Mash-Hud is a qualified patent attorney who is experienced in drafting and prosecution work in semiconductor technologies, opto-electronics, mobile telecommunications, software, medical devices and oil well technology. He also has experience at opposition proceedings before the EPO.

After completing a BSc degree with first class honours in Electronics and Computing, Mash-Hud moved to the University of Cambridge where he gained an MPhil and PhD in Solid State Engineering. Mash-Hud's MPhil research was directed to modelling novel power devices for emerging technologies. He then carried out further research for his PhD on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) based high voltage devices for power ICs and nanoscale transistors using silicon nanowires.

Mash-Hud joined Marks & Clerk in 2008 and qualified as a European Patent Attorney and UK Chartered Patent Attorney in 2013. Mash-Hud has been recognised as a rising star by Managing Intellectual Property, IP Stars, 2017 and 2018.

Doctor in Behavioral Sciences, coach-trainer and professional musician.

Eija is currently the CEO and co-founder of an awarded applied games start up called Altogame. Altogame is a game-changing virtual multiplayer environment for innovation, collaboration and training simulations.

Prior to founding Altogame, Eija developed an internationally unique face-to-face coaching method integrating musicians ́ professional top performance and well-being. She wrote the first Finnish coaching related doctoral thesis on the subject, and the first white paper on how to transform organizations by using arts-derived interventions. Eija has created and run programs on how to integrate agility, innovation and top performance in numerous organizations including Nokia, Kone, UCL, Aalto University, and Anglia-Ruskin University. She is very experienced as public speaker, coach and trainer. The first part of her professional career Eija was an internationally performing musician.

In regard to start-up scenes and communities, Eija has been a start-up member of numerous accelerators/hubs and participated various programs. She has herself acted as a mentor and delivered training to start-ups e.g. in Aalto University and University of the Arts Helsinki (Finland). In addition to the business subjects, her training has included also Human Factor themes such as working with customers (e.g. to understand the real problem), pitching to different audiences (e.g. from academic to corporate, customer or investor viewpoint and language), top performing (multi-cultural, cross-disciplinary etc.) teams, creativity at work, self-leadership, persuasion skills and performing under pressure.

Currently Eija is based in Cambridge, UK.

Bioinformatics scientist specialised in genome analysis with 15 years of experience in software development and project management. Fiona left her job at Illumina Cambridge in 2013 to pursue her vision of enabling efficient genomic data sharing and founded the charity DNAdigest. In August 2014 she founded Repositive as a spin out of DNADigest.

Keywords:
- social enterprise and social impact
- business model development
- software products
- selling to biopharma and CROs
- raising funding
- strategic partnerships

Matthew specialises in the fields of electronics, mobile telecommunications, software and mechanical devices. He has experience in the drafting, filing and prosecution of patent applications in the UK, Europe, USA, Asia, and other jurisdictions across the world.

Having been awarded the prize of Young Electronic Designer of the Year Award in 2002, Matthew then went on to graduate from Leeds University with a first class Master’s Degree in Electronic Engineering. Matthew joined the patent profession in 2008 working for a London based firm of patent & trademark attorneys. Matthew qualified as a European Patent Attorney in 2012 and a UK Chartered Patent Attorney in 2013. He joined Marks & Clerk in 2015.

Katarzyna joined the IMED Oncology team at AstraZeneca as a Drug project Information Manager, taking responsibility for scientific information management governance. In this role Katarzyna oversees and aligns scientific communication strategies with the oncology business acumen.
Prior to this role, she worked for an emerging Clinical Research Organisation in Cambridgeshire, being accountable for clinical project management and cultivating relationships with key business partners. At Amgen, she conducted a business insight project to evaluate market share.

Katarzyna is passionate about oncology and neuroscience R&D, though encouraging open innovation knowledge transfer, scientific communications. Her area of interest lies in the new applications of AI technologies in Healthcare. For the past few years, she has enjoyed gaining experience working both with small businesses and start-ups in the UK, and also global organisations (the Alzheimer’s Society, WHO, and the United Nations internationally.

Katarzyna completed her MSc in Clinical Drug Development and Management at the Queen Mary University/UCL, focused on clinical research recruitment strategies. She holds a BSc degree in Biomedicine and an Eng. degree in Pharmaceutical Technology. As a part of the Erasmus exchange programme she collaborated with the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich, and the Uppsala University where she focused on pharmaceutical IP innovation.

Dr Karolina Zapadka is a co-founder and Managing Director at ZapaBio Ltd, a global consulting company which aims to support Bioscience Innovation. Her interests lie in the life sciences and healthcare industry and the interface between business and science, entrepreneurship and technology transfer.

Karolina has a strong interest in knowledge exchange and in facilitating collaborations between Academia, Industry and Government. As such she joined the Oxbridge Biotech Roundtable (OBR) in 2013 as President of Cambridge Chapter, where she was highly involved in organising workshops and seminars, as well as setting up and marketing of the OneStart competition. For the past almost eight years she has been actively involved in Cambridge ecosystem, first working in an emerging biotech company (Arecor Ltd.), later during her PhD and postdoc in non-profit organisations. She is a founding member and a former Executive Team Member of Global Innovation Forum Ltd (IF), a global, interdisciplinary network of young researchers, industry
professionals and policy makers. Moreover, she participated in many entrepreneurship courses run by Cambridge Judge Business School including: BioInno Entrepreneurship Course in 2014, a Life Sciences Start-up Weekend with AstraZeneca in 2015, Accelerator Programme, Ignite 2016 & 2017.

She has over nine years of professional experience in research work in both academia and the industry. Her academic work includes a double research Master diploma from Jagiellonian (Poland) and Lund (Sweden) University, PhD from Cambridge (UK) and Postdoctoral work between University of Cambridge and MedImmune. Her research interests are focused on diabetes, drug discovery, stability and formulations of peptide pharmaceuticals.

Dr John Carrigan has a strange job of Chief scientist and innovation (investment opportunity) seeker for SOSV (Sean O Sullivan Ventures), one of the worlds most active early stage investors. His principal interests within the firm are bioscience investments which are developed in RebelBio, a dedicated investment program recently established by Dr Carrigan and his team at Imperial College White City. Dr Carrigan began his career as an academic biochemist where he published papers concerning protein chemistry and metabolomics. Subsequently he into the world of start ups with Dublin based AERBIO, which was acquired by green biochemical company Cellulac ltd in 2013. Away from his work with SOSV, he acts as an expert advisor for the European Innovation Council's SME (Small Medium Enterprise) instrument. An initiative to fund the most promising start up bioscience companies across Europe.

Philippa is a Licensing and Ventures Manager at Oxford University Innovation (OUI) in the Digital Health and Medical Devices team. She has worked for the past three years with researchers across the University of Oxford to help them create impact with their ideas. Philippa has expertise in developing early stage ideas into business propositions, which includes IP landscape analysis, market analysis, building business plans, CE marking and regulatory issues, advice on app development, and licence negotiations. Whilst a large number of her projects are in the digital health space, Philippa has facilitated spinout companies from the Humanities and Social Sciences Divisions. She is delighted to be increasingly working with projects focused on mental health issues.

Philippa also has a passion for social enterprises, companies that put purpose before profit, and is part of the team offering a support to create these entities from the University. Philippa was part of the team that set up OxReach, the crowdfunding platform for social good projects from the University of Oxford. She has supported four successful campaigns which have all benefited substantially from the public support that they received and are now creating local and international impact

David is a social entrepreneur and experienced technologist with a passion for innovation in healthcare and specifically paediatrics. He has had a career with IBM spanning nearly 20 years and has spent the last three years working within IBM’s artificial intelligence arm, Watson. David began the role of Innovation and AI Lead at the beginning of 2018 with the remit of exploring new ways for healthcare organisations to embrace IBM’s healthcare and Cognitive technologies.

Outside of IBM, David runs a UK based children’s charity, Thinking of Oscar, which supports children and their families whilst in hospital care, funding innovation and technology over and above that provided by the UK health services. Thinking of Oscar was set up following the sudden death of his son Oscar in 2014 and has raised over £200,000. David and his wife Hannah work closely with UK Children’s hospitals to identify projects where they can make a difference. David is a member of The International Society for Paediatric Innovation (iSPI) which has been formed to address the unmet needs of an open global network, enabling unique opportunities for paediatric leaders to be at the cutting edge of technological innovations. His ultimate goal is to see artificial intelligence technologies, such as Watson, pervasively used in paediatric healthcare to assist with knowledge share, decision making and ultimately save lives.

