2025 Speakers

Alexander Zagajewski is an AI/ML Research Scientist at Novo Nordisk, bringing over 7 years of experience in developing data-driven solutions utilizing machine learning and generative AI with complex multimodal data. He is an expert in machine learning, predictive modeling, computer vision, deep learning, and cloud computing. Alexander excels at leading cross-functional collaborations with engineering teams across multiple sites to drive innovation.

Arezki Yaïche is since 2014 a financial journalist specialised in M&A and EU competition law. As a Senior France Correspondent and Paris Bureau Chief for the global M&A newswire Mergermarket (owned by ION Group), he writes on all types of transactions from competition issues, early stage fundraises, and private deals to takeovers of listed companies and IPOs.

Arezki was previously Senior Correspondent Antitrust for regulatory newswire MLex in Brussels between 2019 and 2021. Before that he worked four years as M&A reporter and Paris Bureau Chief for Mergermarket. Arezki also has a six-year experience as Communication consultant specialised in Finance and EU regulation. He worked for financial and public institutions including Dexia Asset Management in Brussels, Credit Agricole Assurances in France, the French embassy in Stockholm, the European Parliament, and the French Ministry for Agriculture.

Charlotta Topelius is the CEO of CurifyLabs, a pioneering healthtech company transforming the way pharmacies compound medicines through automation and 3D printing technologies. Since 2021, she has led CurifyLabs’ growth from an academic spin-out into an international scale-up, enabling pharmacies to produce sustainable, on-demand, and patient-specific treatments.

With a background spanning entrepreneurship, leadership, and international business development, Charlotta brings more than 15 years of experience across the pharmaceutical, technology, and services sectors. Prior to founding CurifyLabs, she held leadership roles at companies including Detail Online, HMSHost, and as co-founder and CEO of BrandBuddy Group, where she built and successfully exited a fast-growing recruitment and staffing company. She also serves as a Board Member at Witted Megacorp PLC, a publicly listed software development company.

Charlotta holds an M.Sc. (Econ.) in Management and Organisation from the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, with additional international studies in Reykjavik. Recognized for her ability to bridge pharma, technology, and business, she is passionate about bringing personalized medicine closer to patients and building organizations that can scale globally.

Dr. Christian Hugo Hoffmann is a successful entrepreneur and AI entrepreneur. His first venture, a spin-off of his doctoral project in finance at the University of St. Gallen, which he sold, focused on a risk management solution using AI. He then held C-level positions in German- and French-speaking Switzerland and co-founded companies in Germany, Switzerland, and Malawi. He is currently working as a cluster-preneur with the AI Startup Center in Zurich and is involved in numerous deep tech startups. He actively advocates for greater responsibility in his writings, speeches, and practical entrepreneurship.

Damien BERTRAND is Senior Business Developer in Life Sciences at Sopartec, the technology transfer and investment company from UCLouvain, in Belgium.

He holds a doctorate in Sciences and additional university certificates in innovation and business management. He cumulates more than 15 years of experience in the healthcare industry including large corporations as well as startup companies, starting in technical roles to evolve progressively towards partnerships and business management. Through this pathway, he developed a broad and diversified professional network in med-tech and biopharmaceutical industries worldwide; he also elaborated a broad overview over the leading tendencies and needs of the life science sector, including the growing role of digital technologies and artificial intelligence.

In his daily work, Damien Bertrand shapes up valorisation strategies on the research results issued from the Life Science sector at UCLouvain, that he materializes through licenses with established market players or through spinoff companies.

Damien Chopy is a Senior Director, Business Development Project Leader in the Roche Pharma Corporate Business Development team for 7 years. His curiosity and interest in cross-pollination between teams and therapeutic areas have contributed to the identification, informed decisions and transactions on complex and strategic opportunities to complement Roche and Genentech portfolio with innovative assets and emerging therapeutic modalities. Recently in Oncology, he had the pleasure to lead the setup of Roche partnership with Medilink on Ph1 cMet ADC and the acquisition of Poseida Therapeutics. Since joining Roche in 2013, Damien has held various roles with increased responsibilities at the interface of the sciences in the Roche Institute team (Roche France) prior to moving to the R&D unit in Basel. He is also part of the Steering Committee of Biofit.

