Discover the speakers of the conference

Wille Angelo
Deputy Head of Unit, DG RTD European Commission
Supporting the co-creation of Transition Pathways for the EU industrial ecosystems
Supporting the co-creation of Transition Pathways for the EU industrial ecosystems
Wille Angelo
Angelo Wille is an expert in industrial policy, innovation and SMEs with a background in business finance. He coordinated the Commissions policies for industry, internal market, SMEs and later for financial services and for research and innovation at the Secretariat-General, while coordinating the Commissions input to the Competitiveness Council.
Willems Véronique
Secretary General SMEunited
Standardisation in support of the twin transition of industrial SMEs
Standardisation in support of the twin transition of industrial SMEs
Willems Véronique
Véronique Willems is representing Crafts and SMEs in Europe as the Secretary General of SMEunited since January 2017. Beforehand she was the Head of European affairs at UNIZO Ms Willems holds a Law degree from Vrije Universiteit Brussels and a Master’s Degree in Commercial sciences / Business management from VLEKHO Brussels.
Wimmer Michael
Director of Strategy, Better Regulation & Corporate Governance, Secretariat-General European Commission
Future-proof: how foresight helps policy makers and businesses anticipate and shape the future
Future-proof: how foresight helps policy makers and businesses anticipate and shape the future
Change in climate, digital technologies and geopolitics are having a profound effect on the lives of Europeans and people around the world. These transformations are taking place at all levels, from grassrotts politics to global power structures. To support the transitions to a green, digital and fairer Europe, the EU and other institutions, e.g. OECD or national governments, are strenghtening their culture of preparedness and evidence-based anticipatory policy-making. This session will present foresight as a tool which helps policy makers and businesses prepare for and shape tomorrow. Speakers from the OECD? Finnish government and the European Commission will showcase specific foresights tools developed at different levels, and by different actors.
Wimmer Michael
Mr Michael Wimmer is Director of ‘Strategy, Better Regulation & Corporate Governance’ in the Secretariat-General, after having headed other units in the Secretariat-General such as ‘Multiannual Financial Framework and Annual Management Cycle’, ‘Corporate Management, Budget and Administration’, ‘Internal Market and Competitiveness' and ‘Coreper II'.
Witthaut Daniel
Executive Director Innovation Cefic
Advanced Materials, enabling the green and digital transition at the core of European Alliances for competitiveness, climate neutrality and sustainability
Organiser: EMIRI - The Energy Materials Industrial Research Initiative
Witthaut Daniel
Dr. Daniel Witthaut joined Cefic in September 2021 as a secondee from Evonik and assumed the role as Executive Director Innovation.Daniel has 20 years of professional experience with Evonik incl. several Leadership functions in the area of Innovation, New Business Development, Controlling and Strategy.
Wojas Michal
Ecommerce Director WOJAS SA Footwear company
Workshop on the Textiles Ecosystem
Workshop on the Textiles Ecosystem
Wojas Michal
Michal Wojas is e-commerce director for WOJAS S.A., a Polish footwear company. He is currently managing six online stores and co-creating brand awareness strategy in digital commerce. Previously, he was responsible for growing businesses in Romania, opening new production plants and other expansion projects. He is also a member of the Board of Polish Chamber of Shoe and Leather Industry
Wreschner Ben
Chief Economist and Head of Public Affairs Vodafone Group
Net environmental impact of digital innovations in different ecosystems
Net environmental impact of digital innovations in different ecosystems
Speakers from leading European ICT companies will present cases, where the use of ICT already had a measurable impact on the environment and the carbon footprint. Additionally they will discuss their vision of the role of ICT for sustainability. As to date there is a lack of agreed methodologies to measure net environmental impact of digital solutions, the necessity and work of the European Green Digital Coalition will be outlined as well.
Wreschner Ben
Ben Wreschner is the Chief Economist at Vodafone Group. Ben is on the Global Leadership Team of Vodafone’s External Affairs function. Ben is Chairman of the GSMA European Policy Group and is also a member of the GSMA’s Global Policy Group.
