ALL TALKS

Balancing Innovation and Trust: Cutting-Edge AI in a Regulated World

Jens-Joris Decorte,

Vincent Schelstraete

AI Compliance Corporate Innovation

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Maura Nachtergaele

Maura Nachtergaele

Buy- & Build Strategies: Explore the essentials of a buy-and-build strategy

Josephus Eijkens (Joep)

Buy & Build

Invite only 11:00 - 13:00

ESN Member Meeting

Startup / Scaleup Ecosystems

11:15 - 11:45

Constantijn van Oranje

Techleap: a Dutch perspective on growing tech

Ecosystems Entrepreneurship Trends

11:30 - 13:00

Reversed Investor Pitching | Part 1

11:30 - 12:30

The Power of Collaboration: How Antwerp’s Sustainable Chemistry Ecosystem Leads the World

Sustainability Collaboration

Sustainability as a Business Driver, Not a Trade-Off

Tal Shapira

Sustainability

PREVENT NOW, SECURE TOMORROW | Tips & tricks to outsmart cybercriminals

Thomas Jannes

11:45 - 12:15

Anne-Laure Giret

AI Unleashed: How agents and multi modality are reshaping the enterprise reality

Invite only 12:00 - 14:00

Star Lunch

Company Culture is Not Hocus Pocus

Ingrid De Clercq

Culture Leadership Scaling

Conny Vandendriessche

The Untold Truth of Entrepreneurship: Lessons from Conny Vandendriessche’s Journey

Journey of Growth: From Startup Spark to Supernova

Ellen Sano

Greg Van Avermaet & Cyclowax. From client, to investor to accelerator.

Greg Van Avermaet,

Jakob Lorré

🧪 Co-founder Chemistry: Explosive cocktail or smooth concoction?

Geoffrey De Smet ,

Maarten Vandenbroucke

Startup / Scaleup

Bootstrapped vs. VC-backed – freedom or fuel?

Kristof Beckers,

Bart-Jan Leyts

Funding

European Startup panel discussion

Miguel Ferrer,

Maya Noël

Ecosystems Startup / Scaleup Shoot for the moon

13:00 - 14:30

Startup Pitching | FinTech & Enterprise Solutions

🚀 Value Creation in a Scaling Environment 🌍

Daan de Wever

How I met your Agent: who are they? What do they do? What drives them?

Nathan Poelman

Scaling

Lowie Vermeersch

Strategic collaborations and venturing: Driving innovation through strategic partnerships

Quentin Colmant

Funding Collaboration

From Innovation to Impact: Why a bold Startup & Scaleup Strategy is crucial for Europe

Breaking Scale

13:30 - 14:00

Ekaterina Zaharieva

13:30 - 14:00

Elizabeth Doran

How to Leave: Mastering the Art of Letting Go to Leap Forward into Entrepreneurship

Talent Leadership

14:00 - 14:30

Becca Carroll

Designing Technology for Everyone: Lessons from Money and Beyond

Amra Dorjbayar

Mastering AI's Wild Side: How to Make AI Outcomes Deterministic

14:00 - 14:30

How then? On growing your business and yourself as a founder

14:00 - 15:00

Alexander Varvarenko

The Power of Innovation: How Port of Antwerp-Bruges Leads in IoT and AI for Industry & Mobility

AI Mobility

14:00 - 14:30

Why did we succeed where other fail?: Lessons from a Unicorn Into the U.S.: Hard Truths, Big Wins & Lessons Learned

14:00 - 16:00

Specialty Bars

14:30 - 15:15

Nick Leeson

The Failings of Barings Bank - Risk & Control; How Is It Still Relevant Today?

Compliance FinTech

14:30 - 17:00

imec.istart Investor Day

Breaking Innovation

How to Get Compliant, without the BS

Roeland Delrue

Compliance Corporate Innovation

The Community Economy: From Superfans to Business Strategy

Angelique Foré,

Dorien Van Steenberge

Community Ecosystems Collaboration

Breaking Into the U.S.: Hard Truths, Big Wins & Lessons Learned

Roeland Pelgrims,

Axelle Moortgat,

Catalina Daniels

The EVALUTION theory: Discover the Power of Female-Driven Innovation and learn why women are the untapped potential of the century.

Kristel Vanderlinden

Trends Disruption

Powering the AI Economy: The Role of Decentralized Infrastructure

Jasper De Maere

Mastering the Pitch: A Science-Based Guide to Turning Ideas into Reality

Robin De Cock

Pitching

The most successful and growing sectors in European innovation

Has Europe Lost the AI Race—Or Is the Real Battle Just Beginning?

Davio Larnout

15:15 - 16:00

Stefaan Decraene,

Peter Adams,

Olivier Onclin,

Hans De Cuyper

Future proof banking: the CEO perspective on tech evolution

FinTech Trends Corporate Innovation

Hacking AI for Ad Creative at Scale

Rory Flynn

AI Creativity

Campus 19: Peer-to-Peer Learning, the Solution to Prepare Youth for Tomorrow’s Job Market

Elisabet Lamote,

Frank Mathys

Talent

From Belgium to beyond: international business expansion & cross-border M&A

Eva Metsu

Breaking Funding

Flanders: The Gateway to European Growth for Startups

15:30 - 18:00

imec.istart Investor Day | Meeting Zone

16:00 - 16:15

Keynote

Invite only 16:00 - 18:00

Marc Coucke

10 Lessons in entrepreneurship

Fin&Tonic by Projective Group

18:30 - 22:00

Véronique Bockstal

Booklaunch | The Woman of 10 Million

19:00 - 22:00

Future Entrepreneurship

Invite only 08:00 - 10:00

B2B Health Matchmaking Breakfast

Invite only 09:00 - 10:00

WAW! Member Breakfast

Check-in & Registration

10:00 - 10:15

Friday welcome

10:00 - 11:30

Startup Pitching | HealthTech & Entertainment

10:15 - 11:00

Benedict Evans

AI trends in business

AI Trends

11:00 - 11:15

Peter De Groote,

Benedict Evans

WAW! powered QnA

AI Trends

European leadership on identity: a close reality or a distant dream?