David is a ‘Digital Health Expert in Residence’ at the University of Oxford supporting it’s healthcare start-up incubator, The Hill. David is also an advisor to a number of boards and faculties looking at health technology, child health and the future of medicine. David lives in rural Oxfordshire in the UK, with his wife and 3 young children. David is a keen triathlete, cricketer and wine enthusiast, holding an Advanced Level 3 qualification from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust. He is building up to compete in his first full Ironman in July 2019.

Nick is an NHD Trust Digital Innovation & Population Health Lead, a startup entrepreneur and co-founder of health innovation lab. He has a background as a neurosurgeon with over 15 years of front line clinical experience in the NHS.

Tony Hart is the Head of Smart Oxford, Oxford’s smart city project.

Tony has been working with technology innovation companies and start-ups across Oxfordshire and the UK for the past 15 years, having worked for and with major technology companies in the US, Europe, India and China. Recently he was the Managing Director of the UK subsidiary of Holley Technology, the leading Chinese smart meter manufacturer based in Hangzhou.

He has a strong focus and ability at identifying and bringing to market (commercialising) technology solutions within both corporate and entrepreneurial (start-up) environments.

Tony has an MA in Engineering & Economics from the University of Oxford and an MBA from Henley Management School.

In a school essay entitled “What do you want to be when you grow up” – I explained why I wanted to be a Judge, things don’t always turn out the way we want them to – sometimes the exceed our imagination. Many years later, I received an invitation to join the Design Council as a Judge on the Tech Spark competition. Reviewing amazing pitches from innovative start-ups and helping to select those with the qualities to succeed. It was a privilege to be involved and fuelled my long time ambition!

As Managing Director of Triteq, a product design consultancy, I am continuously connected to new ideas, creative talent and amazing people. I learn every day.

As a NED, I work with Intelligent Horsemanship, a company that helps horses and their humans to get the most out of their relationships. Kelly Marks, the Founder, taught me to ride racehorses and trained me to deal with the challenges of a horse riding trip across the Mongolian Steppes.
I am currently planning my next adventure.

Brian has had a long and successful career as medtech business leader in large corporations, AIM listed companies and early stage ventures. He was CEO of Lombard Medical Technologies (2005 – 2009) and General Manager of Boston Scientific in UK (1999 – 2005). Brian is currently a board member of three emerging medtech companies, including Oxford Endovascular.

Sarah has inspired others to achieve leadership performance through theatre teaching, psychotherapy, coaching and training for the past 40 years. She has worked with teenagers, adults, ex-prisoners and senior executives.

These days, as well as being co-founder of STEMM Commercial, Sarah trains and coaches leaders with a STEMM background to win influence, advancement and stakeholder buy-in. She works in not-for-profit organisations such as the Stockholm Environment Institute as well as in commercial organisations such as Cisco, Skanska and Astrium (EADS) and SMEs. In partnership with Oxford University’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering, she has designed and delivered programmes for STEMM doctoral researchers to attract engagement and buy-in at conferences, develop business awareness and improve their interview skills to advance their innovation.

James has worked with a variety of largely corporate clients, including start-ups, SMEs, international companies and groups, and publicly listed companies. James has experience working in a wide range of sectors but with particular emphasis on science / technology companies. He has worked closely with entrepreneurs, academics, research institutions and companies from spin out through to listing on accounting, taxation and strategic issues. He is delighted to offer advice and guidance for the programme.

With offices in the South of England, membership of Kreston International and a global network of independent accountants and business advisers, James Cowper Kreston is ideally placed to provide informed local, national and international advice.

Paul Rous has over fifteen years’ experience as an entrepreneur, investor and active supporter of early stage businesses. His professional background spans the military, tourism, hospitality, finance, asset management and technology. He has worked with Goldman Sachs, Freeman, Imperial Innovations, and Generation Asset Management a $1.4billion asset management business. Paul co-founded Fuel Ventures, a London-based seed venture capital fund and active accelerator focusing on early stage digital businesses, which he exited in 2016.

Marc is an economic sociologist in the Strategy, Innovation and Marketing Faculty at Saïd Business School and a Governing Body Fellow of Wolfson College. His teaching focuses on strategy and innovation, implementation, and entrepreneurial leadership and leadership for complex operations. At Oxford, he is Academic Director for the Science Innovation Plus initiative, support many student and research activities for the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, and serve as a core faculty member for the Goldman Sachs 10K Women Entrepreneurs Programme in China. He is advisor/mentor to five startups founded by recent Oxford alumni, and a strategic advisor for Oxford Entrepreneurs, Global Thinkers Forum, Local Insight/Global Impact, and the Oxbridge Biotechnology Roundtable. He is recently supported an MBA team working with the World Economic Forum Global Agendas Councils. Marc does custom executive education with a range of global firms, public sector organisations, and civil society agencies.

Coordinator of Orkestra's Crecer+ Investor Network, Mentor on the GAZTENPRESA mentoring programme with the YBI methodology.

An entrepreneur and CEO of a bio-science firm that she founded in 2004, she previously worked as an Executive Assistant for 10 years in a firm focusing on financial intermediation with high political risk countries.

She holds a Bachelor's degree in Law, from the University of Deusto. She also completed an Advanced Management Programme at IE and a holds a Master's degree in International Business Management at EOI (industrial organisation school).

Tontxu Campos holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Business Science. Thesis Title: “Cultura empresarial en los libros de texto” Cum laude at the University of Deusto. Master in Advanced Management and a Bachelor in Economics and Business Administration at the University of Deusto.

Jose Antonio Campos Granados combines his responsibilities as the Director of Deusto Entrepreneurship Centre, and as a Professor of Deusto Business School in the Faculty of Engineering. His work has been linked to education, innovation and entrepreneurship. He has work experience in the public sector, private companies, NGOs and education. Particularly noteworthy is his work as the Minister of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government for four years. As part of his responsibilities he developed and introduced the integrated curriculum in the Basque Country, focusing on students’ competency development from 0 to 18 years and in vocational training.

As part of his knowledge in the field of the transition from the educational to the labour market, it should be noted that Dr. Campos held the position of Provincial Minister of Innovation and Economic Development, where he developed entrepreneurship policies to foster innovative start-ups creation as part of the economic recovery process.

Dr. Castellana holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Lecce, IT and a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Strasbourg, FR. His scientific specialities span from oncology, inflammation and immunology in animal systems, and stem cell regeneration in mouse skin. He has been awarded with competitive grants for research projects (AECC, ES and Ligue Contre le Cancér, FR). He has published original articles and reviews in international journals with high impact in the press and acted as evaluator of original articles in pathology and cancer fields.

Dr. Castellana has been the founder and spokesperson of the PostDoc Association at CNIO, Madrid, ES. He also holds an MBA from Aliter International Business School, Madrid, ES, and specialized courses in marketing and valorisation of academic breakthroughs from INSEAD, FR and IE Business
School, Madrid. He collaborates in medtech projects (oncology and neurology from MIT Boston and UPM, Madrid) dragging academic knowledge and ideas to commercial value. Since 2016 he has been Life Science specialist Collaborator at Ventac Partners - a Venture Builder and VC private fund. From
February to September 2017 was appointed as Head of Operations at mVision Foundation, Madrid. He is also an independent new business strategy consultant and participates in presenting SME’s projects to European Commission funding for SMEs instruments (H2020).

Since October 2017 he has been Head of Technology Transfer at CIC bioGUNE, Bilbao to scout for viable business projects and develop valuable business development activity and launch of new entrepreneurial biomedical projects.

I have a scientific background (Physical Chemistry, PhD), having worked for 10 years in the UK (Cambridge) and the USA (Los Angeles). Later, I worked for 20 years in a Technology Centre (Tecnalia), mostly in international projects with USA partners (Otis, Carrier, Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky, Boeing, Praxair). Some of those projects led to the creation of spin-off companies with proprietary (patented) technologies. I was involved in the management of a few of them and, after achieving market success, in negotiating their sale to larger companies. Through this activity, I gained knowledge and experience in technology transfer transactions, with a particular focus on creating business value by negotiations and by managing intellectual property (IP) as a key element of the business strategy.