Yussupova Aziza
Moderator
The attractiveness of the social entrepreneurship for young people: innovative and inclusive way to do business
This session is fully dedicated to youth social entrepreneurship and its attractiveness. It also gathers relevant experts from the EU, international and local levels that will present opportunities of EU policies, the state of play of young social entrepreneurs but also challenges that still need to be tackled followed by concrete recommendations
Organiser: EUROPEAN NETWORK OF SOCIAL INTEGRATION ENTERPRISES (ENSIE)
Moderators:
- Pauline Bonino
- Aziza Yussupova
Speakers:
- Patrick Klein
- Julien de Beys
- Antonella Noya
- Angela Achitei
- Thomas Laleu
Yussupova Aziza
Aziza Yussupova is the ENSIE Policy Officer graduated in international relations, diplomacy and conflicts resolution. She has broad experience in managing teams, EU projects and policies on social and professional inclusion of disadvantaged people.
Zupan Mojca
Founder and Chief Executive Officer PlanetCare d.o.o.
Spotlight session: R&D investment and EU green technologies leadership
Spotlight session: R&D investment and EU green technologies leadership
The session will showcase R&I-based success stories and discuss how to support industrial eco-systems in their green transition and how to build on EU leading position in green technologies. The starting point for the conversation will be the new figures from the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard 2021 which shows that EU companies are among the global leaders in green technologies but must nonetheless increase their efforts in R&D investment for Europe's industry to lead the green transition in the global economy.
Zupan Mojca
Mojca Zupan is an entrepreneur who quit a corporate lawyer career to change the way we do laundry. Visiting an exhibition about marine litter, where she first learned about microplastics pollution, changed the course of her life. She decided to embark on an impactful journey: founding a purpose-driven company, that changed the narrative of sustainable living and paved the way for policy changes.
de Castro Eloisa
Chief Executive Officer Enerpoly AB
Bridging gaps between European “Davids and Goliaths”
Bridging gaps between European “Davids and Goliaths”
How the European Innovation Council can support the cooperation between big companies and start-ups.
During the last 4 years, the European Innovation Council (EIC) has focused on creating business impact, learnings and know-how: among its objectives, this programme aims to fill the gaps between big companies and start-ups and to create a fruitful cooperation. This panel discussion will gather around the same virtual table two young, small companies and two bigger corporate companies. All of them have benefited from the cooperation with smaller or bigger entities. What can we get from their experience and what are the gaps to watch out? The audience will get to know the companies’ experience on this subject and will listen to their inputs and vision. A special focus will be given to the EIC programme and its benefits for the companies’ business.
de Castro Eloisa
Eloisa de Castro is CEO of Swedish zinc-ion battery innovator Enerpoly, which received EIC Phase II funding and has gained recognition as a top European startup from Shell New Energy Challenge, Cleantech Scandinavia and Energy Tech Summit. Before Enerpoly, Eloisa was Director of Operations and Program Management at Modern Energy. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering (MIT) and an MBA ( INSEAD).
de France Jeremy
Co-founder, Investor and Senior Developer Growth Resources Indicators
Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs: final pitching session and awards ceremony
Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs: final pitching session and awards ceremony
We are organising an EU Industry Days Pitching contest for new business ideas supporting the transition to a sustainable, digital and resilient economy. Four finalists will pitch their business ideas live and get feedback from business experts and investors, as well as the audience. Two winners, by jury and audience vote, will be invited to participate at the next SME assembly in Prague, Czech Republic. During this session there will be also a short presentation of the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme, given by Mr Jakub Boratynski, Director of Networks and Governance Directorate in DG GROW of the European Commission.
Moderators:
- Anna Heijker, Moderator & Pitch Trainer, Pitches & Presentations
- Alex Glod
Jury members:
- Ulla Engelmann, Head of Unit, DG GROW, European Commission
- Ruxandra Creosteanu, Co-Founder, Babele Create Together
- Jeremy de France, Founder @ Graphee & VP French Tech Bucharest
Finalists:
- David Pereira de Castro, Founder, Blueveg
- Iulia Dorobantu, Co-founder, Charger.ro
- Dimitri Ionescu, Founder, LightMirror
- Martin Branný, COUNTER SOMETHING s. r. o. Kristina
Speaker:
- Jakub Boratynski, DG GROW Director of Network and Governance, European Commission