David Stíbal is a Vice Director of the BioTech incubator and venture builder i&i Prague. David completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, earned a Ph.D. from the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, and conducted postdoctoral research at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At i&i Prague, David focuses on the evaluation of the business potential of scientific projects, establishing and initial management of startups, as well as on the long-term development of projects all the way to their successful commercialization.

i&i Prague focuses on creating innovative BioTech start-ups and spin-offs in the fields of drug development, diagnostics and MedTech and from the region of the Czech Republic, Poland and overall Central Europe. i&i Prague is closely connected to the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry in Prague and benefits from its knowhow, network and previous commercialization successes.

Dawid, a key member of Ardigen’s team since 2017, is not just an AI expert but also a visionary leader. While earning his PhD in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision from Jagiellonian University, Kraków, he has become a specialist in analyzing high-content images, digital pathology, protein microarrays, and biomedical imaging. Moreover, Dawid’s proven project leadership has been instrumental in the success of various initiatives at Ardigen, including groundbreaking multimodal fusion projects. His unique approach to integrating chemical structures with raw images, and combining clinical data with raw imagery, sets new standards in the field of AI-driven biotech.

Delphine Charvin is CEO and co-founder of Elkedonia. A neuroscientist by training, she has held several CSO positions in start-ups, scale-ups, and pharma companies. She co-founded Prexton Therapeutics, later acquired by Lundbeck in a landmark $1 billion deal. Before founding Elkedonia, she was Operating Partner at Argobio, a start-up studio, where she identified the innovative project that became Argobio’s first spin-out. Under her leadership, Elkedonia successfully raised €11+ million in May this year.

Emeric is an Associate at Wellington Partners based in Munich, where he supports investments in innovative biotech and medtech companies across both Europe and the US. Before joining Wellington, he gained venture capital experience at Andera Partners and Bpifrance Large Venture. Prior to that, he also spent time in the pharmaceutical industry in rare diseases and in clinical practice across multiple therapeutic areas. Emeric holds a PharmD from Université de Paris and graduated from ESSEC Business School.

Emmanuel Poteaux has been Executive Chairman of SATT Conectus since December 2024. This appointment marks a career of 18 years of technology transfer, including 13 years with SATT Conectus.
His immersion in the field of public research and technology transfer began in 2007. He worked as Legal Manager in the Technology Transfer Department of the University of Strasbourg, one of France’s largest universities. He then joined SATT Conectus at its creation in 2012, as Director of Legal Affairs and of the Partnerships Department. He was appointed Deputy Managing Director in 2018. Working in tandem with the Executive Chairman, he has been actively involved in boosting the performance of SATT Conectus, whether by rolling out multi-year operational efficiency and business development programs in partnership with other French SATTs, or revisiting the SATT investment processes for innovative projects. These actions enabled Conectus to secure new public funding and achieve record sales in 2023.
Emmanuel Poteaux holds a Post-graduate Diploma in Information and Communication Law, complemented by an LMM in Commercial Law, and an Executive MBA in 2018. Thanks to a training program at Boston University in 2011, he has also acquired international expertise in the evaluation of economic opportunities linked to intellectual property and the negotiation of licensing agreements.
His career path reflects his commitment and strong motivation to further develop technology transfer in Alsace, drawing on the excellence of Alsatian research and an active, supportive partnership ecosystem.

Ester Sklarsky is an investment professional in life sciences, currently at Sound Bioventures, a Scandinavian biotech venture capital fund. Prior to joining the firm, she spent over two years at Industrifonden, where she worked across the investment lifecycle, managing deal flow and performing scientific and strategic due diligence for early-stage biotech ventures.
Ester began her career in management consulting at Sirona Health Solutions, advising key stakeholders in the Swedish public healthcare sector. She also gained experience as an equity analyst at DNB, with a dedicated focus on the biotech sector.
She holds a B.Sc. in Biomedicine and an M.Sc. in Bioentrepreneurship, both from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

As one of the founders of Sarsia, and the principal analyst regarding life science investments, Farzad brings nearly 30 years of drug development expertise and management from large global pharma and early-stage start-ups. Farzad’s experience spans multiple national and global preclinical and clinical drug development initiatives at both administrative and Board levels. In addition to receiving training in entrepreneurial business financing from London Business School, Farzad obtained his doctoral education in pharmacology from the University of Edinburgh Medical School, UK and postdoctoral training from HaukelandUniversity Hospital Bergen, Norway.