Now, I work mainly with entrepreneurs, start-ups and technology based SMEs, helping them to find routes from ideas, to market success and, eventually, to lead market segments. As a business coach, my work is mostly about asking challenging questions to gain insight. My scientific background has trained me to search for evidence, to be sceptical in absence of data, but also to find ways through. In many cases my work deals with helping the entrepreneurs to transition from “uninformed optimism”, through “informed pessimism”, to reach an “informed optimism” position.

In recent years I have been active as a Business Angels, seeking for opportunities to invest and participate in the management of technology based start-ups with strong IP positions.

As a Computer Engineer from Deusto University, I have developed my professional career working for different software companies.
In May 2008 I joined the Init Group as a Project Director.

Currently, I am the Technical and Commercial Director of Init Health and partnership program manager of our Init Health Affinity and Wellness Corporate platforms.

Since May 2017 I have been a teaching team member of the Expert Course in Management of Healthy Companies organized by Sánchez-Toledo & Asociados.

In September 2016, I founded Health 2.0 Basque, a community with the objective of leading the e-Health ecosystem in Euskadi, within the international Health 2.0 movement, which emerged in 2007 in San Francisco, to promote entrepreneurship and the use of new technologies in health.

With an experience of more than 25 years in commercial positions (20 of them in the insurance sector), since 2011 I have been Director of Business Development at Init Health, the health area of Init Group. Our main asset is the health and wellness platform Inithealth, established in different national and international companies that can associate their brand with concepts such as health, technology and innovation.

Since May 2017 I have taken part in the teaching team of the Expert Course in Management of Healthy Companies organized by Sánchez-Toledo & Asociados.

In September 2016, with Gonzalo López, Commercial Technical Director of Init Health and Blanca Usoz, specialist in Occupational Medicine, I founded Health 2.0 Basque, a community the aim of which is leading the eHealh ecosystem in Basque Country. We are within the international Health 2.0 movement, created in 2007 in San Francisco, to promote entrepreneurship and the use of new technologies in health.

Chibeza Chintu Agley holds a first-class BSc (Hons), and the University Prize, from Brunel University; as an undergraduate he was co-founder of a cloud platform for students to share and consume information about University life. Chibeza went on complete an MSc (with Distinction and Colt Prize) and then PhD from King’s College London in physiology and adult stem cell biology respectively. For his PhD thesis Chibeza was awarded the Tadien Rideal Prize for outstanding doctoral research in molecular science. After finishing his PhD, Chibeza began his postdoctoral work at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and was soon after appointed to the position of 'Research Fellow in Genetics' at Homerton College, University of Cambridge. During this time Chibeza co-founded CamBioScience Limited with two other colleagues from the University of Cambridge. CamBioScience went on to develop an Artificial Intelligence powered enterprise EdTech platform called OBRIZUM® that allows managers in high-skill areas to automatically create and deliver adaptive eLearning and eAssessments. The OBRIZUM® platform in poised to disrupt the professional education system and transform the trading of content between organizations. The platform is built to overcome the content, cost, scale and efficiency challenges of providing learning and development opportunities to a globally distributed workforce or student, or customer base. OBRIZUM’s adaptive course creation and analytics tools are available to enterprises via PaaS and SaaS based subscription models.

David has a background in biochemistry, immunology and molecular biology with a PhD from Imperial College, London and three years of post-doctoral experience. David has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for almost 20 years. He worked in big pharma at AstraZeneca for more than 17 years in a wide variety of R&D roles both in the UK and the US. Whilst at AstraZeneca he was heavily involved in developing the use of informatics and systems biology to support the development of new medicines. David joined Blueberry Therapeutics as Chief Scientific Officer at the start of 2014. In this role, he is responsible for leading the research activities of the business which are focused on developing new treatments for serious infectious diseases. The first of these treatments has now entering clinical testing.

Martin Eglitis, Ph.D., has over 15 years research experience and additionally 20 years of pharmaceutical licensing experience. He has headed labs at the NIH, lead discovery and enablement research teams at a biotech startup, and conducted all aspects of the licensing process at global pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Eglitis has closed licensing deals valued into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Currently at Blazing Star Pharma Advisors, he provides strategic and business development consulting services to small and mid-size biopharmaceutical companies.

Prior to founding Blazing Star Pharma Advisors, Dr. Eglitis held Senior Business Development postitions at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Amgen Inc., and Eli Lilly and Company. Dr. Eglitis was also involved in one of the first gene therapy start-ups, Genetic Therapy Inc., from its inception through a successful IPO. While there he contributed to the IND filing for the first gene therapy clinical trial.

Dr. Eglitis is inventor on four patents, and author of dozens of research papers and book chapters, spanning a wide breadth of fields including mammalian developmental biology, retroviral vector molecular biology, and physiological responses to neurological disease and injury. He obtained his baccalaureate in Biology and Ph.D. in Anatomy and Developmental Biology from the University of Virginia.

Paul is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of HairClone, a cell therapy Company developing cell based treatments for androgenic alopecia. Paul has over 30 years’ experience in the US and UK in the commercialisation of various Regenerative Medicine and Cell Therapy products in both public and private Companies. He was the lead inventor on patents for Apligraf the first multi-cell therapy approved by the FDA which has treated hundreds of thousands of patients in the US with chronic ulcers. Paul was the sole founder of Intercytex Ltd. where he served as CEO for the first 5 years. During this period Intercytex developed several products that reached the clinic, including Vavelta which was commercially available and being used for the correction of Rhytids, scar contractures and dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa before the EU’s ATMP regulations came into force. Intercytex also carried out the world's first cell therapy clinical trial to induce new hair formation. Paul has sat on a variety of panels, grant funding bodies and regulatory committees. He is co-editor of the Journal of Regenerative Medicine, a co-Director of the Doctoral Training Centre in Regenerative Medicine at Manchester University and Industrial Director of Regener8.

Joe helps companies in the healthcare, materials and consumer product sectors to protect their innovation and gain a competitive advantage in these sectors. Joe helps start-ups to FTSE 100 companies manage their IP in order to achieve their commercial goal.

In particular, Joe has more than a decade’s experience protecting inventions in the healthcare sector including new chemical entities (such as protein kinase inhibitors, ADCs, PROTACs, PET imaging agents), formulations (such as oral peptide formulations) and biocompatible materials ( such as stents and implantable electrodes).

Joe particularly enjoys working with enthusiastic start-ups to help with their IP from concept to product launch and beyond. He has mentored and been on the judging panel of business plan competitions and regularly guest lectures at UK universities on the commercialisation of research.
Joe has a degree and PhD in Chemistry from the University of Durham. His diverse research experience includes imaging chromosome aberrations, polymer interdiffusion, supramolecular anion interactions and catalyst recycling constructs.

David is an innovation professional who has spent many years developing and delivering innovation and ideas in a range of different companies. He has a lot of experience in idea management and project delivery and his consulting business provides support in these areas.

Holding a degree in Quality Control of Medicines from the Federico II University of Naples and an MBA from Business School Lausanne, Valentina is a motivated and ambitious professional that works since 11 years in the pharma industry. Valentina spent most of her career in Novartis in roles of increasing responsibilities within quality assurance and manufacturing areas of drug development and commercial business units. After her MBA she decided to join a “start-up like” company focused on multiple therapeutic area as well as orphan diseases, Idorsia where she can contribute to move projects forward from development to the commercial phase.

She is positive, creative and inspiring with the passion for continuous improvement and problem solving.

Traveler. Painter. Art and books lover.

Dr Stewart White, Previously CEO of two life science AIM-quoted companies, CEO of Novel Technologies Holdings Limited, Chairman of Mikota Ltd, Non-Executive Director with The Electrospinning Company Limited, Scientific Advisory Board of Collagen Solutions plc, Visiting Professor at Glasgow University.

