Speakers

His expertise covers several aspects of competitiveness such as the Single Market, Industrial Policy, Trade, and Economic Security. Tuomas brings to the organisation 15 years of experience in EU-policy making having worked for all major EU institutions and most notably the European Commission, with a focus on competitiveness particularly through Research and Innovation. For nearly 10 years at DG RTD, Tuomas specialized in research and innovation policy, particularly by developing policy in the areas of research commercialisation, intellectual property management, and innovation financing. He was also one of the main authors of Commissioner Moedas’ Open Innovation strategy.In addition to his work in the public sector, Tuomas has entrepreneurial background as a co-founder of an award-winning fintech start-up company providing business due diligence and financing solutions for knowledge-intensive and innovative start-ups and scale-ups.

working on EU and national regulatory issues in Brussels, Warsaw, Prague, and Bratislava. She joined Google in 2019 and is currently leading government affairs & public policy in Czechia and Slovakia. Previously she focused on EU public affairs at the global consultancy Weber Shandwick in Brussels and gained experience in the European Commission. She holds a Master’s degree in International Public Management from Sciences Po Paris, a Bachelor’s degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Manchester and is an alumna of the Aspen Institute CE Young Leaders Program.

In 2021, EC was sent to UNESCO in Paris and before that, from 2012, he managed the scientific and knowledge service of the European Commission – Joint Research Center. In the years 2006-2012, he worked as a director at the General Directorate for Education and Culture of the EC. Before joining the European Commission, he held several positions related to European and international policies. In 2005-2006, he founded the Research and Development Support Agency in Bratislava. In the years 2000-2004, he was a member of the Slovak team that negotiated Slovakia’s entry into the EU in Brussels. In parallel, he devoted himself to scientific and pedagogical work in Slovakia and several places in the world. He published more than 100 scientific works.

Anett is responsible for fostering strong partnership between the government and private sector to drive innovation and digitalization as its fullest. With her background as a Cyber Defence Policy Adviser at the Ministry of Defence of Estonia, she brings a unique perspective to her current role, having extensive experience in shaping policy and promoting collaboration between countries to address and tackle cyber threats.

Her specialties lie in cyber defence, innovation, digitalization, and building better collaboration between the public and private sector. She is passionate about using my expertise to help create a more interconnected and efficient society. With her diverse background and experience, she is committed to using my knowledge to make a positive impact in the world.

the VOID Security Operations Center and serving as a Board Member at the SOITRON Group. With a career spanning over two decades and two continents, he has a rich professional history across numerous senior leadership roles and a proven track record in the establishment, growth, and leadership of teams along with the creation of strategies and services in multiple IT domains.

Martin holds a Master of Management degree from Comenius University and is a Harvard Business School alumnus after completing the Program for Leadership Development. His industry qualifications include certifications as Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator, Certified Ethical Hacker, and numerous Cisco and Microsoft credentials.

Over his career, Lukáš has held several positions within utilities, telco and financial sector, specializing in ecosystem solutions and high-impact B2B2C projects. Before joining Mastercard, he was responsible for biggest telco-banking ecosystem in CEE region – Unity (O2 Czech republic & Air Bank).

Research Group at Algebra University. As a holder of numerous industrial certificates in the field of computing, he actively contributes to the latest trends and practices in the profession. As a member of the working group of the Croatian Employers’ Association (HUP) for cyber security, he actively contributes to the development of strategies and policies in this key domain. 

He has developed numerous courses and study programmes in the field of cyber security.  His engagement in the industiry includes working on projects such as churn analysis and fraud detection, security enhancement projects, and scientific projects in cooperation with the Ruđer Bošković Institute. He is the author of dozens of scientific papers and is a regular participant at cyber security conferences as a speaker or panelist both nationally and internationally. He regularly engages in international collaboration with other European universities. His professional work is focused on projects and education in the areas of cyber security, data science, and artificial intelligence.

Her legal and business background makes Marijana the ideal partner, in particular to startups and international corporations, to navigate the Croatian legal and business environment.

She is involved as mentor in local startup community and she daily advise both investors and founders in different transactions supporting their business in Croatia and globally. She volunteers as vice president of CRO STARTUP as is one of the founder of CROAI. Her passion has been AI ethics and Ai regulation since 2017 and she gives lectures and delivers workshops on that topics regularly almost acting as #AIpropethess

She also conducts research focusing on human-computer interaction analysis, user modelling and personalization. She is active in discussions on trustworthy AI at the national and European levels. Currently she is a chair of the Permanent Committee for Ethics and Regulation of AI established by the Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization of the Slovak Republic. She was also a member of the European Commission Joint Research Center Board of Governors.