Gerald has a background in Management Consultancy and academia. A London Business School alumnus with a Doctorate from Oxford University, he has experience of several start-ups and their exits, with considerable experience in building company executive boards, which has led him now to sit on VC investment committees, among other roles.

In 2010, he founded Innovation DB. Developed under contract from the UK MOD, IDB has now created an AI-enhanced data gathering system, that identifies, captures and describes emerging technologies, drawn from around 20,000 academic institutions. This provides an unparalleled dataset of research with real-world applications, that includes all biotech and pharma-related tech transfer activity to be found globally.

Ian Metcalfe is a dynamic CEO, Venture Developer, and Board member with a proven track record in shaping the strategic direction and financing of ventures. He has driven successful fundraising initiatives, securing several million in non-dilutive funding, extending seed rounds, and raising capital for later stage rounds. Ian’s  3 decades in industry have included roles of increasing responsibility at blue-chip corporations, such as Roche and Nestlé, in investor relations, M&A, global product strategy and Pipeline & Portfolio Strategy. Ian is deeply committed to the biotech start-up ecosystem, serving as an advisor, angel investor, board member, and Venture Kick Jury member, helping emerging companies establish robust strategies, secure funding, and accelerate development plans.

Jessica has extensive experience in knowledge exchange, valorisation and impact in STEM and SHAPE (social sciences, humanities, and arts) fields. She has worked in the biotech industry for both small companies and a multinational. For more than a decade she has been leading projects in public-private partnerships and has worked with universities, industry, start-ups, governments, charities, and societal partners. She is also a speaker, consultant, trainer and evaluator for national and international knowledge transfer activities. Jessica holds a Master’s degree in community health and epidemiology and a Doctor in veterinary medicine. She has performed laboratory research, field research with wolves and seals, and sociological research.
“My goal is to implement research results in a durable and sustainable way. So that together we can make the world a better place.”

Joachim Eeckhout is the founder of The Science Marketer and previously built Labiotech.eu into one of the most influential media platforms in European biotech. He now helps life sciences companies grow through smarter marketing, with a focus on scalable content and audience building.

Juliette joined EQT Partners in February 2023 as an Associate in the EQT Life Sciences team in Amsterdam. Juliette works across funds but is mainly involved in the Dementia Fund. Prior to joining EQT, Juliette worked as an Analyst at 4BIO Capital in London, UK. Prior to 4BIO Capital, Juliette was an Investment Fellow at M Ventures in Amsterdam. Juliette holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and a Master in Neuroscience from King’s College London.

Dr. Kathrin Ladetzki-Baehs began her career at MorphoSys, where she served in multiple roles within the R&D organization and ultimately as Director in Alliance Management, shepherding partnerships, and therapeutic projects in collaboration with international pharma partners. In 2018, she co-founded adivo GmbH, a MorphoSys spinout, alongside Dr. Markus Waldhuber, securing seed financing from High-Tech Gründerfonds, Occident and MorphoSys to develop CEASAR and FELIX, the first phage-display antibody libraries tailored for dogs and cats.

Katya Ascher is a partner with HBC Avocats. She advises her clients on the structuring and negotiation of strategic agreements, including collaboration, licensing, option, and technology acquisition deals, with a particular expertise in the life sciences sector. She also assists companies in negotiating manufacturing, service and supply, marketing, and distribution agreements.  Admitted to the New York and Paris Bars and as solicitor in England and Wales, and holding degrees in law and biology, Katya has practiced at leading law firms in the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Katya also gained valuable insight into the operations and specific concerns of non-profit research institutions while heading the Intellectual Property division of the Legal Department of the Pasteur Institute.