Sina Henrichs has broad professional experience in implementation and development of project outlines in the academic environment. She holds a doctorate in Molecular Biology from the University of Zurich as well as an MBA in Academic Management form the University of Basel. Sina Henrichs combines her extensive research experience in the life sciences and in-depth understanding of process development and project management to provide interactive and professional training experiences. She implemented the Graduate Center GRACE, the professional platform for doctoral candidates and postdocs at the University of Basel and is founder of Manage Science (www.managescience.ch). At the moment, Sina is holding a position as Project Manager Education at the AO Foundation in Davos.

Mauro Lattuada works as Technology Transfer Manager at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) mainly focused in ICT and engineering areas managing the intellectual property stemming from EPFL research activities and negotiating contracts between laboratories and companies.
Mauro has previously worked for Abilis Systems (acquired by Alitech Inc.) in the semiconductor and digital television business within the Kudeski group and as co-founder of Livetools Technology (now part of the Euro Media Group) a startup to develop digital television transmission systems for worldwide live sports events.

Mauro owns a diploma from the Politecnico di Milano, a doctorate from Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and a Master in Intellectual Property Law and Management from the University of Strasbourg.

Sophie is a marketing consultant specialised in medical technologies, currently collaborating with Startups located at the EPFL in Lausanne.

She has 15 years experience in marketing, working in several European countries.

She recently worked for Braun Healthcare, where she was responsible for the re-positioning of the Braun blood pressure monitors category into true consumer-oriented connected solutions, empowering people to feel on top of their heart health. She was also in charge of the development of the pan-European Go To Market Model of this new product range.

Sophie also has a proven track record of working with sales teams, developing strong relationship with key customers throughout Europe, resulting in double-digit growth of the categories she was managing.

As a dynamic marketing professional, she is passionate about technological innovations and enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience with others.

Oliver is a freelance Consultant in the advanced therapies sector, advising organisations on market analysis and all aspects of the innovation cycle for cell and gene therapies. He has published guidance for investors approaching the advanced therapies industry, in addition to other industry-focused reports and updates. Oliver currently Chairs the TERMIS EU Business Plan Competition, an accelerator for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine startups, having previously been a finalist. He completed his Master's degree at King's College London.

Murat Basarir has been involved in a broad spectrum of international cleantech projects, such as launching UK's first wireless charged electric bus startup, part of developing Portugal's first virtual power plant trial and UK's first driverless pod initiative.

Prior to cleantech investments, he has led a nationwide energy efficiency project that has been acknowledged by the Economist, BBC, and has been shown as an exemplary low-carbon initiative by the government.

Murat holds a BSc and MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Queen's University and an MPhil in Engineering from Cambridge University and has completed the Ignite programme at Stanford's Graduate Business School.

Davide Danovi leads the Cell Phenotyping Platform at the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, King's College London. He holds an MD from University of Milan and a PhD in Molecular Oncology from the European Institute of Oncology where he demonstrated the causative role of the HdmX protein in human cancer. He completed his postdoctoral training working with Prof. Austin Smith and Dr. Steve Pollard at the University of Cambridge and at University College London where he developed a screening platform to isolate compounds active on human neural stem cells from normal or brain tumour samples. Prior to his current role, he worked as principal scientist at a novel biotechnology company founded to isolate drugs for regenerative medicine using innovative stem cell technologies.

Stathis works with Shell Digital Ventures in the development of new products using cutting-edge software technologies. Before joining Shell, he worked in the investment team of HOF Capital in London sourcing new deals. He has previously worked as a sustainability consultant and researcher at Price & Myers for more than 5 years in R&D projects funded by Innovate UK in collaboration with the University of Cambridge. The past 3 years, he was involved in global deep tech accelerators including the Entrepreneur First, the CleanTech Challenge and the Innovation Forum ImagineIF. During his doctorate at UCL, Stathis published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and presented in international conferences. Whilst at UCL, he co-founded a hub to support engineering students in international development and social enterprise ventures in countries such Ethiopia, Timor-Leste, Nicaragua and Rwanda. He is a STEM ambassador and he is involved in the Reload Greece initiative as a mentor.

In his career as a UX designer and researcher, Simon has helped genomic startups define information experiences for their data platforms, collaborated with hospital teams to improve information exchange for clinical genetics, designed funding programs for the European Commission and used community labs to test the usability of handheld genetic sequencers. Simon works as a Designer and Researcher in BioDesign team at Science Practice in London. He has previously worked in both research and diagnostic genetics laboratories, and has degrees in Genetics and Science and Innovation Policy.

Marek is an experienced product designer specialising in user experiences for healthcare and the life sciences.

Marek leads the BioDesign team at Science Practice where he helps life science startups design successful digital products. Previously, he worked at Ctrl Group where he was involved in designing new digital health products for patients, clinicians, and research users. He was also responsible for the early-stage development of the Bento Lab — world's first personal DNA lab.

Marek is also an experienced workshop leader and speaker with previous appearances at the SETI Institute, OpenVis Conf, IEEEVis conferences, and the World Usability Days.

Darko is a project manager in McKinsey's Munich office which he joined in 2013. He serves clients primarily on topics related to digital business building, digital strategy and marketing/sales channel strategy. Over the last years, Darko has been responsible for engagements in Western Europe (e.g., Germany, Switzerland, Denmark) as well as in Central and Eastern Europe (e.g., Croatia, Georgia) and in Africa (Ethiopia).

Prior to his current role, Darko has been the Managing Director for Central and Eastern Europe at FlixBus. He was responsible for the P&L of 12 countries and 3 offices (Belgrade, Budapest, Zagreb).

Darko holds a PhD in Energy Economics from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. He has been a Research Associate at the Faculty of Economics for 6 years during which he worked on topics related to energy & environmental economics (economics of climate change and exhaustible resources, renewable energy, dynamic systems and dynamic modelling). Before, Darko has graduated in Business Administration from the Paderborn University and was a visiting student at the Sprott School of Business at the Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

He has a strong affinity for start-ups and digital products. As a founder of the "Start-up Club" in McKinsey's Munich Office, he has co-organized regular workshops with Bavarian start-ups since 2014.

Domen Bole is a founder and managing director of Co-creation, providing key expertise in the start-ups, entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem development, and he acts as advisor to top management of Business Incubator of University of Ljubljana and supports the development of teams and start-ups coming mainly from academia.

As seasoned startup coach and mentor with 10+ years of experience, Domen helps early stage startups develop and validate their business models and raise funds using running lean methodology. He has supported over 400 startups within startup competitions, acceleration programs, startup incubators, technology parks in South eastern Europe.

All together Domen has more than 20 years of international professional experience as research assistant, founder of start-ups, interim manager in SMEs and corporate entrepreneur with investment fund experience. He has extensive global network with masters focused in Entrepreneurship and certifications in Intellectual Property Valuation and Technology Transfer. He is also a co-author of SEE Startup Report 2018 and several other publications in field of startup ecosystem development.

Areas of Expertise:

• Early stage Business model development
• Running lean methodology
• Found raising & pitching
• Seed investments

From 2013 positioned as Acting Director of Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade and from 2016 Head of the Laboratory for Laboratory for Molecular Microbiology, IMGGE.

Research focus on fundamental research in the field of molecular microbiology and also on the application of biotech in food and pharmaceutical industry. Particularly expertise in research related to lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and their probiotic potential and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in different microorganisms. Published more than 50 papers in leading international journals in the field.

From 2013 involved as Lecturer on Faculty of Pharmacy in doctoral study program Microbiology and Immunology.

In 2016 she established the technology transfer office in IMGGE and she is actively involved in all activities related to technology transfer. In addition, through intensive collaboration with industry she is focused on implementation of open innovation concept in Institute and broader in the country. She is coordinator and participant in numerous scientific and innovation national and international projects including those with the industry.

Jelena has several years of experience in working with start-ups and growing tech companies through her engagement in the Business Technology Incubators of Technical Faculties (BITF) and Science Technology Park Belgrade. She supported the development of the first Tech Park in Serbia and currently works on building & implementing business support programs for tenants based on LEAN Start-up methodology.

Jelena advised more than 50 start-ups mostly in areas related to start-up culture and vision, business model and business strategy. Jelena was the co-creator of the “Start-up summer camp” – four days idealisation boot camp for young entrepreneurs - as well as “Let’s Accelerate” – a three month acceleration program for start-ups implemented at the Tech Park in Belgrade.

