Speakers
Lambert van Nistelrooij
Member of the European Parliament, Chairman of the K4I Forum
Lambert graduated cum laude in social geography from the Catholic University in Nijmegen. At the age of 24 he started as a member of the municipal council. From 1982 to 2004 Lambert was a member of the Provinciale en Gedeputeerde Staten in the Dutch region of Noord-Brabant.
Lambert has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2004. As a member of the Dutch political party CDA, he is a MEP for the European People’s Party. As an MEP he has focused on regional policy, research, innovation, energy and the Digital Agenda. Currently, he is a member of the Committee on Regional Development and a substitute member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. He is coordinator of the Intergroup on Active Ageing. Lately Lambert has been working on the European Structural and Investment Funds as the main negotiator, the European Fund for Strategic Investments as rapporteur, the Structural Reform Support Programme as rapporteur, the Biobased Industry Initiative as rapporteur, and the Digital Single Market.
Bertrand Piccard
Explorer, Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation
With his dual identity as a medical doctor and explorer, Bertrand Piccard has become an influential voice heard among the most distinguished institutions across the globe as a forward-thinking leader in progress and sustainability.
He is independent, not affiliated to aparticular party or lobbying group, and as such is atrusted adviser and influencer for the development of new societal solutions, and a very sought-after speake rfor private and public audiences.
It is in Bertrand’s DNA to go beyond the obvious and achieve the impossible, as he did with his two round-the-world flights, recently in a solar-powered airplane, and before that non-stop in a balloon. The ocean depths and the stratosphere attracted his father and grandfather; the challenges of our time fascinate him. Rather than new territories, he wants to discover new ways of doing and thinking, in particular in the field of clean technologies for a better quality of life.
Bertrand is the initiator and visionary behind Solar Impulse, the very first airplane capable of flying perpetually without fuel. Taking turns at the controls with André Borschberg for the first flight around the world on solar power, his ambition is to leverage pioneering spirit for a useful contribution to the cause of renewable energies. This is why he spent the last 15 years bringing together the major partners providing technologies and funds for this adventure. Together with his wife Michèle, he conceived the Solar Impulse project as a now widely recognized platform to raise public awareness and encourage political actions in favour of clean technologies and energy efficiency, the next stage of which includes the establishment to this end of the World Alliance for Efficient Solutions under the aegis of the Solar Impulse Foundation.
The inspiration he received from other explorers and pioneers during his childhood gave him the desire to inspire young generations in return.
Günther H. Oettinger
European Commissioner for Budget & Human Resources
Günther H. Oettinger is European Commissioner for Budget & Human Resources since January 2017.
From November 2014 to December 2016, he held office as European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society after being European Commissioner for Energy from February 2010 to October 2014 and lastly also Vice-President of the European Commission in 2014.
From 2005-2010, he was Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg (Germany) and, since 1984, a member of the regional Parliament (“Landtag”). He was the leader of the CDU Landtag group from January 1991 to April 2005.
A lawyer by training, Günther H. Oettinger became actively involved in politics during his adolescence. He is a member of the Federal Executive Committee and of the Steering Committee of the CDU Germany.
Carlos Oliveira
Member of the European Innovation Council High-Level Group,
CEO of ebankIT, President of InvestBraga and Startup Braga,
Non-Executive Director of Pathena
Carlos has an entrepreneurial and visionary spirit with experience in entrepreneurship, innovation, management and public policies for innovation. Carlos is the former Secretary of State for Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation at the Portuguese Government. Carlos founded MobiComp, a startup in the mobile arena, and led the company as CEO until July 2008 when he sold the company to Microsoft. His work included building the company product strategy, driving sales and growing the company. Carlos is founder of several startups and worked as an executive at Microsoft and as an angel/VC investor.
Carlos has a consumer-centric perspective with experience in management, strategic planning, and business development for the mobile and wireless industries. Carlos regularly speaks at industry events as well as contributing to print, radio and television media.
Clara Neppel
Senior Director of the IEEE European office
Dr. Clara Neppel is the Senior Director of the IEEE European office in Vienna, where she is responsible for the growth of IEEE’s operations and presence in Europe, focusing on the needs of industry, academia, and government. Clara serves as a point of contact for initiatives with regard to technology, engineering and related public policy issues that help implementing IEEE’s continued global commitment to fostering technological innovation for the benefit of humanity.
Clara joined IEEE after many years with the European Patent Office where she was involved in various aspects relating to innovation, intellectual property and public policy in the field of information and communication technologies. She co-authored publications both in the field of patentability of computer implemented inventions as well as possible future scenarios of the patent system. Before joining the Office she worked in research, in the area of parallel database optimization, and in industry, as program manager for archiving solutions.
She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Technical University of Munich and a Master in Intellectual Property Law and Management from the University of Strasbourg.
Victor Negrescu
Minister Delegate for European Affairs, Romania
Minister Delegate for European Affairs, Victor Negrescu, was born on 17 August 1985, in Bucharest.
Former Member of the European Parliament (2014-2017), Negrescu was the coordinator of S&D40, the network of the young S&D MEPs in the European Parliament. Winner of the MEP Award 2015 for Digital Agenda, Victor Negrescu was also the youngest Romanian MEP to get ever elected in the European Parliament and he is the youngest ever vice-president of the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSD).
President of PES activists Romania, an organization gathering more than 10.000 members interested in European issues and politics, he is also a university teacher and former digital entrepreneur with an MBA in executive business and a PhD in development cooperation.
