla Ventures, with over two decades of experience assisting and investing in deep tech startups. He manages many of the firm’s investments across renewables generation, storage, hydrogen, industrial decarbonization, plastics, foodtech, healthcare and advanced manufacturing.

Lukas is a core member of Lakestar’s Deep Tech team, instrumental in building it from the ground up. Driven by a passion for SpaceTech, he joined Lakestar and expanded his focus to areas like Compute, Energy, Biology, Robotics, and Dual-Use technologies. He also co-authored the European Deep Tech Reports. Before Lakestar, Lukas was a Consultant at BCG.

Matthew has been incubating and launching early-stage businesses since 2017. He joined Voyager Ventures in San Francisco as the fund’s first hire in 2022 and now leads Voyager’s European team. Before Voyager, Matthew completed an MBA at Berkeley and Columbia, founded a CPG company and previously worked at Deloitte Ventures. He sits on the board of Packfleet, Enapi, SirenOpt and Mitti Labs.

Kirsty Gogan is managing partner of LucidCatalyst, a highly specialised international consultancy, and Terra Praxis, an innovative non-profit powered by philanthropy. Both organisations are focused on multiplying and accelerating deployment of clean, reliable, competitive clean energy solutions for large energy users including utilities, Hyperscalers, oil and gas, marine, and off shore industries.

Stylianos is a shipping executive with 20 years’ experience in the technical management of cargo ships. He founded lomarlabs to catalyse the deployment of deep-tech solutions that can help solve the maritime industry’s biggest challenges. Their Maritime Futures Programme helps founders of hard tech start-ups who want to validate their product by granting them access to ships and sharing industry expertise.

Martijn van Noordennen is CCO at Desolenator, a scale-up providing sustainable water solutions globally. With 30+ years including Salesforce and Shell, he drives growth for the company’s innovative solar thermal desalination technology.

Bringing disruptive technologies where least expected has been the common theme of Amelie’s career. Trained as an engineer, Amélie started started her career in 2014 working in a deeptech strategy consulting firm as both a consultant and intrapreneur. She further took a leap of faith in 2020, cofounding Kolibri, as CEO. Kolibri is reimagining cell manufacturing using acoustic waves (in other words, playing music to cells), to unlock the industrial production of advanced therapies.

Dr. Y. Shirley Meng is a Professor of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. She serves as the Chief Scientist of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) Argonne National Laboratory. Dr. Meng is the director of Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA), an innovation hub funded by US Department of Energy, Office of Science. She has been the principal investigator of the research group Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC), which was established at the University of California San Diego, since 2009.

Mike is a US-based expert on commercialization for deep tech startups (pre-seed through Series B.) He was the first marketing hire for 4 venture-backed startups, including two deep tech ventures (wireless power, molecular diagnostics.) His commercialization leadership has helped produce over $50M in revenue and $30M in venture investments. He is also a certified executive coach, helping teams and individuals navigate the challenges of work and life inside a startup.

Johannes is partner at Earlybird-X, the (pre-)seed fund of Earlybird Venture Capital. Earlybird‑X backs deep tech innovation, including AI, novel computing, industrial & climate tech, at the earliest stages – tapping into a network of leading European universities. Johannes is particularly excited about extraordinary teams with breakthrough technology solutions and can support them with his strong academic and industry network. Before joining Earlybird-X he founded 5P Capital, a micro VC around Aachen University, and was active in various mgmt. positions of university spin offs helping them to grow from 0 up to 10 Mio € in sales annually. He studied mechanical engineering in Aachen, Berkeley and Zurich and holds a PhD in mechanical engineering from Aachen University.

Hailey Eustace is the founder of Commplicated, a deeptech communications and branding firm that specialises in startups with complex technologies. Hailey has been working in deeptech for over 10 years, starting at the $485M Texas Emerging Technology Fund in Austin. She has vast experience leading communications for both large global brands and deeptech scaleups, has also advised hundreds of startups, and is a deeptech angel investor.

Dr Riam Kanso is the founder and CEO of Conception X; the UK’s leading venture programme for PhDs who want to build deep technology startups. Riam has a PhD in Neuroscience from Oxford University and has worked both in computational science and med tech; and has co-founded two startups before Conception X

Yann is a seasoned R&D professional, strategy consultant and biotech entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience in pharma (Servier, Ipsen), molecular diagnostics (IntegraGen) and strategy consulting (Capgemini Consulting, BearingPoint, Cepton). He is also a skilled data scientist with several patents and publications in the field of biostatistics and biomarkers discovery and validation. Yann is Co-founder and CEO of Iktos, a leading chemical research Artificial Intelligence company focusing on medicinal chemistry and new drug design. Iktos is developing innovative AI technology based on deep generative models, which enables to design compounds that are optimized in silico to meet all the success criteria of a small molecule drug discovery project.

Alan has invested the last 13 years, with 1000+ startups, building the human capital across the SOSV portfolio, from Shanghai to San Francisco. Entrepreneur and executive coach since before coaching was a thing; once saved a company $15m in 5 minutes ! Providing tools and frameworks to help founders become better leaders.