Jelena is actively promoting entrepreneurship and innovation among young people in Serbia by organizing and participating in different start-up events. Jelena has an M.A degree in European Interdisciplinary Studies from College of Europe (Bruges/Belgium).

Jovana has over 10 years’ experience working in the field of S&T Park development and high technology Incubation, direct and ongoing experience of working in the Business Technology Incubator of Technical Faculties Belgrade, co-located at the S&T Park Belgrade, experience of building the regional network of incubators/ S&T Parks agency.

Jovana directly participated in creation of the Business Support Centre of the BITF that supported more than 90 innovative start-ups who today employ more than 500 engineers.

Jovana is responsible for helping young people to start their own business and financial consultations of small start-up high tech, companies in the process of incubation. She coordinate developing of 3-month pilot accelerator program for start-ups in early stage of development according through the Lean methodology and mentorship programme in the Science Technology Park Belgrade. She is involved in creation programs and lectures about innovative entrepreneurship in formal education program, organization programs and lectures for students in Science Technology Park Belgrade about innovative entrepreneurship.

She is in charge also in supporting start-ups – tenants of the BITF and STP in process of registration companies according to the state lows. Over 10 years she was working with more than 90 innovative start-ups in different stage of development business models. Supporting start-ups – tenants of the BITF and STP in development their business plan using Lean methodology.

She holds a degree from the Faculty of Economics and she is Alumni of MASHAV Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation in programme, which provide a platform for learning and sharing of good practices and policies for promoting innovative entrepreneurship.

Experienced Product/Marketing/Sales Manager with a demonstrated history of successful work in international environment. Diplomat and economist, passionate about new technologies, dedicated to making a difference and known for challenging projects. Skilled in Marketing Management, Negotiation, Business Planning, Market Research and Analytical Skills. Professional with strong communication and social skills, graduated from the Faculty of Economics - major in Marketing.

Recognized as a Professional Certified Marketer (PCM®) by the American Marketing Association. He worked in automotive industry as a product, marketing and PR manager. As a diplomat, he served as an economic advisor in Germany, attracting investors to Serbia and establishing sales links for Serbian companies in Germany. Provision of new contacts for the Serbian high-tech companies was one of his specialities. He is currently shaping the sales and marketing strategy in particular for the Serbian B2B engineering company, NOVELIC, which is developing its own radar sensor technology for a contactless detection of breath and heart rate.

More about NOVELIC at: www.novelic.com

Areas of expertise:
• Marketing strategy
• Market research and sales tactics
• Communication

Miloš is the Managing Partner for Assurance and Advisory Engagements at DFK Pozitiviti Group – an international audit and advisory firm providing external services to international clients scaling from small start-ups to large multinational companies and financial institutions. His 10+ years of experience and expertise was acquired at Deloitte & Touche in USA, BDO and LeitnerLeitner.

Miloš adds value to clients by linking strategic goals with financial metrics. He acts as a Mergers & Acquisitions committee member of DFK International - a top 10 global international association of independent accounting firms and business advisers.

Mr. Mitrić is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in USA, Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and Credited Forensic Accountant (Cr. FA), as well as a Licensed Certified Auditor in Serbia. He is a member of Commission for examination, implementation of training and continuing professional education within Chamber of Authorized Auditors of Republic of Serbia.

Miloš mastered in the field of business incubation and transferred experiences from prestigious American faculties to Serbia. He has been working on programs of support the development of innovative companies for more than ten years. He has the fellowship of the German Marshal Fund of U.S. and makes evaluations of European start-up companies that wants to participate in their programs in the USA.

With its knowledge, through the mentoring program, Miloš helps startups at an early stage of development to evolve their business models in Scientific Technology Park Belgrade.

As a Harvard Kennedy School of Government Fellow, he has a sixteen years of experience in the field of politics, economics and local government reforms. Held a position of Vice President of Belgrade City Municipality Savski Venac (the cultural, business, and tourism center of the City of Belgrade, which has more than 46,000 residents and over 225,000 visitors per day).

Among other duties, lead the teams for adapting and implementation of the first Local Strategic Growth Plan of Savski Venac, and Team for Establishment of the Business Center of the Municipality of Savski venac (BC). The main goal of the BC was to strengthen the sustainable development of the municipality through Business incubator, Center for Energy Efficiency, Educational (Entrepreneurial) Service Center, Job shop and Project Development Center, based on EU and US cities best practice.

He has spent more than six consecutive years working on field of business incubators and science parks. In addition, he was engaged as a consultant providing expertise on projects and tasks, which deal with local self-governance and renewable energy resources, and lately as an expert on writing the program of establishing Serbian Business Incubators Network of which he is a coordinator.

Areas of Expertise:
• Early stage businesses
• Fund-raising
• Business strategy

Nikola Aksić is a founding partner at Gecić Law in Belgrade. His practice focuses on Corporate and M&A, Banking & Finance, Private Equity, Infrastructure and PPP, Privacy & Data Protection.

He has more than ten years of experience practicing in Serbia and the region. He acted for some of the largest multinational clients in notable transactions in Serbia and across the region. Nikola advises on financing and corporate transactions of all types, including local and cross-border acquisitions, foreign exchange transactions, structuring and financing of infrastructure projects. Recent transactions have included PPP motorway project, structuring and financing of a local pipeline project for transporting of natural gas as well as advising and representing clients in matters relating to non-performing loans, project finance, take-overs, derivatives trading. Nikola acted as a legal counsel for the Science Technology Park Belgrade in the process of setting-up said organization and supporting the start of its operation. He regularly provides support to the Science Technology Park Belgrade in its daily operations, but also to its members - Tech Park start-up companies in various matters including corporate creation and shareholders’ agreement, IP matters, seed funding and negotiations with potential investors.

Nikola earned his law degree from the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Law (LLM, 2003) with specialization in EU law. He is a member of the Belgrade Bar Association, Serbia.

When speaking about professional identities, Sandra describes herself with two words – entrepreneur and trainer. Her life motto is to support other people to develop their successful businesses. She delivers training on entrepreneurship, innovation, advance communication, leadership and many more. As a consultant, Sandra supports organizations from the private and public sectors to go through change management processes, to develop organizationally, to set and implement business strategies. As a coach, she mostly works with business executives and “rock them a boat” by spurring thinking out of box and finding new routes to success. As a mentor, Sandra works with start-ups and SMEs on sustainability, strategic planning and balancing different aspects of life.

She has worked with over 3500 micro and 700 SMEs from SEE region. Her trainings were attended by over 10.000 people coming from private, public and civil sector. Her experience also includes over 20 years of entrepreneurship in trade, production and service industries. Currently she runs a training and project management company.

Sandra studied Economics at the University of Belgrade and specialized Innovation Management in SMEs at Brighton University, UK. Sandra is certified trainer and consultant by several leading organizations in the area of professional development, leadership and communication from Canada, USA, Germany, Switzerland, France… She is also mentor for women in business at Cherie Blair Foundation, UK and awarded as the best mentor for female businesses in South East Europe by the European Bank for Development and Reconstruction (EBRD).

Sava is the co-founder of mySkin, a lifestyle hardware-based venture focusing on helping consumers understand their skin health and finding products and treatments that work for them, and director of TeleSkin, a venture-backed startup developing hardware and software to diagnose and screen Melanoma and Skin Cancer.

Before mySkin, he led GE Healthcare International's Service Technology Marketing where he developed innovative products/technologies and go-to-market strategies for hospitals and consumers across EMEA. Prior to GE, Sava focused on nanotechnology entrepreneurship with MITRE Nanosystems group.

Sava was recently named Ernst & Young's Most Innovative Entrepreneur of Year for Serbia (2012), World Bank Global Top 50 Entrepreneurs (2013), OSCE Entrepreneur of the year (2008), one of 50 General Electric Heroes (2005) and a winner/finalist in prominent entrepreneurship competitions at MIT, Stanford, and others.

Dušan Vukanović is the Innovation and Business Development Director at ICT Hub, a leading Serbian company providing innovation consultancy services to large corporations.

