Where the world's deep tech deals are made

Ekaterina Zaharieva is the European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation (2024–2029). She drives the EU’s ambition to put research and innovation at the centre of the European economy, building a unified startup ecosystem and cutting red tape in funding.

Rob Jetten is Prime Minister of the Netherlands, appointed in February 2026. As former Minister for Climate and Energy Policy, he was a driving force behind Europe’s energy transition, bridging policy and innovation to deliver practical, long-term solutions.

Dr. Astro Teller oversees X, Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory, which builds breakthrough technologies and businesses to tackle huge problems. Before Alphabet, he founded five companies, including BodyMedia and Cerebellum Capital. He holds a PhD in artificial intelligence from Carnegie Mellon.

Christophe Fouquet is President and CEO of ASML. He joined the company in 2008 and has led its marketing, product management, EUV and business functions. Before ASML, he worked at KLA Tencor and Applied Materials. He holds a master’s in physics from Grenoble.

As Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, Heleen Herbert is helping shape the Netherlands as a deep tech nation: strengthening competitiveness, accelerating innovation, and connecting industrial strategy to Europe’s long-term economic resilience.

Russell Tham is Head of Emerging Technologies at Temasek, investing globally in deep tech ventures grounded in STEM innovation. He previously led New Enterprises and Ventures at ST Engineering and spent two decades at Applied Materials, latterly as President for Southeast Asia.

Andrew Hessel is a scientist and entrepreneur exploring the future of biotechnology, with a focus on synthetic genome engineering and DNA synthesis. He co-founded and chairs the Center of Excellence for Engineering Biology and the Human Genome Project-write.

Pekka Laurila is the Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of ICEYE, the world leader in sovereign intelligence from space. The company delivers persistent monitoring capabilities to detect and respond to changes in any location on Earth.

Lars Reger is executive vice president and chief technology officer for NXP Semiconductors. As CTO, Lars is responsible for managing new business activities and R&D in the automotive, industry 4.0, internet of things (IoT), mobile, connectivity and infrastructure focus markets.

Constantijn van Oranje leads Techleap, the initiative to turn the Netherlands into a European powerhouse for tech companies. He sits on the board of the NATO Innovation Fund and is an EIC ambassador. Previously, he was Chief of Staff to European Commission VP Neelie Kroes.

Erin Hallock has more than two decades of experience scaling breakthrough technologies from lab to market. At the NATO Innovation Fund, she helps bridge the gap between early-stage innovation and operational deployment, supporting founders through complex industrial adoption cycles.

Chris Smart is an Investment Director in the Patient Capital team at the British Business Bank. He leads investment processes in R&D-intensive and deep tech strategies, backing fund managers who support IP-rich businesses emerging from the UK’s research base.