Stephanie De Bruyne

Trends Disruption

Weathering the Cyber Storm: The Rising Tide of Nation-State Threats

Bart Vanautgaerden

11:00 - 12:00

The Power of AI: Transforming Healthcare with Smart Solutions

AI HealthTech

Matching VCs with research institution in the quest of a spin-off

Annick Verween

Venture Capital

Leading the Way: Insights from Female Entrepreneurs

Kim De Nolf,

Dewi Van De Vyver

11:15 - 11:45

Laura Waldenstrom,

Julien van den Rul,

Dr. Olaf Joeressen

SuperNova Investor Insights: Navigating EU and Global Funding Challenges

Venture Capital Funding Shoot for the moon

11:30 - 13:00

Reversed Investor Pitching | Part 2

Tech Optimism with Purpose: Driving Impact Beyond Business

Aurore Balsan

Entrepreneurship Funding

Tim Malbon

NEGOTIATING IN THE DARK | Insights from a ransomware negotiator | Geert Baudewijns

Geert Baudewijns

Cybersecurity

How DELA Insurance transformed billing with POM – and made paying a breeze

Caroline Lafon,

Johannes Vermeire,

Romy Quick

11:45 - 12:15

Barbara Soalheiro

Redefining global business problem-solving: the MESA Method

Shoot for the moon Corporate Innovation

Invite only 12:00 - 14:00

Star Lunch

From Idea to Exit: What Serial Founders Know That First-Timers Don’t

Sébastien Deletaille,

Jürgen Ingels,

Lorenz Bogaert

Learnings from +100 Fortune 500 companies on how to sell new innovation to large companies

John Lindsay

8 P's of Work™: find your (and your team's) top motivators

Aurélie Cécile Rosette

Funding

The Scale-up Journey – Challenges, Growth & Grants

Wouter Janssen,

Vanessa Vankerckhoven

Growth Funding

Breaking into Silicon Valley: How to successfully scale into the US?

Thijs Dijkman,

Gary Vanbutsele,

Michiel Meyer

12:00 - 14:00

Lunch

12:15 - 12:45

Conn Bertish

Don't fight the ocean: how to build Creative resilience

Talent Wellbeing Creativity

TNWs insights on innovation, trends, and the future/uncovering the next big thing(s)

Yeni Joseph

Breaking Tech

AI & the Future of Early-Stage Investment: Building Generational Companies

Pieter-Jan Van Haute

AI HealthTech

Proof of Trust: How Startups Can Win Over Clients Faster

Nick Vandesype

Corporate Innovation Scaling

The Era of AI Agents: Innovation, Potential, and Impact

Breaking Scale

12:45 - 13:15

Karl Tuyls

AI Trends

13:00 - 14:30

Startup Pitching | MarTech & Growth

A Resilient Entrepreneur: From the digital underground to Belgium’s most prolific AI serial-entrepreneur

Filip Maertens

10 years of start-up driven innovation: How VRT Sandbox combines startups with own IP to redefine today’s media landscape.

Breaking Ambition

Dewi Van De Vyver,

Ruth Janssens

Women in tech

The International Talent Games: From Surviving to Thriving

Iman Lamrani ,

Koen Heyns,

Tom Van Den Bosch

13:15 - 13:45

Geoffrey De Smet ,

Jeroen Van Hautte,

Matthias Feys

AI in EU: How to jump ahead

13:30 - 14:00

Stefan De Wachter,

Aidan Crawley

Turning a piece of research into a well funded commercial enterprise

Funding Startup / Scaleup Scaling

13:45 - 14:15

Bert Bruggeman

Merging the Human Enterprise with Nature

Sustainability Funding

Bo Vande Sompele,

Jasper Verhulst

Gone is the Mystery shopper: here's AI helping Torfs stay truly customer-focussed

Peter De Groote,

Bert Bruggeman

WAW! powered QnA

Sustainability Funding

The Invisible side of success

Stijn Staes,

Ariane de Bonvoisin

Earplugs sucked. So we made them iconic

Dimitri O

Words vs Actions: Uncovering Claimed vs Observed Behavior with Google Gemini

Lessons learned from expanding Insided into the US

Robin van Lieshout,

Wouter Goossens

Smart Growth: The Importance of Making the Right Choices for Startups

Maura Nachtergaele,

Hannes D'Hulster

Startup / Scaleup

Scaling and Exiting…on time: Insights from PMV's Portfolio

Roald Borré

14:30 - 16:00

Startup Pitching | SaaS & AI

How to be successful with digital product innovation in Enterprise settings

Tim Malbon

Product Design Corporate Innovation

When they zig, zag How radical transparency drives sustainability at Polestar

Fredrika Klarén

Conn Bertish

Leadership

LegalTech Revolution: Scaling Innovation in a Disruptive Market

Filip Van Innis

Scaling LegalTech

15:00 - 16:00

The Power of Solutions: How Antwerp Businesses Tackle Water, Soil & Urban Challenges

Designing the Human in the Machine Age: Creativity, Technology, and the Future of Mobility

Lowie Vermeersch

Product Design Shoot for the moon Creativity

Rebel Rebel: Harnessing Music, Creativity, and Rebellion for Digital Innovation

Geert Van Mol

Corporate Innovation Creativity

Breaking Tech

Karl Tuyls