At ICT Hub, which he joined in 2015, Dušan’s has helped to build an ecosystem in which corporations and technology start-ups partner and collaborate. As a lead consultant, his primary role is to design and deliver programs that support innovation processes in large corporations. As a start-up mentor he has participated in numerous programs supporting technology start-ups (EU Funded FRACTALS, and World Bank funded Pioneers of the Balkans), where he has mentored start-ups from Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia.

Before joining ICT Hub, Dušan has successfully run a private consulting business (Cromer Group, 2007-2014) whose focus was on organisational development and strategic communications. Between 1999 and 2006, Dušan worked for for USAID funded National Democratic Institute for International Affairs on different activities supporting political process and government institutions. Between 2005 and 2007 he was the Executive Director of an authentic local NGO that was a hub for development and networking of young political and civic leaders from Serbia and the Western Balkan Region (Center for the Development of Parliamentary Debate).

Since 2016, Dušan has been co-founder of technology start-up in the area of people analytics (One Assessment). Between 2012 and 2014 Mr. Vukanović was member of the Managing Board of the Association of Management Consultants of Serbia. He is a member of the Belgrade chapter of the Serbian Entrepreneurs, a pay-it-forward global network of entrepreneurs fostering the Serbian startup ecosystem.

In 2016 he published “Manual for Launching a Technology Startup in Serbia”. Dušan studied Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics.

Prof. dr Đorđe Ćelić is an Assistant Professor at the University of Novi Sad. His area of expertise is Industrial Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management. With more than 40 publications over 12 years of his academic career makes him a well-established researcher in the international academic community. Besides engagement with the University, Prof. Dr. Ćelić is also the CEO of Business incubator Novi Sad, leading hub for support and development of IT start-ups in the city of Novi Sad. Since the incubator started in 2010, Đorđe has been head of this institution. Over the past nine years, he has helped the development of more than 55 start-ups. He is responsible for the overall operation of the incubator, development of incubation models and procedures, and facilitation of the incubator mentor and consultant network.

Đorđe is deeply involved in the start-up community as an active business consultant and trainer with an emphasis on business model development and marketing. As CEO of the incubator and University professor, Đorđe participated and led more than 10 EU and national funded projects, including Tempus, Erasmus+, COSME, IPA type of projects.

Đorđe has Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management (Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad) and M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Management (Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad).

Fields of specialisation include: industrial marketing, entrepreneurship, innovation management, business model development, high-tech marketing, customer development, training delivery and mentoring for start-ups and SMEs.

Srdjan Jovanovic is Head of Engineering at HTEC Group, where he has been involved in numerous projects spanning through various verticals involving clients like Intel, Qualcomm, IBM and similar. He is also CTO of HTEC Group's medical spin-off named Humeds, where he leads the team of engineers that produced CE marked novel 3-lead dry electrodes ECG mobile recorder together with the proprietary algorithms for detection of arrhythmias, awarded by the MIT.

Between 2007 and 2012 Srdjan was the Head of R&D for a German medical devices company, where he successfully led the development of high-end CE marked medical devices.

Srdjan was managing an electronics course at Petnica Science Center and participating in the education of gifted young students from the year 1999. Srdjan graduated with a degree in Electronics from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Nis.

Jovan enjoys practising agile methodologies and bringing new values to customers on a weekly basis and strongly believes in “better done than perfect”.

As Head of Product at the Fintech startup Leanpay, his goal is to make the best consumer financing solution in a very challenging market.

Prior to joining Leanpay, he worked at Addiko bank as Agile Project Manager/Scrum Master which gave him an exciting opportunity to make a difference in the SEE digital banking solutions and launch a range of new solutions including eBanking and mBanking in BiH, and mBanking in Croatia in less than 6 months.

He received his B.Sc in Marketing Management in 2010 from the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, with is thesis on "the study of Serbian young consumer attitudes toward mobile advertising”.

Areas of Expertise:
• Digital product development
• Product ownership
• Project management

Predrag has 16 years of experience in finance and business development with an in-depth knowledge of FMCG and other industries in multinational and multicultural environments. He has experience in auditing, financial consulting and business advisory services.

He started his carrier working for BDO, the fifth largest audit house in Serbia, as a representative of audit house Arthur Andersen. He has significant experience working with some of the biggest domestic and international companies.

Currently, he is responsible for the Serbia group for financial reporting, Fresenius Medical Care (statutory and US GAAP/IFRS from 2016), finance, accounting, tax, treasury, controlling, system & process improvements, SAP/software, IT hardware and infrastructure.

Accomplishments
● System of internal controls – implementation & improvement (SOX / FACET) – KPMG & PWC test of effectiveness w/o deficiencies
● Transfer of transactional activities to SSC (P2P, O2C, A2R, FA) in Poland
● Transfer price & other taxes – system setup/improvement (PY adjustments)
● Treasury operations – system automation and improvement (finance policy)
● Improvements of main company’s processes (Order-To-Cash and Purchase-To-Pay including document management system)
● Reporting & controlling system improved and standardised
● Leadership – effective finance team re-organisation and development

Svetozar Kolesar is a serial entrepreneur, educated in software engineering.

With his latest venture in additive manufacturing, Svetozar Kolesar cooperates with some of the biggest production companies in the Serbian market. This experience, together with his knowledge about software, grants him a much deeper understanding of innovative technologies and their application in the real world.

Svetozar Kolesar is currently mentoring start-ups in the acceleration program of Science Technology Park Belgrade and cooperates with this organisation in different activities related to 3D printing.

Svetozar’s entrepreneurial and innovative spirit, together with openness to sharing and cooperation, makes him a perfect mentor for high-tech start-ups in the area of 3D printing, rapid prototyping, manufacturing, etc.

Pavle’s main area of expertise is the weaving together different areas of business development and making purposeful actions and decisions.
With a strong background in business development, customer journey mapping and development, sales, process optimisation, project management, event management, and public speaking and facilitation Pavle has collaborated with over 800 different organisations, produced and co-produced over 500 events and managed budgets of over €200k. Through his experience, he has directly worked with over 100 small businesses and start-ups on their business development.

Pavle directly worked with over 500 people and has over 600 hours of facilitation and public speaking experience. Pavle is currently working as a Maker and Business Practitioner in Impact Hub Belgrade. His responsibility at Impact Hub is to optimise all processes that take place in a hub as well as
people and space management by providing a great working environment for Impact Hub members and partners. This is accomplished by optimising and automating communication, tracking and user experience related activities.

Pavle is a proud alumni of AIESEC, Junior Achievement, Scout movement, Youth Offices as well as a member of Mensa Serbia. Pavle holds a degree from the Faculty of Organisational Sciences.

Dragoslav is a Healthcare Consultant with 28 years of experience in International Public Health with projects implemented in 33 countries. He is co-founder of CHANGE pharmaceuticals, promoting innovations and partnerships in pharmaceutical sector. He has background in medicine, public health and Governance.

Zivojin is the co-founder and COO of 3DSS (3D Software Solutions). 3DSS is using AI, machine learning, and computer vision to develop state of the art algorithms for 3D face reconstruction and recognition. 3DSS believe in the power of artificial intelligence and have been dedicated to developing the leading technology for facial recognition. 3DSS facial recognition technology can be used in various industries and applications. From a wide variety of security applications to the banking sector, automotive industry, plastic surgery, loyalty programs, police and military applications.

Before 3DSS, Zivojin was part of the Business Development team at InsideMaps Inc, Silicon Valley based startup working in a VR/AR industry for customers in the Real Estate industry and beyond. The most impressing result was 1000% growth in sales after 12 months of work at InsideMaps. As a part of BDM team, he had a chance to cooperate with leading real estate companies from USA / Asia / Australia and EU.

Experienced international manager with over 12 years of professional track record. Responsible for developing, managing and supporting operations in Europe, Asia, and the USA.

Passionate about VR / AR / IoT / Big Data / Fintech / Blockchain / Design Thinking / Smart Cities / Facial Recognition.

After graduating with an engineering degree from the University of Cambridge, Lisa has had a varied career as an engineer, the director of grassroots NGOs in Africa and managing programmes and international events and advising early stage start-ups in India.

With a broad understanding of developing world issues and requirements, Lisa has been advising sector agnostic, early stage start-ups. This has included start-ups with low cost medical devices to expand quality medical care into remote locations in the developing world.