Guillaume de La Brosse is currently Head of Unit in charge of Innovation & New Space – Space-Defence in the European Commission (Direction-General for Defence Industry and Space). Previously, Guillaume was assistant to the Director-General. Guillaume joined the Commission in 2016, as member of the Commission’s think-tank and member of the UK Task Force, where he dealt with security, defence and space. Before joining the Commission, Guillaume worked in the European Defence Agency as assistant to the Executive Director (2011-2016) and as pol-mil adviser in the French Permanent representation to the EU (2006-2011).

Marianne Hyltoft is a General Partner at PSV DeepTech Fund, a pre-seed deeptech venture fund. She applies rigorous science and engineering to transform emerging science and technologies within GreenTech, HealthTech, and Industry 5.0 – into global solutions for humanity and the planet. She is an “engineer at heart” who loves technology, sustainability, investments, creating big visions, as well as building teams and partnerships. Previously, she served as a managing consultant at Bain & PA Consulting, Director at The Social Capital Fund, partner in the Venture Building Studio KRING Innovation, angel investor in several startups, and CEO/founder of a startup. When she invests, it is advantageous that she has a combined technical and commercial background and understands the challenges of the startup journey herself – from an idea in a lab to product/market fit and scaling. She holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Danish Technical University (DTU) and Business Administration from Copenhagen Business School (CBS).

eleQtron’s Managing Director Jan Leisse is a graduate engineer with an additional MBA. He has many years of experience in turnaround management and corporate development and was previously Managing Director at mechanical engineering specialist Albrecht Bäumer. With his process-oriented work, he is the driving force behind eleQtron’s rapid growth.

As entrepreneur and investor, Florian has extensive hands-on experience in building and financing technology startups from scratch. In his current role as MD of Deutsche Telekom’s seed Fund, he is responsible for the venture investments of one of Europe’s preeminent corporate innovation hubs and leads an international team of investment professionals based in Berlin, Krakow and Tel Aviv.

Natalie CERNECKA is Strategic Education Project Manager with EIT Manufacturing, and is the manager of the EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative. She previously worked as Head of Business Development at a big data and AI platform TeraLab, where she oversaw the company European projects, and as Director of Partnerships at an edtech startup OpenClassrooms, where she launched online training in several deep tech fields. Natalie holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Before moving into tech, she held academic positions in the UK, France, and Japan, and worked in international relations in Latvia and the UK. Natalie is a coorganiser of Paris Women in Machine Learning and Data Science, which promotes women working in the field and counts over 5000 members.

Mark Boris Andrijanič is a Member of the EIT Governing Board and the VP of Kumo.AI. He serves as a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, focusing on AI governance and transatlantic tech diplomacy. In 2021 and 2022, he served as Slovenia’s first-ever Minister of Digital Transformation. During Slovenia’s EU presidency, he led negotiations on the Digital Services Act (DSA) and other European tech regulations. President Zelenskyy awarded him the Peace Prize for supporting Ukraine’s digital resilience. He was also a Visiting Fellow at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies in Brussels, where he focused on the EU’s digital and economic policies. Mark is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum and a former David D. Rockefeller Fellow at the Trilateral Commission.

Graduate of Warsaw School of Economics. Former Advisor to President Poland (1999-2004) and Advisor to the CEO of Polish Telecom (2004-2008). Founder and former President of the Orange Foundation, one of Poland’s most recognized NGOs. A co-founder and Council Chairman of the Coalition for Polish Innovations, an organization fostering the creation of favorable conditions for innovation ecosystem development. Initiator and Council Chair of the “IT for She” consortium advocating for women’s increased ICT career uptake. At Intel for the last 14 years as a Director for Strategic Partnerships with governments and international organizations in the EMEA region, today in the role of Intel Country Manager in Poland, executing the company’s strategy in one of the most prominent countries for Intel in Europe.

Lena Weirauch, a psychology graduate, co-founded ai-omatic in 2020, delving into AI after discovering a passion for statistics during her studies and gaining industry experience as a project manager in aviation. At ai-omatic, Lena leads in sales and software development. The startup specializes in digital maintenance software, providing innovative solutions that blend statistical models and AI for predictive maintenance. Their goal is to transform Germany’s production landscape. Lena is not only dedicated to ai-omatic’s success but is also an advocate for women’s visibility in the startup scene, serving as the Hamburg state spokesperson for the Startup Association.

Michiel Scheffer is the President of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Board. A Dutch national, he has three decades of experience in business, academia, and public policy. He is equipped with a wide network in the world of research and innovation and has a remarkable professional experience of more than 20 years in the field of innovation, including on breakthrough technologies, disruptive innovations, start‐ups impact investment.

Czech originally but nowadays managing director and co-founder of a Dutch start up Magneto. Gained professional and life experience by building products and discovering new business models in Europe, Africa and South East Asia.Natalia’s academic background includes a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Molecular Biotechnology from the University of Heidelberg, followed by a Ph.D. in Medical Neurosciences from the Charité University Hospital in Berlin.

For the past three years, Natalia is the Strategic Project Lead at Infinite Roots, formerly known as Mushlabs, where she was advancing the company’s mission of sustainable, healthy, and nutritious food solutions. Prior to her role at Infinite Roots, she spent six years as a Consultant at Kearney, specializing in sustainability, circular economy, and operational strategies.