Kevin Dalgaard is a Principal at Lundbeckfonden BioCapital, the venture capital team of the Danish enterprise foundation, Lundbeckfonden, where the focus is to invest in and build companies within life sciences. Prior to joining the foundation Kevin worked at Novo Nordisk and Boehringer Ingelheim for several years in various positions within R&D, Global Marketing, and Business Development providing him a great insight and understanding of the whole value chain in the pharma industry. 

Kevin holds an MSc in Biochemistry from the University of Copenhagen, and a Ph.D. from Max Planck Institute. Kevin has several high-impact publications including a first-author publication in ‘Cell’.

Lídia Fonseca is a Technology and Business Manager at the Technology Transfer office of the University of Porto (U.Porto Inovação) since 2018. Lídia manages a portfolio of technologies in the areas of Health, Life Sciences and Biotechnology, focusing on defining a strategy for protecting the intellectual property of the university’s most promising inventions and establishing partnerships with industry for their commercial valorisation (licensing-out or assignment agreements). She has also been managing funded projects related to knowledge transfer and the BIP PROOF program, which provides financial support for proof-of-concept projects in the University of Porto’s research ecosystem.
Lídia worked for several years in academic research in the fields of Virology and Gene Therapy, both in Portugal (Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and Instituto de Medicina Molecular) and in the USA (University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute). She has also worked in consultancy in national and European Research and Development projects (FP7 and H2020) and in the translation (English-Portuguese) of scientific articles.
Lídia Fonseca holds a PhD in Pharmacy, specialty Microbiology, from the University of Lisbon. She also holds a BSc in Applied Chemistry-Biotechnology from NOVA University Lisbon and a MSc in Clinical Microbiology (University of Lisbon).

Dr. Markus A. Lang is an accomplished biotech executive with over 20 years of leadership across drug development, company building, and strategic operations in the life sciences sector.

Adept at value creation in private & VC-backed biotechs by scaling organizations, transforming R&D-centric ventures into operationally robust, investor-ready businesses.

Extensive experience in bridging academic excellence with regulatory compliance and commercial scalability.

With profound expertise spanning the pharmaceutical value chain – from discovery to pivotal clinical development & registration – he made key contributions to groundbreaking therapies like Monjuvi®, Cyltezo®, Removab® and Pradaxa®.

• Founder & Strategic Advisor: Founder and Managing Director of Dr. Lang Consulting GmbH, where he has led high-impact advisory mandates for life science ventures. Spearheaded executive roles (interim CDO and COO) to reposition clinical-stage assets, drive post-merger integrations, and secure strategic partnerships and funding.
• Entrepreneurial CEO: Co-Founder & CEO of CD4 Therapeutics, steering the development of a first-in-class immunotherapy (Tregalizumab) to address critical unmet needs in T-cell mediated diseases. This venture underscores his entrepreneurial vision and commitment to transformative, patient-centric innovation in the biotech arena.
• Broad Pharma Expertise: Combines deep scientific acumen with strategic business insight to lead cross-functional teams through complex regulatory environments. Achieved key regulatory milestones (including FDA Breakthrough and Orphan Drug Designations) by aligning scientific innovation with clear regulatory and commercial strategies.
• Translating Vision into Action: Led transformation mandates including virtual-to-operational transitions, and scalable process implementation – with a passion for operational excellence and a track record of delivering results.

Nadia led French Tech Paris Saclay, a non-profit association of innovative business creators that represents the interests of the start-up, scale-up, and project leader community in the Paris-Saclay area . Prior to joining French Tech Paris-Saclay, she served as Deputy Attaché for Science and Technology at the French Embassy in Boston, where she was responsible for managing start-up support programs.
At Servier, Nadia plays a pivotal role in developing and implementing a robust open innovation strategy. She collaborates closely with both internal and external stakeholders to enhance the productivity of Servier’s R&D efforts. Additionally, Nadia supports activities related to Servier’s incubator, Spartners by Servier & BioLabs, which is dedicated to fostering therapeutic innovation. This incubator enables resident entrepreneurs to independently accelerate their R&D in fully equipped, state-of-the-art laboratories, while benefiting from the expertise and guidance of Servier researchers.