Lisa has also aided many women’s groups to start small scale income generation in remote rural communities in Africa.

Areas of Expertise:
• Strategic planning
• Manpower for start-ups
• Developing world penetration

Mr. Gil-Ad brings more than 25 years of experience in management of large R&D projects. Prior to founding NovellusDx, Haim Gil-Ad was the CEO of Optigo Systems Ltd., a vertically integrated high-tech company developing technology-oriented products and a leader in electro-optical R&D that was acquired by the Elta Co. of Israel Aerospace Industries. Prior to joining Optigo, Mr. Gil-Ad pursued an extensive career with the Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) as head of major international R&D and full-scale development programs. Mr. Gil-Ad earned a B.Sc. in Engineering from Tel-Aviv University and an MBA from Ben-Gurion University. He has twice been awarded the Israel National Quality Award.

Jelena Pribic is a qualified European Patent Attorney who is experienced in patent application drafting and prosecution in Life Sciences. After gaining a Diploma in Pharmacy from the University of Belgrade, Jelena moved to the City University of New York where she gained her PhD in Biochemistry. Jelena's research was directed to elucidating a functional relationship between Paxillin and Phospholipase D in human metastatic breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells that provided further insight into the role of these proteins in cancer and a better understanding of the clinical course of disease. During her PhD, Jelena was constantly involved in teaching at the City University of New York, as an Adjunct Lecturer. Jelena has received Mina S. Rees Graduate Scholarship Award for excellence in research and teaching.

In 2011, Jelena Pribic joined MSA IP, a law firm which specializes in prosecution and litigation of trademarks, patents, designs, as well as in enforcement of Intellectual Property rights in the region of Southeast Europe. Currently, Jelena is the manager of the Patent Department within MSA IP.
In 2018, Jelena was selected as a coach by the European Patent Institute to support the preparation of the candidates for the European Qualifying Examination and becoming European Patent Attorneys. Jelena is very experienced in interpretation and presentation of scientific data as well as in planning and coordinating research activities to accomplish research projects.

Ljiljana Bjeličić is an education manager at MVP Workshop and runs the Start-up Center as Program manager at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade. She graduated with a degree in journalism from the Faculty of Political Science in Belgrade, and her interests are entrepreneurship, technology, education, marketing, communication, and innovation.

For more than 10 years, he has been in the sphere of IT and education, and in recent years he has been actively working to strengthen the start-up ecosystem in Serbia. As a mentor, she can help with customer development and business skills, but also with go-to-market strategies, public speaking, and pitching . She has a great experience working with start-ups at the idea stage and validation of business ideas with young people.

Ljiljana is an active mentor at the Start-up Center, working with tech startups in various industries but she is also supporting teams and organisations, as a mentor or jury member of SIA Awards, Slush competition, Climathon, Youth Achievement.

Nataša is a networker by nature, she enjoys to recognise and create opportunities and to facilitate collaborations. She has been working as a professor, corporate manager, project manager, technology transfer and innovation consultant. She is passionate about knowledge transfer at the intersection of the industry-academia innovation. Lately she has been following activities and trends related to digital transformation in pharmacy/medicine.

Nataša is a pharmacist (University of Belgrade, Serbia) with the PhD in biopharmaceutics from Utrecht University, The Netherlands. After her PhD project, she moved to the industry leading the team responsible for development of biopharmaceuticals (Merck&Co, The Netherlands). She continued as a Director of Program Management at Dutch company BioConnection being responsible for technology transfer, contract development and contract manufacturing of, mainly, biopharmaceuticals.

Over the last few years she has been active in the development of innovation policy, commercialisation of innovation and technology transfer (e.g. research manager at the IMGGE). Nataša has guest position at Utrecht University. Together with the colleagues from Utrecht she was involved in development of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology online course for the pharmacists across Europe and broader.

Currently Nataša is Acting Dean at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Novi Sad. Her plan is to establish sustainable, continuous relations between the faculty and the practice (industry, pharmacies, CROs etc.) and to introduce in the curriculum the skills needed for 21st century professionals (digital transformation, entrepreneurship, multi/interdisciplinarity).

Masha has been working as a Data Protection Officer for the past 5 years, helping early stage biomedical startups from the UK and Ireland, and has contributed as a mentor on many international business accelerators. She specialises in implementing, monitoring and auditing business compliance with privacy regulations (HIPAA, PIPEDA, E privacy directive, GDPR, PCI DSS, EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Frameworks). As a member of the ECHAlliance Ecosystem Serbia she works closely with patient associations, the Serbian Government and the private medical sector advising on information security and personal data protection.

Areas of Expertise:

Early Stage Businesses Development
Information Security
Regulatory Compliance
Legal research

Dr. Ivana Kostić is the Co-Founder of Health Tech Lab, created for making an impact in the local, Serbian and global health tech ecosystems. HTL emerged after her initiation and organisation of the 1st MIT Medical hackathon in Belgrade, in collaboration with MIT hacking medicine. She is also the Technology Transfer Associate at the Innovation Fund and MASHAV alumni.

Ivana earned her PhD degree from the MIT Portugal Program / Bioengineering Systems in collaboration with Portuguese lab -Biomaterials & Stem Cell-based Therapeutics Lab- and -Karp Lab- at MIT together with Brigham and Women’s and Boston Children’s Hospital. These joint efforts were oriented towards developing minimally-invasive and more effective therapies for ischemic organs. The collaboration is still ongoing.

Her initial interest in this area was sparked by Physiology studies at the University of Belgrade and an additional rich practical knowledge gained through the IAESTE internship in Brazil and the First BSRT Summer School for Regenerative Medicine in Berlin.

Dr Srđan Krčo is a co-founder and CEO of DunavNET, a company designing turnkey IoT solutions driving digital transformation of cities, agriculture, manufacturing and retail domains. He has over 20 years of experience, working with large multinational companies and international collaborative research and innovation projects. Srdjan is one of the founding members of the International IoT Forum and is actively participating in the AIOTI (Alliance for IoT Innovation) activities. In 2007, Srdjan won the Innovation Engineer of the Year award in Ireland. He has published over 15 patents and more than 70 papers at international conferences and journals. He is a frequent speaker at international events addressing IoT and its applications. Srdjan is a Senior IEEE member and Associate Professor at FEFA. Recently, he was awarded MVP (most valuable professional) status for IoT activities by Microsoft.

Mladjan Stojanovic graduated from the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy at the University of Belgrade. He has Professional Doctorate in Engineering from Process Design and heterogeneous catalysis in the biofuels production processes from the Delft University of Technology. As a researcher he has coordinated and consulted in projects under the EU framework program, World Bank, National Dutch and Serbian projects and projects from private sector companies.

He possesses expert knowledge from the wider area of entrepreneurship, specifically in patent systems, evaluations of economic and business models and project management. He works on the development of funding mechanisms for innovation projects that stimulate cooperation between R&D organisations and private sector companies. Currently, he is managing Technology Transfer Facility and the Innovation vouchers scheme at the Innovation Fund.

He is a member of Royal Dutch Association of Engineers, Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) and European Knowledge Transfer Association ASTP Proton.

Milos has been working in the corporate field for many years, with expertise in banking, telecommunications and the start-up industry. He has a wide set of skills: From managing a portfolio of SMEs, development of different partnership models and alternative sales channels, up to leading sales teams.

Creative thinking contest winner for the best ideas in business environment organised by Mr. Edward De Bonno, one of the most influenced creative thinkers of the world.

Running a Startup Grind Belgrade Chapter.

Areas of Expertise:

Team leadership
Partnership development
Creative thinking
Business Development

Dr Lara Dobrkovic is Clinical Lead Director and Country Manager for Serbia in IQVIA, one of the leading CRO companies in the world. She manages a group of clinical leads around the world; and oversees dozens of clinical studies for new medicines for the central nervous and gastro-Intestinal systems. Prior to taking a role in management, she worked for herself for a few years as a leader of big, multi-centric and international projects of various indications, and started her career in clinical research as Clinical Research Associate working closely with the biggest hospitals in Serbia. Overall, she has more than 15 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, with the last 12 years spent in management and leadership positions in various departments within IQVIA.
She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade and obtained academic specialisation in pharmaceutical medicine. She is fluent in English and Spanish and poses medium level knowledge of German. In her free time, she enjoys all kinds of sports activities.