Before her work at KInIT, Maria was employed at the Slovak University of Technology for more than 30 years — 15 as a full professor, lead of the PeWe research group (Personalized Web) and director of the User eXperience and Interaction research center. She is a former dean of the Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies (FIIT STU).

arm of McKinsey & Company. He helps companies design and deliver AI and digital transformations across pharmaceutical, biotech and chemicals industries. Matej also co-leads an internal AI and genAI unit focused on scientific and R&D acceleration and has co-founded QuantumBlack LATAM. Matej holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience and machine learning from University College London.

Technology Department of Confederation of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic. Together with his colleagues, he actively represents and defends interests of member´s base of Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic in all fields related to digital agenda and technologies both on national and European level. Topics he is engaged in include data protection, Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data sharing, cyber security, platform economy, Internet of Things, telecommunications and others. He acts also as a coordinator of Platform for Artificial Intelligence of Czech Confederation of Industry. In 2021 he co-founded AI check company that focus on designing custom-made artificial intelligence. He is also a member of Czech digital team which acts as an advisory board of Czech Deputy Prime Minister for IT and Digitalization. In the past, he also dealt with the digital agenda at the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic.

Group the fastest growing technology hub in CEE. The goal of his business activities is to improve people’s access to capital, justice and healthcare.
Majo co-founded several legal tech startups and leads the only Slovak non-governmental organisation focused on improving advocacy.

when he co-founded Slovak Google office with focus on scale ups and e-commerce promotion. Together with Anton Zajac and Ivan Stefunko, Rasto co-founded The Slovak Alliance for Innovation Economy, the largest innovative alliance in Slovakia with almost 200 members, where he also acts as a chairman of the board. He has coined the term ‘The Danube Valley’, regional private-public partnership with focus on innovation and entrepreneurship promotion.

He received his MBA from Harvard Business School. He started his career as Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble. Later he co-founded internet startup Ergoni built on mass customization concept for luxury shirts manufactured in Mumbai, India and sold via internet in Europe and USA. Concentrating on career at McKinsey & Company he became Engagement Manager in private equity, marketing and sales. He is a passionate pianist and he also plays a typical Slovak instrument fujara.

As the Director General of the Research and Innovation Authority (VAIA) at the Government Office, she was responsible for inter-ministerial coordination of research and innovation policy. She was overseeing the implementation of National Strategy for Research, Development and Innovation 2030 as well as managing 570 million euros in public funding calls for research and innovation within the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Kršková was also leading the Secretariat of the Slovak Government Council for Science, Technology and Innovation. Before embarking on a career in civil service, she co-founded one of the first seed and venture capital funds in Slovakia and also co-founded and led Startup Awards.SK, a startup competition and an accelerator, which played an important role in the early development of the Slovak innovation ecosystem. She also worked as an innovation consultant for Civitta and Oxford University Innovation, University of Oxford’s technology transfer office. Michaela holds university degrees from Princeton University (B.A.) and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva (M.A.).

With more than 17 years of experience, Zuzana worked in various positions at the Ministry of the Environment in the Czech Republic, for the European Commission in Brussels,  or U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington D.C. Since 2015, she has been working for the European Investment Bank, where she held various positions, such as ECS EIB/JASPERS Expert in Vienna and Environmental Specialist in Luxembourg. She holds a Master’s in law from Charles University in Prague and Chemistry from University of Pardubice.

at Slovak Embassies in the US and Israel. He specializes in providing support for entrepreneurship, R&D management, and technology commercialization. Beyond his professional roles, Peter shares his knowledge as a guest lecturer on innovation and entrepreneurship. He also contributes to various organizations as a Board member at Amcham Slovakia and Košice IT Valley.

company in Slovakia. Jan has a broad background in startups, tech and business, working for almost 4 years as Head of business development for Piano.io and consulting for various startups and entrepreneurs.

Prior to that he was director of Axasoft’s banking and software services and with Qimonda AG / Infineon AG as developer, project manager and App Development leader.

While working on his MBA from Vlerick Leuven-Gent Management School in Belgium, Jan worked on projects for startups in London and consulted ING Belgium in near-shoring IT delivery centers.

He also focuses on growth capital investments for SMEs. He brought to Crowdberry more than 15 years of experience in industry, acquisition consulting and investment banking from Slovakia and abroad. He worked at NIBC Bank in Germany, the investment bank Kaufman Bros in New York, and also at Daimler AG and BASF AG. In Slovakia, he co-founded the consulting investment company EWAMCo. Daniel studied mathematics, strategy and international management at Comenius University in Bratislava and Mannheim University in Germany. He completed postgraduate studies in Financial Management at the Vlerick Management School.