Natalia Giovannini is an experienced professional with accumulated successful track record in technology transfer at EPFL (intellectual property, contracting, licensing and marketing) mainly in chemistry, medtech, biotech and pharmaceutical areas. She is member of the Board of swiTT, the Swiss association of university technology transfer since 2008. Previously she has spent 9 years in fundamental research in public university (regulation of transcription, developmental biology and translationally oriented research in molecular metabolism), after graduating from the University of Geneva as PhD.

Oliver Boucher is responsible at Zoetis for securing value-adding business opportunities relevant to the company’s future growth. He has extensive B2B transactional experience in 6 countries across human and animal healthcare (biotech, pharma, diagnostics and digital opportunities). Oliver’s background is in business development across multinationals (buy-side) and start-ups (sell-side) drawing on expertise in opportunity assessment, fund-raising, deal sourcing, negotiation and execution to maximize value. Before Zoetis, he served executive and non-executive roles in a succession of biotech companies after having gained executive level experience for seven years as a director of business development at GSK.

Paola Vella is Technology Transfer Officer at Humanitas Research Hospital, where she leads intellectual property management and business development initiatives to bridge biomedical research with industry.
She graduated in Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnologies and specialized in intellectual property with a Master in IP. After an initial career as a patent attorney, since 2013 she has been dedicated to technology transfer in the Life Sciences sector, combining IP strategy with innovation management.
Paola has created tangible impact by supporting the launch of spin-offs and start-ups, negotiating licensing agreements, and establishing partnerships with leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Her work focuses on transforming scientific discoveries into innovations that generate value for patients, healthcare systems, and industrial partners.

Peter Atkinson, PhD is Executive Director, Head of Hatfield Research Laboratories (HRL) and UK External Innovation at Eisai’s EMEA HQ. He leads efforts to identify and manage discovery collaborations and investment opportunities in neurology, and oversees HRL’s scientific and operational strategy. Peter brings over two decades of drug discovery experience from Eisai, Pfizer, and GSK.

Philippe Tramoy is a Partner at Seventure Partners, where he leads investments in life sciences through the Quadrivium Seed Fund and the Animal Health, Feed & Nutrition Fund (AVF). With over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, business developer, and investor, Philippe has built an extensive career across start-ups and multinational corporations, specializing in business creation, corporate development, and venture investment. His focus lies in driving innovation across biotechnology, health, and nutrition.

Before joining Seventure in 2013, Philippe held key business development roles at Chirex and Rhodia Pharma Solutions. He also founded and managed CBDMT, a consultancy dedicated to market and business intelligence in the life sciences sector. His expertise spans opportunity assessment, strategic partnerships, and venture financing.

Philippe holds a Master’s in Biochemistry from the University of Burgundy, a Master’s in Immunology and Molecular Biology from the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, a Master’s in Finance from IAE Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne, and a Master’s in Marketing from HEC Paris. His multidisciplinary academic background complements his extensive professional experience in the life sciences and investment industries.

Pierbruno Ricci holds a Master of Science from the University of Bologna (2015) and a PhD in Molecular Biology from Sorbonne Université (2018). His academic background includes research experience at Bellaria Hospital in Bologna, the Institut Pasteur in Paris, and the CNRS. He later completed a Master’s degree in Biopharmaceutical Management at ESCP Europe.
As a strategy consultant, Pierbruno worked with Roland Berger, Cepton Strategies, and L.E.K. Consulting, specializing in Pharma & Healthcare. He led approximately thirty projects for a wide range of clients, including biotech companies, major pharmaceutical firms, government agencies, and investment funds.
Pierbruno joined GENFIT in August 2024, where he has led pivotal data-driven initiatives, including Real-World Data projects and the restructuring of the company’s Data Governance. He currently serves as Vice President of Data Strategy.

Prabhu Velusami is Senior Director for Search and Evaluation EMEA in External Scientific Innovation for Johnson & Johnson.

He leads the identification, evaluation and incubation of early-stage transformative innovation in the pharmaceuticals space aligned with Johnson and Johnson Innovative Medicine’s key Therapeutic Areas and Functions of interest.

Prabhu is a former ophthalmic surgeon and prior to joining Johnson & Johnson Innovation was an Associate Director at the Boston Consulting Group where he focused on life sciences and digital, data and analytics to drive growth and new business models. 

