Event Agenda

This panel will bring together senior corporate leaders—CIOs, Heads of Innovation, Heads of Business Units, and Corporate Venturing executives—to discuss how Europe can accelerate deep tech adoption through stronger corporate–startup partnerships. Unlike traditional CVC-focused discussions, this session will concentrate on the business units, where real commercial partnerships, pilots, and scaling opportunities take place. The discussion will explore:

• The current state of deep-tech partnerships in Europe
• Why corporate engagement often stalls at POC stage
• What business units actually need from startups (e.g., AI, materials, robotics, sustainability, industrial automation)
• How corporates evaluate, integrate, and scale deep tech solutions
• How founders can build long-term, strategic relationships with major companies

Moderator:
James Mawson, CEO, Global Corporate Venturing

Speakers:
Magnus R. Björsne, Executive Director, AZ BioVenture Innovation Unit & CEO, AZ BioVentureHub AB, AstraZeneca
Florent Illat, Director General, Safran Corporate Ventures
Anders Jansson, Head of Business Development, CorPower Ocean (EIC Scaling Club portfolio company)
Milja Kalliosaari, Government Relations Manager, IQM
Bernhard Mohr, Managing Director, Evonik Venture Capital
Ayano Kase, Investor, Woven Capital VC (Toyota)

The session will explore the three interconnected gaps facing Europe’s deep-tech scaleups: growth financing, public innovation procurement, and corporate collaboration. Recent findings reveal persistent shortages of late-stage capital (the EU attracts nearly nine times less venture capital per worker than the US), limited use of innovation-oriented public procurement (despite accounting for 16% of EU GDP), and a 69% failure rate in corporate–scaleup collaborations.

Moderator:
Josemaria Siota, Executive Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, IESE Business School

This session will showcase what has worked particularly well within the EIC Scaling Club, drawing directly on the experience, insights, and testimonials of mentors, investors, and key ecosystem actors. The discussion will explore:

• The most valuable elements of the EIC Scaling Club from a mentor and investor perspective
• How the Club has effectively supported ambitious scale-ups in their growth, strategic positioning, and market access
• The key differentiators of the EIC Scaling Club compared to other scale-up or investment support initiatives

By sharing concrete reflections and real-world examples, participants will help bring the Best Practice Report to life and illustrate the Club’s impact from a practitioner’s point of view. The session will follow a short, structured outline—shared in advance—and is designed to be focused, interactive, and conversational.

Moderator:
Teresa Cunha, EIC Scaling Club Lead

Speakers:
Josemaria Siota, Executive Director, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, IESE Business School
Yann Marteil, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Shift4Good
Nadia Serina, Strategic R&D Agreements Manager, STMicroelectronics
Mariano García Orgiles, Investor Relations Lead, PLD Space

Europe has proven it can build world-class startups, but it still lacks the deep, liquid, risk-capital markets required to scale them into global champions. While early-stage VC is thriving, growth capital remains Europe’s structural weak point. Late-stage rounds are smaller, scarcer, and slower than in the US, pushing founders to look abroad when ambition meets scale. At the heart of the gap is Europe’s chronic under-allocation of patient capital. Pension funds and endowments—representing a $210B opportunity if they matched US exposure—remain largely absent from the venture and growth ecosystem. Even new public initiatives, like the €5B EU Scale-Up Fund, are symbolic compared to the capital intensity required to support deep tech, life sciences, and global-scale category leaders. Europe stands at a crossroads: talent is here, innovation is here, and ambition is rising—but the capital firepower isn’t. Without deeper late-stage pools, harmonised rules, and public markets with real liquidity, Europe risks losing momentum just as it breaks through. The question now is whether Europe can build the mature funding market it needs, on its own terms.

Moderator:
Shiva Dustdar, Director for EIB Group relations in Luxembourg

Speakers:
Marie Nicod, General Partner, Jolt Capital
Michel Kurek, CEO France, Multiverse Computing
Fabrizio Del Maffeo, CEO, Axelera AI
Jérôme Hervé, Head of Mid Caps, Euronext
Jesper Lilledall, Partner, EIFO
Jean-David Malo, Director (acting), Directorate A “ERA and Innovation”, DG Research & Innovation (European Commission)

Europe’s high-growth companies face many challenges as they scale. This session will explore the key regulatory, talent, and entrepreneurial culture barriers shaping the growth of European scale-ups. Through a policy-oriented lens, the discussion will examine the hurdles of scaling within Europe, as well as the factors driving companies to expand beyond the region.

The session will include insights from ESNA Advisory Board members, market players and perspectives from the EIC Scale-up community, reflecting the needs of Europe’s fastest-growing companies.

Moderator:
André Barbosa, Senior Innovation Consultant, EurA

Speakers:
Vit Horky, Co-Founder & General Partner @ United Founders VC, ESNA Advisory Board Member
Egle Markeviciute, ESNA Advisor Board Member; Former Deputy Minister, Ministry of Economy and Innovation of Lithuania
Lucas Maurice, Strategy Consulting in Deep Tech @ Hello Tomorrow