This opening session will set a tone for the event, bringing participants together and introducing the key themes that will shape the days ahead!
Christine Gould, as a globally-recognized leader in agrifood innovation, she fuses energy, passion, and out-of-the-box thinking with deep commercial instinct, market insight, and strategic foresight to unlock new opportunities for investment and impact at scale.
As Founder of Thought For Food, Christine built the largest and most diverse innovator community in food and agriculture, reaching 30,000 next-gen talents in 180+ countries. She has incubated 100+ science-and-technology-based startups which have gone on to raise over $300mm in venture capital and has worked extensively with Fortune 500 companies and international organizations that include the United Nations, the Rockefeller Foundation, Cargill, Google, Danone, and DHL, among many others.
Co-founder and former CEO (2012–2022) of Startup Hub Poland, supporting Central Eastern European high-tech founders in launching global ventures. Expert in IP transfer and R&D commercialization, he has helped early-stage startups secure up to €85k in grants and access to VC and industry bootcamps.
As an investor, he worked with around 60 investment processes, backing 29 hard-tech startups—24 raised follow-on rounds, 10 attracted foreign capital, 3 IPOed, and 3 exited profitably. He holds two MAs from the University of Warsaw (Philosophy, Political Science/European Studies) and has lectured at UW, SGH, and Łazarski University. Maciej has served as an expert for NCBR, the Polish Chamber of Commerce (Chairman since 2018), and the National Development Council. Named among the NewEurope100 by Google and FT, he is a keynote speaker at global startup and VC conferences from Lisbon to Los Angeles.