Sam Windsor is the CEO and Co-Founder of Ignota Labs. Ignota Labs is a UK-based, clinical stage drug turnaround company. They rescues promising but failing drugs, bringing new life to abandoned projects and new hope to patients. Sam is a mathematician by background with a decade of experience commercialising healthtech and transforming healthcare systems before taking on the CEO role.

Simon is currently Head of Licensing and Ventures for Life Science at Oxford University Innovation, where he has driven growth in licensing and company creation and increasing financial returns to the University and commercialising impactful technology to benefit the world. Previous career highlights have included the successful sale of Oxitec, a spin-out from the University of Oxford, where he was CSO, leading the development of pioneering insect control in public health and agriculture. Oxitec was purchased by synthetic biology specialist, Intrexon in 2015 for $160m. Simon worked for Syngenta for over a decade and had roles based in California, North Carolina and the UK, where he innovated in crop biotechnology and was responsible for developing agricultural products sold today. Simon has a Biochemistry degree from University College London and a PhD in plant molecular biology from the University of Leicester.

Sofia is an Associate at AdBio Partners, where she identifies and supports innovative biotech companies, working closely with founders. She serves a board observer for several portfolio companies.  Prior to joining AdBio, she gained experience in the pharmaceutical industry, academic research, and the biotech industry, contributing to the development of a novel ophthalmology treatment at a biotech company within the Institut Pasteur. Sofia holds a PharmD and graduated from ESSEC Business School.

Dr. Victor Bustos is the Co-Founder and CEO of Refoxy Pharmaceuticals GmbH, a Cologne-based biotech company pioneering first-in-class therapies that activate the FOXO3 gene – a master regulator linked to human longevity and stress resistance.
Under his leadership, Refoxy has built an innovative drug-discovery platform to identify small-molecule FOXO3 activators, to transform cutting-edge aging research into therapies for the treatment of diverse age-related diseases, starting with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
Previously, Dr. Bustos worked as an entrepreneur in residence at Apollo Health Ventures, where he developed the idea behind Refoxy Pharma. Dr. Bustos earned his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Germany and is committed to a science-driven approach – “following biology” – to extend healthy human lifespan and to bring hope in the fight against chronic, age-associated disorders.

Dr. Werner Lanthaler is the founder and CEO of Wlanholding, an investment company focused on driving innovations and sustainable growth in cutting-edge technologies. With over 20 years of management experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors, Dr. Lanthaler supports visionary entrepreneurs in transforming innovative business ideas into scalable, successful organizations. As CEO of Evotec SE, he led the company through significant global growth. Prior to that, as CFO of Intercell AG, he was instrumental in establishing Austria’s first Biotech IPO and several product approvals. Dr. Lanthaler brings an extensive network, top class expertise in due diligence and a hands-on approach to building all aspects of a business.

He is the chairman in leading high-tech companies, including Fair Journey Biologics (Portugal), HAL Allergy (Netherlands), aTenstion.life (Austria), OncoDesignServices (France), and Proxygen (Austria).

His career is further supported by a strong academic background, including a PhD in Business Administration and an MPA from Havard Universit.

Recent key investments of Wlanholding include Proxygen GmbH, Cerabyte GmbH, Solgate GmbH, Planet Pure GmbH, Cyment GmbH, Pirche GmbH and Pexxes GmbH.

Yao has over 14 years of experience in deal-making and forging strategic partnerships spanning academia, non-profit and industry. After earning a PhD in Pharmacology from Yale University, Yao began her career at the technology transfer office of Columbia University, followed by Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she marketed university inventions and negotiated partnering deals with academic and industry parties. Her virology background and interest in patent pooling then led her to the Business Development team of Medicines Patent Pool, where she managed scientific liaison with KOLs, industry and UN agencies, and built strategic research alliances with universities and donor agencies. Following a Business Development role at Redbiotec AG, evaluating academic innovations and executing pharma collaboration in Oncology, Yao joined the Academic Partnerships & External Innovation team at Novartis Biomedical Research in 2020. As the Associate Director of External Research Collaborations, Yao leads cross-functional deal teams to negotiate partnering agreements with predominantly academic institutions worldwide, focusing on non-clinical research collaborations in multiple disease areas.