Are you planning to attend the EIC Summit 2025 - Europe’s prime event where deeptech meets policy - held on 2 and 3 April 2025 at Tour & Taxi (Brussels, Belgium)? The EIC Community is excited to reveal to which speakers you could have the pleasure to listen to on Day 1, during the EIC beneficiaries day – exclusively dedicated to EIC beneficiaries – and on Day 2, at our flagship event – open to all interested stakeholders!
Wait no more as we are about to reveal the speakers’ lineup, with the very last speakers to be announced soon!
Speaker highlights from the policy ecosystem
- Ms. Ekaterina Zaharieva – Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation
About: Driving the EU’s ambition to put research and innovation, science and technology at the centre of our economy, as Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation Ekaterina’s focus is on fostering investment and cooperation, creating the right conditions for researchers to thrive and develop new skills and the innovation needed for the EU’s competitiveness, security and sustainability goals.
Session: Day 2 (10:15 -10:30) - Opening Speech: The EIC as a Driving Force for Startups and Scaleups
Session: Day 2 (12:30 -13:00) - Award Ceremony: EU Prize for Women Innovators (moderator)
- Ms. Henna Virkkunen – Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy
About: Besides being Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna is also responsible for the Digital and Frontier Technologies portfolio, leading Europe’s efforts in shaping a competitive, resilient and inclusive digital future. Some of her responsibilities include: leading work on boosting Artificial Intelligence innovation, working with Member States, industry and civil society to develop an Apply AI Strategy; deploying digital public infrastructure and presenting a European Data Union Strategy.
Session: Day 2 (16:00 -16:30) - Panel Discussion: Scaling European Digital Technologies
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Mr. Enrico Letta – former Prime Minister of Italy, Dean of the IE School of Politics, Economics, and Global Affairs at IE
About: Prime Minister of Italy from 2013 to 2014, Enrico currently serves as Dean of the IE School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs at IE University. He is also President of the Jacques Delors Institute. In September 2023 the European institutions tasked him with the elaboration a Report on the Future of the Single Market. Earlier in his career, Letta served as Minister for EU Affairs (1998–1999), Minister for Industry, Trade and Crafts (2000), Minister for Industry and Foreign Trade (2000–2001), and Undersecretary of State to Prime Minister Romano Prodi (2006–2008).
Session: Day 2 (10:30 -11:00) - Keynote/Fireside Chat: Europe as a global Tech Leader
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Mr. Carlos Moedas – Mayor of Lisbon, former EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation
About: In 2011, Carlos headed the Social Democrat Party's (PSD) economic team, was elected Member of Parliament and appointed under-Secretary of State to the Prime Minister where he coordinated the adjustment programme structural reforms. In 2014, he was nominated European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, managing one of the largest innovation programs in the world. He designed the Horizon Europe program worth 100 billion €. On September 26, 2021, he was elected Mayor of Lisbon.
Session: Day 2 (10:30 -11:00) - Keynote/Fireside Chat: Europe as a global Tech Leader
Speaker highlights from the EIC Business Acceleration Services ecosystem
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Verónica Orvalho – EIC Ambassador, Founder and CEO of Didimo
About: Fascinated by the many ways in which people communicate, learn and share knowledge and motivated to discover a new way to interact and install trust and empathy in the digital era, Verónica accumulated 20+ years’ experience in research and development on facial technology. Featured speaker at TEDx, SIGGRAPH and GamesBeat Summit and winner of multiple awards, as the Women Who Tech Award in New York and the IBM scientific award, Verónica’s inventions have been used by Universal Studios, Sony, Colossal Order, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Session: Day 1 (16:15 - 16:45) - Workshops: Why the infamous “glass ceiling” cannot be broken by women alone - it needs to be opened “from above”
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Yousef Yousef – EIC Board Member, CEO of LG Sonic
About: With his strategic vision, in his two decades at LG Sonic, Yousef has propelled LG Sonic from a nascent startup to an industry benchmark, earning worldwide recognition for environmental excellence. As a leader, Yousef also spearheads a green-tech scale-up initiative with 500+ members, dedicated to merging the innovative energies of green startups with the robust resources of established companies.
Session: Day 1 (14:30 -15:00) - Workshops: EIC Business Acceleration Services: Discover EIC support beyond funding!