Francesco is an innovation manager with 20 years of experience spent as a researcher in materials science, as a Corporate R&D Manager within the field of technologies for renewable energy production and storage, and as an intermediary of knowledge trying to exploit the research results within the field of energy and environment. As R&D Corporate manager, he also cofounded and directed several start-ups and joint-labs managing public-private partnerships. As a facilitator of knowledge exploitation (IoK), he co-managed publicly funded projects, as well as Emilia Romagna Climate-KIC Innovation Centre, Dhitech Living Lab on Nanotechnologies, Emilia-Romagna Greentech Clust-ER. Francesco acted as scientific expert within the Vanguard Initiative ADMA Pilot, reviewer of research projects, co-authored over 30 scientific papers, 5 patents, and was Visiting Professor at the University of Ferrara as well as speakers in many conferences and workshops.

Sophie Purdom invests in and supports early-stage climate tech founders and their companies with Planeteer Capital. Planeteer leads investments globally at the Pre-Seed and Seed stage into hardware-enabled software for climate. Sophie has backed breakout companies like Remora, WeaveGrid, Amogy and Patch – often as the earliest, climate-first investor. Sophie also writes CTVC, a newsletter & strategic data platform with 70,000+ subscribers. Prior, Sophie launched an ESG fund, published a book on sustainable investing, worked at Bain & Co., and helped found and raise $65m at Kula Bio to develop carbon-negative fertilizer.

Jane Reddin is AlbionVC’s Partner for Talent and Platform, supports B2B software and healthtech founders in scaling human capital. Leading the AlbionVC platform team, she specializes in growth strategy, leadership team hiring, and organizational scaling. With 25 years of experience, she previously served as Talent Director at Balderton Capital and co-founded The Talent Stack, focusing on talent management for startups.

Aude Guo co-founded Innovafeed in 2016 as a tool to tackle one of humanity’s biggest challenge: climate change. Aude’s career path starts at Safran before leading her to McKinsey & Company where she developed a particular interest towards the food and agritech sector and its inherent impact on the environment. Aude has a double degree, in engineering from Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussée (France), and a MBA from Collège des Ingénieurs (France)

Yasmin Hassan is Chief Financial Officer at Infinite Orbits, a NewSpace company pushing the boundaries of in-orbit services. She has over 18 years of experience in finance and private equity.

Clea is an expert in carbon capture and sequestration, climate solutions, and energy policy. As Partner and Head of Science at Lowercarbon Capital, she leads the firm’s technical research, diligence, and scientific strategy efforts and supports portfolio companies in similar efforts. Clea’s distinguished career has been focused on solving the climate emergency through innovation in technology, business models, and policy. Prior to joining Lowercarbon, Clea worked in energy consulting at E3, designing decarbonization plans for state agencies and energy companies across North America. Clea also founded a company working on financing and distribution solutions for clean cooking fuel access in West Africa. Clea holds a PhD and MEng in chemical engineering and environmental policy from Imperial College London where she focused specifically on techno economic and process modeling of carbon capture and storage systems.

Prior to joining INERATEC as CFO in 2022, Caspar gained five years of experience in investment management with a focus on shipping and renewable energies. He raised over EUR 800m in equity and debt capital while contributing to the successful IPO of a shipping company.

Victoria is Associate Director of Capital Markets at Synonym Bio. Synonym develops infrastructure for the bioeconomy by collaborating with companies bringing next-generation bioproducts to market, helping them plan, expand and scale seamlessly. Victoria is an infrastructure investment professional with experience in advisory and direct investment. Victoria holds a B.S.E. in Civil Engineering from Princeton University.

Yair Reem is a Partner at Extantia Capital, a climate-first venture capital firm accelerating the path to a decarbonised world. Previously, Yair was Managing Director at Hasso Plattner Ventures and a cyber technology leader at Israeli Military Intelligence – Unit 8200.

Hany is a Co-Founder and Partner at ACME Capital. Prior to founding ACME in 2018, he was a Co-Founder and Partner at GGV Capital. Hany has served as a long-term partner to more than 150 companies over the past two decades, advising them on global markets, business development, go-to-market strategy, and M&A/IPO guidance across US, European, and Asian markets. Hany currently serves on the board of directors of AviaGames, Forma.ai, Forte, Petra, Regology, and Uhnder.

Fatou is the co-founder and managing partner for Bootstrap Europe, actively sourcing and evaluating growth companies eligible for debt financing.

Cyril is a General Partner at SOSV and the Founder/MD of HAX, the leading hands-on venture capital for hard tech. With over two decades of experience in US and Asian markets, Cyril has invested in hundreds of deep tech companies (including Formlabs, AngelList, Opentrons and AdoreMe), generated $B in value and completed 26 M&As.

Founder and General Partner of APEX Ventures, a leading European Deep Tech venture capital firm. Prior to founding APEX Ventures, Andreas was active as business angel and company builder. Before that he established global technology companies in the United States, the UK and Germany. In his current role, he supports portfolio companies at an early stage to help them find commercial traction and turn them into global organisations

Maria Jose is a Managing Partner at WNT Ventures, NZ’s longest-standing deep tech incubator and VC fund. MJ has over a decade of experience in venture building, investments, and funds management in Chile and New Zealand. Focused on Pre-Seed to Series A investments and raising its fourth fund, WNT has a track record of managing successful exits and catalyzing dep-tech innovations coming from New Zealand.

