Lorena van de Kolk
An entrepreneur and connector, and passionate advocate for sustainable and inclusive innovation in Europe. With a background in EU law and funding, Lorena has worked with the European Commission’s DG MARE and now leads an international team at Schuttelaar & Partners as one of its Managing Partners. She is also the founder of GAIA and the Young Professional Network, supporting gender equality in agriculture and career development for young professionals. Known for connecting people, ideas, and resources, Lorena is dedicated to driving sustainable change with energy and purpose.
Maciej Sadowski
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.
Harinda Katugaha
Dr. Harinda Katugaha is a Senior Strategy Advisor to FAO’s Office of Innovation and a builder at the intersection of AI, entrepreneurship, and impact. His career spans finance roles with BMW and GM, UN crisis deployments across the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean, and founding two ventures in Gen-AI Advertising (pre-ChatGPT) and home services. He also co-hosts Rethinking Tech, a podcast exploring how technology shapes geopolitics, business and ethics.
Harinda has worked with more than 100 startups across sectors and stages, helping teams sharpen product-market fit, scale operations, and raise tens of millions in funding. He has advised multiple UN agencies on AI, blockchain, operations, and digital transformation, and recently led the European arm of Harvard Business School’s AI Institute. He holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD and a doctorate from Bocconi University focused on AI, data governance, and human decision-making.