He started his professional career as a journalist at Radio France Internationale, collaborating in parallel with the prestigious magazines Le Monde diplomatique and Regard. Victor Negrescu is also the founder of the Romanian Foundation for a Democratic Left, gathering respected left wing Romanian intellectuals of the new wave.
Andrey Novakov
MEP
Andrey Novakov is the youngest Member of the European Parliament and joined the institution in November 2014. He is a Vice-Coordinator in the Committee on Regional Development and a K4I Governing Board member.
Andrey and his team are mainly focused on the future of EU funding, EU financing for businesses, entrepreneurs, innovators and infrastructure. He is covering three committees – Regional development (REGI – EU funding), Budgets (BUDG – EU annual and multiannual budgets) and Budgetary Control (CONT – how EU institutions utilise EU investments).
The future Multiannual Financial Framework as well as the annual EU budgets are among the core activities of Andrey in BUDG who, for two consecutive years, was part of the negotiating team for the 2018 EU budget. The committee is where every year he launches successfully pilot projects funded by the European Commission.
In CONT Andrey and his team have been involved in the evaluation of the 7th Framework Programme. The latest priorities are securing stable levels of financing under Horizon 2020the as well as the post-2020 R&I funding.
For his achievements, Andrey Novakov was selected by Forbes magazine in its prestigious 30 under 30 ranking for young leaders positively changing the world.
Bart Becks
Executive Chairman of EURACTIV
Bart Becks is the Executive Chairman of EURACTIV, the media network for Europe. EURACTIV provides free localised EU policy news in 12 languages, and has developed a network of media partners and activities across Europe.
Additionally, he’s the founder of angel.me ventures, a alternative financing platform consisting of a crowdfunding platform, business angel investments and growth activities.
Until recently, he was also the Vice-Chairman of the European Crowdfunding Network.
Previously, Bart was active as CEO of Belgacom Skynet (Proximus), and as Senior Vice-President of SBS Media Europe, which was acquired by ProSiebenSat1 to form one of the largest media networks in Europe.
He served as chairman of iMinds (now IMEC) from 2012 tot 2016, and co-founded organisations such as startups.be and BeCentral, which respectively focus on scaling Startups and closing the Digital skills gap.
Andrey Novakov
MEP
Andrey Novakov is the youngest Member of the European Parliament and joined the institution in November 2014. He is a Vice-Coordinator in the Committee on Regional Development and a K4I Governing Board member.
Andrey and his team are mainly focused on the future of EU funding, EU financing for businesses, entrepreneurs, innovators and infrastructure. He is covering three committees – Regional development (REGI – EU funding), Budgets (BUDG – EU annual and multiannual budgets) and Budgetary Control (CONT – how EU institutions utilise EU investments).
The future Multiannual Financial Framework as well as the annual EU budgets are among the core activities of Andrey in BUDG who, for two consecutive years, was part of the negotiating team for the 2018 EU budget. The committee is where every year he launches successfully pilot projects funded by the European Commission.
In CONT Andrey and his team have been involved in the evaluation of the 7th Framework Programme. The latest priorities are securing stable levels of financing under Horizon 2020the as well as the post-2020 R&I funding.
For his achievements, Andrey Novakov was selected by Forbes magazine in its prestigious 30 under 30 ranking for young leaders positively changing the world.
Martin Kern
Interim Director and Chief Operating Officer at the EIT
Martin KERN has been the Interim Director and Chief Operating Officer at the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) since 1 August 2014.
Prior to joining the EIT, he worked at the European Commission for 15 years in a variety of posts, mainly in the area of enlargement policy, having started his career with a short stint at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
Working for the EU he held a variety of positions, the latest being Head of Operations at the EU Delegation to Serbia, where he coordinated the programming and implementation of EU funds to bring Serbia closer to EU accession.
Previously he worked as country coordinator for financial assistance for the Turkey team in DG Enlargement. He started his career in the EU in Lithuania and Estonia, working in the EU Delegations and helping the two countries join the EU.
Fabrizio Porrino
Expert advisor to key decision makers such as CEOs, Commissioners, Ministers and Presidents in the areas of ICT, innovation, startup, tech and policy-making.
Today in his role as SVP Global Public Affairs, Fabrizio is responsible for the global positioning of FacilityLive: “The European Search Platform of the Future”.
Fabrizio is a regular speaker at international events and he is often invited as an External Expert by various EU Institutions.
Fabrizio fulfils other roles such as Member of the Steering Group and Skills Issue Leader of European Tech Alliance (acting also as a Spokesperson during the launch event with the Vice-President of the European Commission at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in 2015), Board Member of the European e-Skills Association and Brussels Ambassador of Startup Europe India Network. He is also co-founder of Digit@lians – the Italian Network of digital professionals.
Before joining FacilityLive, Fabrizio worked for the Think Tank of the European Parliament, for the European Commission, and for Yahoo! in Dublin and in California.
He is an Alumni of the College of Europe in which he attended after being awarded a scholarship by the Italian Government. His master thesis on “Web Search Engines and Sponsored Links: A Tale of Two-sided Markets?” was one of the first dissertations produced on the topic, and is currently available at the College of Europe’s library.
EU TOP 50 Organizers
Turning European knowledge and ideas into value
A space for debate on the Future of Innovation in Europe
Empowering the next generation of European Startups