Steve brings over a decade of experience in product management, design, and development from Silicon Valley for companies such as Apple, HP, Facebook, and Google as well as having founded and exited his own start-up. Steve leads the Deep Tech investing team where they search for companies that will be global leaders built on fundamentally novel scientific or engineering breakthroughs. As Chief Product Officer he additionally supports the broader investment team on product related topics as well as offers value-add support to portfolio founders and CPOs.

Tyler Christie is MD for Decarbonization Partners, a BlackRock and Temasek JV based with 20+ years experience in sustainability as a venture investor, entrepreneur, and growth executive. He started his career as a data scientist, received an MBA from The Wharton School, and now lives in London

Mark is an impact-focused technology investor and business builder. He has overseen more than 200 private and public company venture transactions and has well over a decade of experience sitting on the boards of some of the UK’s most exciting Deeptech start-ups. He was a board member at Wave Optics when it was sold to Snap Inc for over $500m and led the first investments into companies like First Light Fusion, Ultraleap and Quantum Motion Technologies. Mark holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Nick is a trained industrial engineer and entrepreneur who spent his career in deep-tech, particularly in the WEB3.0, focussing on the intersection of blockchain, artificial intelligence, IOT and commercialisation. Throughout different roles at leading firms in european deep-tech startups and funds, his own company Scalewonder as well as long-ranging track record as an angel investor, Nick accumulated the knowledge and skills to build Planet A . Nicks path towards Planet A started when he co-founded Scalewonder. During this time it became obvious to him that focussing on the planet is mission critical for human society while the global VC-world was simply not equipped to fund the most important innovation needed to build an economy operation within the planetary boundaries and decided to move forward accordingly. At Planet A, Nick is leading the fundraising endeavours as well as the responsible deal partner for Energy & Heat as well as Transport & Mobility. He is also the deep-tech technology expert on board.

Andrew J Scott is a serial entrepreneur turned Founding Partner at 7percent Ventures, where his team have backed over 150 early stage startups. He is co-founder of The ICE Network non-profit founder community, established in 2008 and the DragonChasers GP/LP community, which runs the ALLOCATE.GP European VC pitch event series.

Lucy Wang is an experienced early stage emerging technology investor and operator. She is a founding general partner at Divergent Capital, a first check investor backing startups commercializing deeply technical & scientific innovations and breaking the mold of traditional business models. Prior to founding her own firm, she led deep tech investing at funds such as 11.2 capital and Greycroft. Lucy has invested in companies such as Immuta, Covariant AI, Machina Labs, Remedy Robotics, Shellworks, and more. As an operator, Lucy most recently served as the COO and Head of Product at Rendered AI, a synthetic data platform, where she led product and customer engagements. Lucy was also a founding team member of Livepeer, a decentralized live video streaming infrastructure built on Ethereum, leading operations and strategy. Lucy is trained as a machine learning scientist with an MS degree from NYU and BA degree from Brown University.

Maya Ghayad is a Partner at Id4 Ventures, a Fund of Funds and Direct Investment firm in Europe, specializing in early-stage allocations for Family Offices & Private Investors. Maya’s role involves managing direct investments, finding new early stage opportunities, and driving the fund of funds strategy. Additionally, she provides strategic guidance to empower portfolio companies to secure their funding rounds. Maya is recognized through her angel investments and active involvement in the startup ecosystem

Partner at SOSV, Benjamin works with our startups on strategy, marketing, PR and fundraising. Moving from France to Asia in 2000, Benjamin is a reformed mechanical engineer who turned to strategy and worked in Japan, South Korea and China. Prior to SOSV, Benjamin was the founder of a strategy consultancy which researched Asia-based digital innovations, with clients such as Microsoft, Citi and Harvard Business School. He also founded Mobile Monday Beijing, a community of thousands of mobile industry professionals in China.

Kaustubh is a Managing Director & Partner at Boston Consulting Group in the Middle East. He leads BCG’s Tech Capital sector in the Middle East and is a core member of the Technology and Private Equity practice areas. In these roles, he advises Private Equity, Venture Capital and TMT clients on tech investments, including AI, Cybersecurity, e-Commerce, FinTech and other digital plays. Kaustubh is a seasoned strategist and investor with a focus on technology and innovation. With extensive experience in advising on venture capital funds, corporate investments, and strategic partnerships, Kaustubh has played a pivotal role in shaping the landscape of tech investments in the Middle East and beyond. Prior to joining BCG, Kaustubh was Head of Strategy in the internal consulting team at British Telecom (BT) in London. Kaustubh holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and London Business School and Degrees in Economics and Computer Science from The University of Texas at Austin.

Andras is an entrepreneur and investor in deep tech and life sciences. He is Senior Partner at Starlight Ventures, a venture capital firm for founders addressing the world’s most pressing challenges and opportunities. Starlight partners early with unstoppable entrepreneurs leveraging breakthrough science and technology to pursue progress at scale. Andras is founder, director & former CEO of Modern Meadow, a protein application platform company developing novel materials and ingredients for a healthier planet. Named as a 2018 Tech Pioneer by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Modern Meadow’s Bio-Alloy biomaterials and collagen-inspired fermentation-derived proteins address high performance and sustainable applications in fashion, beauty and wellness markets. Andras is also co-founder and chair of Fork & Good, a 2023 WEF Tech Pioneer, innovating in cellular agriculture to produce delicious, nutritious and sustainable meat without animals. Previously, Andras co-founded Organovo which pioneered the use of 3D bio-printing to create human tissue for a range of biomedical applications. He managed Richmond Global, an international technology-focused venture fund and was a consultant with McKinsey. He is co-founder and former chair of the Resolution Project focused on global social entrepreneurship, a Kauffman Fellow (Class 14) and was recognized as 40 under 40 by Crain’s New York. Andras graduated with a bachelors from Harvard and an MBA from Wharton. And his greatest venture are his two daughters Alexa and Amelia.

