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The Ignition Forum event begins an exciting two-year journey for the EIC Scaling Club. We are thrilled to invite the club stakeholder members, amongst which are the most active European VCs and corporates, high-level EIC representatives, visionary Mentors & Industry Experts, EU policymakers, and the 48 selected companies spanning Next-Generation Computing, Digital Security & Trust, Renewable Energies, and Smart Mobility. For two days, this event will serve as a platform for networking, facilitating meaningful conversations, and fostering connections among friends and colleagues. It's the starting point for an idea that could truly revolutionise the scale-up ecosystem in Europe.

DAY 1:
Keynote speakers:

Jean-David Malo
Director (European Innovation Council / EISMEA)

jean-david_malo_portrait_picJean-David Malo became Head of Unit in charge of regional aspects in DG R&I (2006-2010) and of the unit (2011-2013) in charge of increasing private finance and closing market gaps by expanding existing EU innovative financial instruments (see RSFF) and by developing new ones in the fields of debt (including guarantees) and equity financing (InnovFin). Horizon 2020SMEs was also addressed by the unit (i.e. EUROSTARS II, SME Instrument and the Fast Track to Innovation). Director for Open Innovation and Open Science in 2017, he designed and expanded initiatives such as the VentureEU Initiative and the RDI dimension under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) among other things. In 2019 following the European Council’s request to set up the European Innovation Council (EIC), he became Director of the EIC Task Force. 

Anna Panagopoulou
Director of 'ERA & Innovation', European Innovation Council

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Since April 2021, Ms Anna Panagopoulou has been Director of ‘ERA & Innovation’ at the Research and Innovation Directorate General of the European Commission. The directorate is responsible for research and innovation policy, reinforces at crosscutting level the engagement with citizens & society, with academic and research organisations and with research and industrial infrastructures. The directorate is also responsible to promote dialogue and collaboration with Member States, research and  innovation actors  on research and innovation policy,  investments and reforms. Between 2016 and 2021, Ms Panagopoulou had been Director of directorate 'Common Implementation Centre' responsible for the implementation strategy for European Union R&I programmes. Previously, she was Head of Department for Programme Support and Resources at CINEA in 2014. Ms Panagopoulou started her career in the European Commission in 1997 being responsible for files in the area of EU research and innovation, transport and energy policy. Beforehand she worked for 6 years in the private sector. She holds a degree in electrical engineering.

Opening speakers:

Erik Luts
CIO, KBC

Erik Lutz_CIO KBC
Between 1985 and 1988, he held various positions, including at the University of Leuven, teaching at a technical college and working as an after-sales representative for an Apple dealer. He began his career with Kredietbank/KBC group in 1988 as Computer Literacy & Self-Study Training Manager and was promoted to Payments & E-Banking Product Manager in 1991. At that time, he was also made a member of the Management Committee for Isabel (the main supplier of multi-bank services for business users in Belgium set up in 1995 on the initiative of four large banks, including Kredietbank/KBC). In 1996, he was appointed ICT Manager for the branch network, then General Manager, ICT Development, and in 2003, General Manager of the ICT Data Centre. From 2004 to 2006, he was a Member of the Management Committee of Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB), KBC’s banking subsidiary in Slovenia, where he was responsible for ICT and preparing NLB for the introduction of the euro. He returned to Belgium in 2006 in the role of General Manager, Training, Education & Recruitment. He was Senior General Manager, HR, Facility Services & Financial Reporting at the Belgium Business Unit of the KBC group from 2008 to 2013. He has been Senior General Manager, Direct Channels & Support at that business unit since 2013 and was also appointed Chief Innovation Manager for the KBC group in 2016. In 2017, he became member of the Executive Committee of KBC Group.

Maria Zubeldia
Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre at Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford /Chair of the EIC Scaling Club Council