Dr Victor Bolanos-Garcia is Senior Lecturer in Clinical Biochemistry and an expert in the study of the mechanisms of cell division regulation and the development of early drug discovery enterprises. He is a member of the management team of the BioInnovation hub at Oxford Brookes University and has represented Oxford Brookes at the Oxford Academic Health Science Centre (OxAHSC), a partnership with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, and the University of Oxford that combines the institutions’ individual strengths in basic science, translational research and clinical expertise to address 21st century healthcare challenges thus contributing to drive economic growth. Until the past year he was a member of the iCASE committee of the Doctoral Training Programme (DTP) funded by the BBSRC and run in partnership with The University of Oxford, The Pirbright Institute, Diamond Light Source (DLS), STFC Central Laser Facility and the ISIS Neutron Source and an academic adviser to the Innovation Forum, Oxford branch.

Milica Djurić-Jovičić is the Director of the Innovation Centre at the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade. Her education background is in electrical engineering and computing from the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia, where she received her BSc, MSc, and PhD degrees.

She has 10 years of experience in research and innovation related to different fields of electrical engineering and data science. She is the author or co-author of 47 scientific publications, as well as a reviewer for international journals and research and innovation grants. Her research activities focus on eHealth, and the design of new systems and devices which can contribute to better health systems and quality of life.

Milica has been a coordinator of national and international R&D projects, funded by grants, but also public and private companies. As the Director of the Innovation Centre, she has gained experience in leading and participating on numerous projects that combine academia and industry, and contribute to society through innovations, applied science and new technological solutions. The implemented projects include development of ICT and IoT technologies. She is also a technology transfer manager, and a consultant and innovation specialist within the United Nations Development Programme.

Associate Professor at the Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Belgrade – Faculty of Chemistry (UB-FC). Vice Dean of Education at UB-FC (2015-2018). Research Associate at Petnica Science Center; Member of the Serbian Chemical Society, Serbian Association for Cancer Research, International Association of Physical Chemists. Postdoctoral fellowship at Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary (2012, 7 months), Research Associate at Iowa State University, Ames, USA (2002, 9 months), and at University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA (2000, 3 months).

Research focus on fundamental research studies of various types of chemical equilibria in biologically active molecules and properties and application of molecularly imprinted polymers. Particular expertise in physico-chemical methods in drug discovery and development.

Dr. Vukotic has 10 years of regulatory, clinical, and scientific experience conducting clinical trials. She started her carrier as clinical research associate (CRA) and later as Project Manager. In 2011, Dr. Vukotic established the Serbian office of CATO Research and since then has acted as Managing Director. Cato Research (CATO) is an international regulatory and clinical contract research organization (CRO).

Dr. Vukotic is working as a Clinical Research Physician responsible for the safe performance of clinical studies and as Clinical Research Auditor. She has visited more than 50 research sites across Europe.

Dr. Vukotic graduated from the University of Belgrade School of Medicine, where she received her medical degree and Business Administration (MBA) studies at London School of Commerce where she received her MBA degree.

Seasoned professional in clinical research industry with over 20 years of experience, with expertise in rare disease, paediatrics and medical device.

Managing Director and owner of AXIOM International Contract Research Organization (CRO) operating in the region of ex-Yugoslavia and surrounding countries for over 12 years.

Vice-President of KLINIS Association of Advancement of Clinical Research of Serbia since its foundation in February 2012.

Member of EFGCP and MedTech Europe Medical Technology Stakeholder Alliance since its foundation.

Member of the EFGCP Initiative on Patient Information Sheet (PIS) Improvement Working Group.

Author and director of INFORMED CONSENT short educational film explaining 20 elements of Informed Consent process (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUBmcn0acwI)

Co-Author of Clinical Trials Hero Exibition at Educational Museum Belgrade (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64sdb9xiYTU)

In parallel translator and court interpreter for the courts of law in Serbia and Bulgaria. Also, international lecturer, author of several textbooks and dictionaries.

Damjan Damnjanovic was born in 1977 in Belgrade. He attended X Belgrade Gymnasium, graduated from the Faculty of Drama Arts at the Department of Film and TV Production. He got his Master's degree Cum laude at multidisciplinary studies from the University “La Sapienza” School of Economics, entitled "State Management and Humanitarian Affairs". At the time he was a scholarship holder of the Italian Government and European Parliament. Dina's father, producer, master of direct marketing, digital nomad, patient rights fighter, founder of the Blue Circle, ex-president and honorary member of Serbian patients' associations, co-founder of Health Tech Lab and a man who wants to digitize diabetes.

Anja is a Pharmaceutical Industry Professional, with comprehensive knowledge in Oncology and Hematology. She has 10 years of extensive experience in implementing business strategies through management, educational, marketing and sales activities in several pharmaceutical companies.

She graduated with a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree and holds a degree in Health Care Management, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade.

She is a mother of two and a member of mountaineering club “Pobeda.

Mr. Djordjevic is founder and director of Skills, the very first HR & training company in Serbia (founded in 1996 – www.skills.rs)

As an experienced trainer and coach, Mr. Djordjevic has spent more than 22 years in the field of education and human resources.

During his career, he has delivered more than 1,100 training sessions and 280 team building events, which have included more than 17,000 participants.

Mr. Djordjevic is a member of the Serbian Association of Managers (www.sam.org.rs). He is also co-founder and coordinator of HR PRO Club (www.hrpro.rs). Founder of Q-space innovation club (www.q-space.rs) and trainer and consultant for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (www.ebrd.com).

Mr. Djordjevic is specialised in the following fields:

• Leadership skills
• Presentation skills
• Sales techniques
• Customer experience
• Networking skills
• Change management
• Coaching
• Team work

Dragan′s teaching style is informal, fun, breathtaking yet thoroughly supported by practical experience on every level of hierarchy. This is one of the reasons why participants comment that his training accurately mirrors reality, is authentic, motivating and a highly engaging experience.
Dragan is equally familiar to coaching middle and top management in a convincing, realistic and trustworthy manner, helping them achieve their full potential.

Lisa Cowey has worked in the field of innovation with high tech companies, including spin-offs and start-ups for over 26 years. She started her career with Oxford Instruments, one of the earliest and most successful start-ups to emerge from the Oxford University Physics Laboratory. She has direct experience of licensing technology, equity fund raising and successful trade sale with ventures in the UK, USA and Germany.

After returning to the UK she joined Finance South East Ltd, a specialist regional funding organisation managing debt, equity and specialist funds including R&D, PoC and Seed Funding for ambitious technology / knowledge-based companies in the region. She managed the Alchemist Business Angel Network and the ERDF funded Merlin Mentoring scheme.

For the last 12 years Lisa has worked in the Western Balkans to support innovative SMEs, including start-ups, and the transfer of technology from universities and research institutes to companies. She is a mentor on the Investment Readiness component for EU4TECH WB and is the Key Expert for IP and a mentor the EIB EDIF project on intangible assets and intellectual property for the region. Further afield she is a mentor for the MIT startup program in Poland.

Lisa has a PhD in Physics from the University of Oxford, an MBA from Oxford Brookes University Business School where she specialised in entrepreneurship and university technology transfer, and a Diploma in IP Law and Practice from Bournemouth University Business School IP Unit.
LinkedIn Proile: linkedin.com/in/lisa-cowey-06a8683

Areas of Expertise:
• Technology development and technology transfer
• Intellectual Property strategy formulation and implementations
• Investment Readiness

Dr Dubravka Vejnović is a geneticist and holds a PhD in pharmacogenetics. Her research focus is on personalised medicine. At the same time she has two separate roles as an independent scientific evaluator & ethics expert at the European Commission in Horizon 2020 – the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with 80 € billion funding available. Her job there is to evaluate project proposals eligible for funding and to identify, evaluate and monitor ethics issues raising from the proposed work. She is a member of the Advisory Boards of several international projects and Project manager & coordinator for a number of FP7 and Horizon 2020 projects. Professional technical diver and co-founder and manager of Otters Diving Team.