Maya Noël is the Managing Director of France Digitale, the leading European startup and investor association with nearly 2000 members. The organization’s mission is to create European digital champions and to animate and federate the startup and innovation ecosystem in France and Europe. Maya Noël started her career in digital in 2012 and immediately focused her energy on finding the best talent for fast-growing startups. In 2015, she founded her startup YBorder, specialized in international recruitment.

Christophe Jurczak, PhD, is managing partner at Quantonation, with his various degrees in Quantum Physics he has worked in energy, defense and in the emerging quantum industry. Additionally he is a board member at several startups and nonprofits.

Carmen Palacios-Berraquero is the founder and Chief Executive of Nu Quantum , a leading Quantum Computer Networking company based in Cambridge, UK. She is an award-winning quantum physicist and inventor, author of several high-impact research papers and a book based on her doctoral research. She has been the leader of several pro-equality and LGBTQIA+ visibility groups, initiatives and direct action in STEM and beyond and has been featured in WIRED, Forbes, BBC, and Sifted. She serves on the Technical Advisory Board of the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) Centre and is co-founder and director of UKQuantum, the UK’s quantum industry group.

Senior Manager of corporate VC activities at Suzano Ventures. Responsible for global networking and establishing new venture partnerships to advance the bioeconomy. She leads Eucalyptus Biomass and Packaging investment verticals, overseeing the startup journey from inception to portfolio management, to generate shared value for both the startup and Suzano. She has 19 years of experience in marketing, product launches and R&D across B2B and B2C sectors, managing several innovation, marketing and sustainability projects. Paula holds a BSc in Industrial Chemistry from the University of São Paulo (USP) and two MBAs; one in Marketing (ESPM and one in Innovation Projects (USP).

Nicolas Pade holds a PhD in molecular and spatial ecology from the University of Aberdeen with a focus on marine predators. Nicolas became the executive officer for the french national research infrastructure EMBRC-France, before taking over as the executive director of EMBRC-ERIC to coordinate the European research infrastructure in 2019. Nicolas has a particular interest in the broad application of genomics tools in marine observation and understanding marine biodiversity.

Ralph de Wargny leads the global Intel® Liftoff for AI Startups accelerator, a free program to help early-stage AI startups with technical expertise, access to cloud compute resources including CPUs, GPUs and Gaudi2 accelerators, plus go-to-market support. Before that, Ralph was leading the Intel Software business in the EMEA region, focusing on HPC and AI with startups and enterprises.

Ben works at Google as an ethics advisor. He has worked as a tech law attorney, a policy advisor in the European Parliament on internet policy, did a PhD at Oxford and a postdoc at Princeton. His work has always focused on the intersection of society and technology design. Ben draws from various academic disciplines and professional practices to constructively work through and improve technology.

Niall Firth is executive editor, newsroom at MIT Technology Review, where he manages the reporting team and oversees the brand’s digital journalism and newsletters. His role is to help guide coverage across all its key focus areas, including AI, energy and biotechnology. Before joining MIT Rechnology Review, he was chief news editor at New Scientist. He is based in London.

Fayza Daboussi is the TWB Scientific Director since 2019. With 20+ years of experience in genetic engineering R&D to develop solutions in various fields from health to commodity chemicals, her expertise extends to human cells, as well as microorganisms (bacteria, yeasts, microalgae…). Fayza also supports the French initiative on reducing biotherapeutics costs through her position as the Executive Director of the Toulouse Industrial Biotechnology for Health (TIBH) integrator.

Sarah is a Principal at Zero Carbon Capital, investing in pre-seed/seed hard-science startups solving the biggest challenges of decarbonisation. ZCC is based in London and Berlin, investing across Europe. Sarah has a PhD in bioprocess engineering, previously worked in university tech transfer at Imperial and Oxford and led the climate program at the Creative Destruction Lab in the UK.

Jen Stebbing is a strategic communications consultant who draws on a deep and varied experience helping organisations and leaders multiply their positive impact, engage stakeholders, and communicate clearly. Jen specialises in climate change and nature communications with experience across carbon markets, climate solutions, nature tech, natural capital investment, climate action organisations and nature advocacy groups.

Lynn Rothschild, a research scientist at NASA and Professor at Brown University, is a passionate astrobiologist focusing on the origin and evolution of life on Earth and elsewhere, while at the same time pioneering the use of synthetic biology to enable space exploration. She has been a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) fellow five times and was the faculty advisor of the Stanford-Brown iGEM team. Current projects range from biomining, developing an astropharmacy and mycotecture for Mars, among others.