Maria Zubeldia ChairpersonMaria is the Executive Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre at Said Business School, University of Oxford. The Entrepreneurship Centre plays a key role in supporting student futures at Oxford, working with other departments to underpin the curricular and co-curricular, innovation and entrepreneurial goals of students. She is a tutor for the Entrepreneurship Project, an integral part of the MBA and EMBA programmes. She has created a strategic vision for the Centre building on the ecosystem strengths to enhance innovation at Oxford.
She has a wealth of experience in innovation, entrepreneurship, business development, international negotiation & partnerships management.
Her professional career has spanned a range of sectors including publishing, banking, B2B, public sector and consulting. Co- founder of 2 start ups. Maria is a certified facilitator for the FORTH innovation methodology and an innovation expert. 
She led the Entrepreneurship Department for a Regional Development Agency (Business Innovation Centre) depending on the Government of Navarra for 8 years to support entrepreneurs to find their business model and start ups to scale up. She increased engagement and scaled the work of the Entrepreneurship Area when she pioneered the launch of the first lean start up accelerator in Spain.
Maria has a BA in Business Management & Economics from the University of Navarra, and holds an Executive MBA from Oxford Brookes University focusing her dissertation on tacit knowledge sharing to foster an innovation culture. She holds the Oxford Executive Leadership Programme delivered by Said Business School, University of Oxford.
Maria is an expert contributor at the World Economic Forum.
 

Marie Wall
Deputy Director of the Swedish Ministry of Climate and Enterprise & Member of the EIC Scaling Club Council

Marie WallMarie Wall is responsible for policy to strengthen innovative startups and scaleups, in all areas from social innovation to deep tech, at the Swedish Ministry of Climate and Enterprise. Marie Wall has a MSc in computer science from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. With a wide range of positions in the world of start-ups and the innovation system she is the bridge between the ministry and the start-up ecosystem. 
She started her career in IT research, but soon joined the 90’s start-up scene in Stockholm. Before joining the Ministry, she was responsible for the national incubation program, providing financing to incubators and young start-ups, at the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation System (Vinnova). Marie has also spent time in Silicon Valley as technical attaché and as visiting scholar at Stanford University. 
 

Jennifer L. Schenker
Founder and Editor-in-Chief at The Innovator

Jennifer-SchenkerJennifer L. Schenker, an award-winning journalist, has been covering the global tech industry from Europe since 1985, working full-time, at various points in her career for the Wall Street Journal Europe, Time Magazine, International Herald Tribune, Red Herring, BusinessWeek and Les Echos. She is currently the founder and editor-in-chief of The Innovator, a global publication that puts technology news into context for business. Jennifer was named one of Europe’s 50 most inspirational women in technology in 2015 and 2016. She is based in Paris and has dual French and American citizenship.

Robin Wauters
Founder at Tech.eu

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Robin Wauters is a seasoned technology journalist, analyst, keynote speaker and event curator, as well as the founding editor of Tech.eu, the premier source of European tech news, data analysis and market intelligence. He was formerly the European Editor of The Next Web, and before that a senior editor at TechCrunch. Robin is also one of the co-founders of BeCentral, the digital campus located in Brussels Central Station that has helped thousands of people learn technologies, grow a startup and have a positive impact on society, as well as a founding member of Belgian angel investment collective Syndicate One.

 


DAY 2:
Keynote speakers:

Jo De Boeck
Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, IMEC

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Jo De Boeck received his engineering degree in 1986 and his PhD degree in 1991 from the University of Leuven. Since 1991 he is a staff member of imec (Leuven). He has been a NATO Science Fellow at Bellcore (USA, 1991-92) and AST-fellow in the Joint Research Center for Atom Technology (Japan, 1998). In his research career, he has been leading activities on integration of novel materials at device level and new functionalities at systems level. In 2003 he became Vice President at IMEC for the Microsystems division and in 2005 started Holst Centre (Eindhoven), an open innovation initiative by imec and TNO. He currently is Managing Director of imec’s activities in The Netherlands.  From 2010 he headed imec’s Smart Systems and Energy Technology Business Unit. He is part-time professor at the Engineering department of the KU Leuven and held a visiting professorship at the TU Delft, Kavli Institute for Nanoscience (2003–2016). In 2011 he became Chief Technology Officer and in 2018 he was appointed Chief Strategy Officer. He is member of imec’s Executive Board.  His passion and professional focus are on innovation. In his current role he manages the internal imec.invest portfolio looking at impactful new R&D tracks, heads the imec Venture and spin-off activities and supports the long term strategy through funded projects, investment in talent and strategic academic relationships.

Thomas Dermine
State Secretary of Science Policy, Recovery Program & Strategic Investments - Belgian Fed. Government

PIC TD 2024

Thomas Dermine, born on 1 May 1986 in Charleroi, is a French-speaking Belgian economist and politician who is a member of the Socialist Party. Since 1 October 2020, he has been a member of the Belgian government, deputy to the Minister for the Economy and Labour, as State Secretary for Economic Recovery and Strategic Investment with responsibility for Science Policy, in Alexander De Croo's federal government.
 
 

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