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George Brik – CEO and co-founder of Hydrovolta, EIC Ambassador
About: George possesses over 25 years of experience in water technologies, membrane electrochemistry, and international business. As a recipient of EIC funding, George has successfully led Hydrovolta’s expansion into industrial, municipal, and agricultural markets, delivering high-recovery, energy-efficient solutions to address water scarcity and sustainable resource management. His work aligns with global efforts to advance technological innovation and sustainability in critical infrastructure sectors.
Session: Day 1 (11:15 - 12:00) - Workshops: Accelerate Your Business with Innovation Procurement
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Josemaria Siota – Executive Director of IESE Business School's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, part of the EIC Scaling Club programme
About: Considered "one of the world's most influential speakers on corporate venturing" by the newspaper South China Morning Post, Josemaria leads cutting-edge research on open innovation, corporate venturing, technology transfer, and scaleups, working around the world with successful Chief Innovation Officers and top-tier academics, to create a positive impact in society. His work has received mentions in media such as Bloomberg and Forbes.
Session: Day 1 (10:30 - 11:15) - Workshops: EIC Scaling Club: How to make your board work for you?
Speaker highlights from the EIC beneficiary's ecosystem
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Sonia M. García Blanco – Co-founder of ALUVIA Photonics (EIC Transition project ALUVia)
About: Sonia joined the University of Twente – coordinating the ALUVia project – in 2010, where she leads the Integrated Optical Systems (IOS) group developing different sputtered materials and integration technologies for integrated photonics. She is recipient of an ERC Consolidator Grant (2015), an ERC Proof-of-concept grant, and an EIC Transition grant (ALUVia). In 2022, she co-founded ALUVIA Photonics to commercialize photonic integrated circuits (PICs) in the aluminium oxide platform.
Session: Day 1 (11:15 - 12:00) - Workshops: Transitioning from Technology to Market – changing hearts and minds
- Sarah Verhulst – Professor at Ghent University, Project Coordinator of EarDiTech (EIC Transition project)
About: With his strategic vision, in his two decades at LG Sonic, Yousef has propelled LG Sonic from a nascent startup to an industry benchmark, earning worldwide recognition for environmental excellence. As a leader, Yousef also spearheads a green-tech scale-up initiative with 500+ members, dedicated to merging the innovative energies of green startups with the robust resources of established companies.
Session: Day 1 (14:30 -15:00) - Workshops: EIC Business Acceleration Services: Discover EIC support beyond funding!
- Martha Sommer – Team Leader & Principal Investigator at ISAR Bioscience, Coordinator of UniSens (EIC Pathfinder project)
About: At ISAR Bioscience in Munich Martha leads a team dedicated to developing next-generation tools for GPCR drug discovery. Martha studied microbiology at the University of Texas at Austin and earned a PhD in Biochemistry from Oregon Health & Science University in 2006. Her doctoral work established fluorescence-based methods to study protein interactions in signal transduction and earned her an NSF International Fellowship to further this work in the laboratory of Klaus Peter Hoffmann at the Charité in Berlin.
Session: Day 1 (15:00 -15:45) - Workshops: EIC Pathfinder breakthrough technologies nurturing European successes in science, innovation and creation of new markets
- Cornel Amariei – CEO & Founder of .lumen (EIC Accelerator project .lumen)
About: Cornel is an inventor, speaker, and entrepreneur, known for creating .lumen, the startup developing Pedestrian Autonomous Driving technology – first showcased in the Glasses for the Blind. Born into a family with disabilities, he witnessed technology's impact firsthand. Before, he was Head of Innovation at a major automotive company and has been inducted into Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe, the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World, and the Global Business Hall of Fame
Session: Day 1 (11:15 - 12:00) - Workshops: Accelerate Your Business with Innovation Procurement
About the EIC Summit 2025
Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with key players shaping Europe’s deeptech landscape. Join us on 2 and 3 April 2025 for two dynamic days featuring exclusive workshops, pitching sessions, unparalleled networking opportunities and groundbreaking projects!
Explore groundbreaking EIC projects and discover how the EIC can support your innovations on their path to market.
Stay tuned for the updated agenda of Day 2, the EIC Summit’s flagship event, and discover all the details about the EIC Summit 2025 satellite events (EIC Community Training - Artificial intelligence tools for innovators, the EIC Partners' Day and the Pathfinder Challenges Info Day) in the article we published in the EIC Community Platform!
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.