Dr. Kosmyna is a research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Media Lab. She is passionate about an idea of creating a partnership between AI and human intelligence, fusion of a machine and a human brain. Most of her projects are focused around wearable BCIs to enhance, augment and support human performance, particularly attention and focus on healthcare and spacetech. Nataliya won multiple awards for her work, among which is L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science award she received in 2016. Nataliya was also named as one of 10 Top French Talent 2017 from MIT Innovators Under 35

Sarah Neville is the FT’s global health editor. She covers the NHS, and healthcare developments around the world. In more than 22 years at the FT, she has held a variety of editing and reporting roles including weekend news editor, analysis editor, UK news editor, public policy editor and global pharmaceuticals editor. Immediately before joining the FT she spent a decade reporting on Westminster, latterly as political editor of the Yorkshire Post. In 1995 she was awarded the Laurence Stern Fellowship on the Washington Post.

Alison Holland works closely with customers to align DCT platform tech and methodologies to maximize ROI and outcomes of clinical research. With 20+ years of experience in leadership roles, including as Six Sigma Black Belt at Covance and LabCorp’s Business Head, she has been engaged in over 300 studies worldwide.

Ginkgo is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming and its biosecurity unit, Concentric by Ginkgo, is building global infrastructure to prevent, detect and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. Prior to co-founding Ginkgo, Austin received his Ph.D. from MIT and undergraduate degree from Stanford.

Matthew Furber focused the first 10 years of his career in elite sport, supporting numerous World Class athletes to achieve success. For the past 6 years he has worked at Danone Nutricia Research, firstly leading a center of excellence in developing new muscle targeted nutrition solutions for aging and disease specific populations. He’s also the Director of plant based network, driving advances in plant based science and product application for Specialized Nutrition populations and has built and is leading the sustainability program for R&I, driving the complexity of decarbonisation through ingredients.

Katia Merten-Lentz, partner resident and founder/manager of the law firm Food Law Science & Partners, has been for more than 25 years, a leading practitioner in European food and feed law. Her practice also extends to Biotechnologies, Environmental Law and Cosmetics Law. She is one of the few lawyers assisting clients from A to Z in the food and feed area obtaining European authorization for new additives, enzymes, novel foods and accompanying them with issues ranging from marketing to innovation.

Dr. Bálint Várkuti, a native of Hungary, is the founder and CEO of CereGate, a Munich-based deeptech BCI (Brain-Computer Interface) venture. After studying Psychology and earning a PhD in Neuroscience, Dr. Várkuti dedicated his career to advancing neuroscience, BCI, and stroke-rehabilitation technologies. Prior to founding CereGate, he worked in the medical device industry, leading teams that developed essential tools for neurosurgeons and neurologists.Founded in 2019, CereGate has made significant strides in the field of neural interfaces, focusing on the transmission of information into the human brain. The company’s groundbreaking technology has been tested with over 80 participants, showcasing its potential for various applications. Among its notable achievements, CereGate has developed a gait support signal that alleviates Freezing of Gait symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s disease, a balance stabilization system for patients with vestibular disorders, and a general communication system. CereGate continues to push the boundaries of what is possible with BCI technology, aiming to improve the lives of individuals facing neurological challenges and to revolutionize the way we interact with technology.

Pharmacist by training, she has started her career in the field of clinical development in pharmaceutical industry dealing with patients’ medical data. She developed there her skills focused on innovation in all its forms that led her to an intrapreneurship project. She then naturally oriented her career in this direction leading a lab of innovation in Research and now heading Spartners by Servier and BioLabs, the incubator for biotech, Servier has open with BioLabs at Saclay.

Alex Scott is the Senior Editor and European correspondent for US science magazine C&EN writing and filming on topics that include microplastics, tyre recycling, textile recycling technology, PFAS pollution, battery materials, flow batteries, and the chemical industry’s low carbon transition. Prior to becoming a journalist over 20 years ago he was an environment advisor for the UN.

Marilene Pavan works as Innovation Manager at LanzaTech Inc., a gas fermentation company focused on converting waste carbon oxides into biofuels and chemicals. Her expertise spans over 15 years in synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, and biomanufacturing and, in her current role, she focuses on technology monitoring, competitive analysis, community and team building, partnerships, and mentoring younger scientists.

Dr Adam M. Adamek, Innovation Director at EIT Food, combines over 20-year journey in science, business, and innovation in food, nutrition, and agrifoodtech. His professional roles balanced business growth with societal impact. An advocate for agrifoodtech innovation, creating impactful strategies to drive sustainable change in the food systems. Eager to connect with fellow innovators passionate about making a tangible difference and impact.

Amr completed a PhD in evolutionary biology at the University of Oxford, where he was first inspired to leverage the untapped potential of nature. Using microbes to address the world’s most pressing challenges was the inspiration that lead to the founding of Zayt Bioscience. In just a few short months of R&D, Zayt has developed a revolutionary, patent-pending process to transform food waste into valuable raw materials such as their healthy, highly functional ‘Zayt butter’.

After 15 years spent in France, UK and Texas in Oil and Gas sector, Bruno PAUL-DAUPHIN joined VINCI Construction in 2019 to define and lead the EXEGY strategy with aim to generalize low carbon concrete at VINCI Construction and reach 90% low carbon concrete at any construction sites worldwide by 2030.

Michael Finelli, Syensqo’s CTIO & Chief North America Officer, with 30+ years in the chemical industry, leads Syensqo’s growth platforms in Batteries, Green Hydrogen, Thermoplastic Composites, and Renewable Materials & Biotechnology. Based in Alpharetta, Georgia, Mike contributes to customer engagement, operational leadership, and sustainability, with board memberships at the American Chemistry Council and FOSSI Advisory Board.

Miranda Wang is a venture-backed climate tech entrepreneur. She is the Co-founder and CEO of Novoloop, an emerging leader in plastic circularity, transforming post-consumer plastic waste into the world’s first chemically Lifecycled™ performance materials. Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the venture-backed start-up has raised $26M to date and is building and scaling new technologies to reinvent the chemical value chain.

Hussein spearheads Strategic Partnerships at Climeworks, a pioneer in direct air capture technology. His focus lies in forging impactful partnerships that empower companies to advance their net-zero roadmaps and fight global warming. With over 15 years of senior leadership roles, notably at P&G, Hussein is a seasoned expert driving impactful change in the realm of climate innovation. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from EPFL and is an alumnus of Columbia University.

Julia has been working in the field of climate and energy for the past two decades, focused on decarbonizing the energy and industry sectors. Julia joined Breakthrough Energy in 2018. She has been shaping and implementing the organization’s activities and partnerships in Europe. As part of that effort, Julia worked with the European Commission and the European Investment Bank to set up Breakthrough Energy Ventures Europe, a €100 million fund dedicated to investing in Europe’s best clean energy entrepreneurs, as well as the $1bn EU-Catalyst partnership that is investing in key emerging climate technology projects.

Michael Finelli, Syensqo’s CTIO & Chief North America Officer, with 30+ years in the chemical industry, leads Syensqo’s growth platforms in Batteries, Green Hydrogen, Thermoplastic Composites, and Renewable Materials & Biotechnology. Based in Alpharetta, Georgia, Mike contributes to customer engagement, operational leadership, and sustainability, with board memberships at the American Chemistry Council and FOSSI Advisory Board.

Dr. Ing. Lilian Schwich is co-founder and CEO of the start-up cylib, which offers a holistic lithium-ion battery recycling solution. cylib’s deep tech technology and proprietary end-to- end recycling process offers an efficient, resource- and climate friendly recovery of all relevant battery raw materials such as lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt or manganese, from entire battery packs or production scraps. Dr. Ing. Lilian Schwich led the battery recycling team at the Institute for Metallurgical Process Technology and Metal Recycling at RWTH Aachen University, where she developed the proprietary process in collaboration with cylib’s co-founder and CTO, Paul Sabarny. Alongside the third co-founder and COO, Dr. Ing. Gideon Schwich, cylib has constructed an end-to-end battery recycling facility in under 10 months with a capacity of one battery pack per day since September 2023 and built up a team of 44 professionals. Dr. Ing. Lilian Schwich recently won the renown North Rhine Westphalia Innovation Prize 2023 for her technological advancements, which cylib is now scaling to serve the global battery recycling market.

Lina directs the Energy Platform at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, which coordinates new research initiatives within energy areas. She is an expert adviser in government and industry for sustainable energy solutions and her research aims to modernise the electric power system, also referred to as the Smart Grid.

Christine is a global leader in agri-food-tech innovation, an energizing community-builder & an activator of breakthrough ideas that create lasting change in food and agriculture. As the Founder & CEO of Thought For Food, she galvanized a community of 30,000+ entrepreneurs in 180+ countries who are dedicated to transforming food systems. The programs she has developed have generated 8000+ business ideas and launched 70+ startups.

Lana Graf is an impact investor and principal industry specialist at Disruptive Technologies and Funds dpt. at IFC, a private sector arm of the World Bank Group, where she leads deals in Ai/ML and Deep tech. Lana’s goal at IFC is to help bringing advanced technologies to worldwide clients and emerging markets. World Bank group platform is a perfect fit to help with smart and supported adoption of disruptive technologies, through access to countries, sectors, partners and clients of IFC.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Lana spent over a decade as a corporate executive in the Ai/Robotics and Industrial automation sector.

Eric Trusiewicz is a specialist on heavy industrial decarbonization, especially cement & concrete. He is active as a board member, advisor and operating executive working with venture-backed cleantech startups. Eric has worked on cement decarbonization as an entrepreneur in residence at the cleantech venture capital fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures, as a fellow at Stanford University, and prior to that has a decade of experience in the cement industry in a variety of executive roles across Europe and the United States. 

Laurie is a founding Partner at At One Ventures, where she backs deep tech startups catalyzing planet-positive industries. She is a board member at Avalo, Ascend Elements, Helios, Noon Energy, Precision AI, Puna Bio, and Simplifyber. Laurie has over a decade of deep tech commercialization, company building, and venture capital experience. She spent several years in the chemical industry (Solvay, BASF) and built a dozen ventures out of US Defense research programs (SRI International). Biotechnologist by training, Laurie is an ecological transition advocate.

Hal Hodson is The Economist’s special projects writer, based in London. He joined the paper in 2016 as science and technology correspondent, writing about face recognition, tigers and the brain. In 2018 he was named Britain’s best science writer. In 2019 he moved to Hong Kong to take up a new role as Asia technology correspondent. He returned to London during the pandemic to join the paper’s covid team, writing on the immune system, vaccine manufacturing and data science. His work currently focuses on technology trade and decarbonisation.

Seth Bannon is a Founding Partner at Fifty Years. Seth has seeded a range of deep tech startups shaping the world for the better — companies like Upside Foods (culturing meat to eat), Solugen (engineering enzymes to make carbon negative chemicals), and Astranis (small satellites to cover the Earth in Internet).Passionate about helping more PhDs start startups, he and Fifty Years published the Spinout Playbook, a guide to spinning out of academia.

Guillaume is the Chief Scientific & Industrial Officer of PILI, a french biotechnology and green chemistry company. PILI develops and produces sustainable high-performance dyes and pigments. PILI has scaled up to the ton-scale several biobased chemicals as well as associated down-stream and chemical processes.

Pae is a General Partner at SOSV and CTO at IndieBio, where she is responsible for portfolio management and technical oversight.

Prior to joining IndieBio, Pae served as the Scientific Director of Telefónica’s moonshot factory, Alpha (in Barcelona). She was Science Director at the US Office of Naval Research – Global (out of Singapore), and technical consultant at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Her whole career, Pae has been investing in high-risk solutions to intractable problems for national defense, humanity, and the planet. She is especially passionate about bridging engineered materials and systems to biology.

Jérôme leads our Deep Tech Advisory & Ecosystem offering, aiming for disruptive and sustainable business model innovation by bridging over corporates and the deep tech ecosystem. He has extensive experience on innovation processes, product R&D in high tech industries, agile transformation & program management. Jérôme received his Master in Business Studies from HEC Paris in 2002, and is also an exchange graduate from Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo. Formerly with Renault Nissan, he joined BCG in 2011 and brings 20+ years of experience. He is passionate about sustainable development, philosophy & the ethical use of breakthrough technologies.

Yair Reem is a Partner at Extantia Capital, a climate-first venture capital firm accelerating the path to a decarbonised world. Extantia backs daring entrepreneurs whose breakthrough ventures can significantly reduce emissions and accelerate the transition to a decarbonised society. Previously, Yair was Managing Director at Hasso Plattner Ventures and a cyber technology leader at Israel’s Unit 8200. Yair holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Technion (Israel), Executive MPA from Hertie (Germany), and AMP from Wharton (USA)

Kinga has 20 years of experience in investments and finance. She is founder of Experior VC, investing in companies across all verticals with a CEE nexus. She is founder of European Women in VC platform and IC member of the EIC Fund. Kinga was management board member of Polish VC Association for 5 years. She sits on the board of private and public companies. She is named one of the TOP 50 of Europe’s most influential women in the start-up and venture capital space by EU Startups and top 50 women in tech in Europe by Forbes.

Prior to joining the French Tech Mission, Clara held various management positions in the startup ecosystem all around the world. From 2019 to 2021, she was the Chief Business Officer of Vestiaire Collective, the French unicorn peer-to-peer marketplace for premium and luxury pre-owned fashion.

Jean-François Bobier is a core member of Boston Consulting Group’s Technology Advantage practice with a focus on technology-driven transformation at scale. Since joining BCG in 2004, Jean-François has partnered with clients across multiple industries on projects related to digital, software engineering, agile, and deep tech.Jean-François leads BCG’s R&D initiative on quantum computing and technology and digital organization. Prior to joining the firm, Jean-François worked as an IT architect for Fidelity Investments and IBM Business Consulting Services.

Renita Kalhorn is an executive coach, Forbes contributor and creator of The High-EQ Founder. She’s worked with 1,300+ clients in 40 countries and specializes in helping deep tech founders level up as leaders so they can execute on their vision.

Pathfinder in Europe, the US and Canada, Eric is supporting as Venture Partner Breakthrough Energy Ventures. In his previous entrepreneur roles, Eric was CEO of a Canadian medical device company, quoted in the US & producing robotic devices with AI solution and, beforehand, Eric was President Europe of a startup company, translating pioneering 3D bioprinting technology for innovative treatments for children patients with rare disorders. Former senior executive in the pharmaceutical industry, Principal with the Boston Consulting Group, Eric is a Medical Doctor -specialized in public health & epidemiology-, a Physical Chemist -specialized in air pollution & physics of the environment-, and a MBA.

Lise has been working in venture capital for the last six years. Most recently, she was Founding Partner of Propagator Ventures, an early-stage deep tech VC with investments in North America and Europe. Before that, she was Investment Director at Nordic Impact and Investment Manager at the German Corporate VC Bauer Venture Partners. She also worked operationally at the company-builder Rocket Internet, being MP in several Nordic markets. She has a Ph.D. in Management, Technology & Economics (MTEC) from ETH Zurich and is half-Norwegian, half-Swiss, however against all odds, terrible at skiing.

Raúl Donado is a Chemical Engineer at Tedagua. He has been working for Tedagua (Cobra Group) for more than 19 years in different positions: bidding, technical office, Project Management and Engineering Manager. He has lead technically more than 30 water treatment projects around the world, between then some of the most relevant seawater desalination plants.

Christian is an investor at Norrsken VC, a Stockholm-based, early-stage impact fund. At Norrsken, he focuses on climate, hardware and tech bio investments. Prior to VC, Christian worked in a commercial role at the biotech platform start-up ATAI Life Sciences.