Introductory Keynote Panel
Pavel Doleček
Pavel Doleček is a Board Member of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic. Previously, he served as Vice-Rector at Charles University, Deputy Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, and Deputy Minister for Higher Education, Science and Research. Over the past decade, within the context of these roles, he was closely involved in shaping the strategy and implementing Czech public policies in the fields of higher education, research and innovation. This included international bilateral and multilateral cooperation, legislative frameworks, and funding and evaluation systems. He regularly speaks at international conferences and panel discussions on European innovation policies, research and innovation programmes, research and education funding, doctoral training, knowledge valorization, and cohesion policy. In these sectors, he is also actively engaged in training and lecturing on strategy, management, and funding. He has experience in the non-profit sector and in supporting innovation in education.
Ondřej Vaněk
Ondřej Vaněk is Chief AI Officer at the Czech Technical University in Prague (ČVUT). Appointed in 2026, he leads university-wide AI strategy across infrastructure, research, education, and administration. He co-founded and led Blindspot.AI, which grew to 80+ AI engineers and ranked among Deloitte's top three fastest-growing tech firms in Central Europe. After Adastra acquired it, he became the group's Chief AI Officer, leading 150+ engineers delivering 400+ production AI systems in 40+ countries. He holds a PhD in AI and Biocybernetics from ČVUT FEL and has authored 30+ peer-reviewed papers.
Experience From Abroad and Discussion
Christian A. Stein
Christian Stein is CEO of Ascenion, a company which supports public research institutions and others in successfully translating life-science innovations into profitable applications. Ascenion is a 100% subsidiary of the Life Science Foundation.
With decades of experience – including as Chairman of the German TransferAllianz and President of the European technology transfer association ASTP – he combines in-depth specialist knowledge with entrepreneurial acumen. He has founded several companies and is active as a consultant and expert in international technology transfer. Presently he also serves as a board member of ISAR Biosciences and the Klaus Rajewsky-Foundation.
His expertise spans IP-asset management, spin-off founding and venture capital financing.
In 2022, he co-initiated the CARMA Fund with a volume of around 60 Mio € which invests in early-stage life-science projects and start-ups.
Ville Kairamo
Ville Kairamo is an experienced ecosystem development, innovation, and foresight expert. He is CEO of Demola Global, an international organisation building global co-creation teams to trace the drivers of change and identify trends’ implications. Since 2011, he has worked with over 5 000 international co-creation teams and utilised gained insights to help over 2 500 SMEs, global enterprises, and public organisations build future-proof strategies. He has previously managed a national start-up programme with the Finnish government to create over 500 start-ups and co-founded innovation centres in Europe.
Ville’s work has been recognised through the Baltic Sea Region Innovation Award and the Nokia Foundation Award for achievements in facilitating international industry-academia cooperation.
Victor E. Scholten
Victor E. Scholten is Associate Professor in Technology-based Entrepreneurship and directed the Delft Centre for Entrepreneurship at TU Delft, the Netherlands, from 2016 to 2026. He earned his PhD at Wageningen University on business networking strategies and the early growth of academic spin-offs. Among the first to study such spin-offs—before incubators existed and academic entrepreneurship was seen as outplacement—he has embedded entrepreneurship in education and developed programs to commercialize research findings.
Panel Discussion
Tomáš Maršálek
Tomáš Maršálek has 17 years’ experience in investment funds management, venture capital and private transactions. He is a partner in i&i Bio (inibio.eu), a venture capital fund focusing on drug discovery, diagnostic and MedTech projects in Central Europe and the EU. Tomáš Maršálek focuses on deal negotiations, valuations, due diligence and tax structuring. Before moving to private equity Tomáš worked at PwC with a focus on corporate finance, due diligence and valuations. He spent more than 8 years in executive management of SMEs, including several start-ups, mainly as chief financial officer.
Olga Chabr Grillová
Olga Chabr Grillová is a CEO and General Partner at Luminova Ventures, a Czech VC fund focused on dual-use and deep-tech technologies in defense, security, and digital resilience. Luminova Ventures backs early-stage companies at the intersection of defense and commercial applications — including cybersecurity, AI, advanced analytics, and post-quantum cryptography. Olga is also a serial entrepreneur and founder. She is the founder of Leeaf and co-founder of McEdison. Previous experience - Senior Consultant at Ernst & Young. She holds an MSc in Finance and Quantitative Trading from the International University of Monaco.
Ondřej Lipold
Ondřej Lipold is a Partner at Tensor Ventures, a deep tech VC based in the Czech Republic that invests in frontier technology coming out of Europe. His investment focus is the future of computing, novel AI architectures and robotics. He backs founders at the earliest stages (pre-seed and seed) and looks for young teams from top universities building radically new technology with the potential to become global outliers.
Alexandra Kala
Alexandra Kala is the founder and CEO of PROFIMED, a company operating in four Central European countries. She has long been bridging the gap between business and innovation and is dedicated to translating scientific research into practical applications as co-founder of the Spinoffy investment fund. She is an ambassador for the Second Economic Transformation (2ET) initiative and the patron of the Science and Research working group, a co-founder of the Žárovky Endowment Fund, and an ambassador for the National Theatre’s CHAIRity project. In 2026, she was named one of the Czech Republic’s TOP Women in the Entrepreneur category.
Examples of successful commercialisation in the Czech Republic
Martin Dientsbier
Martin Dientsbier is the co-founder and CEO of the Czech biotech company DIANA Biotechnologies, which focuses on applied research in diagnostics and life sciences. Martin Dientsbier holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge, followed by research positions at the University of Oxford. He also gained experience in business consulting at BCG and in equity investments through the fund Alethes, which he also co-founded. He will share his experience in building a diversified and innovative biotech company and offer insights into unique characteristics and challenges of this sector.
Michal Hrabí
Michal Hrabí is an entrepreneur, investor and guide bridging academia and business. At JIC, he built a startup ecosystem and worked with 1,100+ ventures, including academic projects. As Phonexia CEO, he turned an academic spin-off into an international tech company and later, as shareholder, drove its exit. Today, on EIC Accelerator and STEP juries, he selects Europe’s top tech companies, including billion-euro-valued firms with potential to change the world. He mentors and invests in spin-offs and works with university leaders to turn more research into companies.
Martin Saska
Martin Saska is full professor at Czech Technical University in Prague and founder of Fly4Future and Eagle.one companies. He received his Ph.D. degree at University of Wuerzburg, Germany, within the PhD program of Elite Network of Bavaria, 2009. Since 2009, he is a research fellow at Czech Technical University in Prague, where he founded and heads the Multi-Robot Systems lab (https://mrs.fel.cvut.cz) with more than 50 researchers. He was a visiting scholar at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA in 2008, and at University of Pennsylvania, USA in 2012, 2014 and 2016, where he worked with Vijay Kumar's group within GRASP lab. He is an author or co-author of >200 publications in peer-reviewed conferences with multiple best paper awards and >150 publications in impacted journals, including IJRR, AURO, JFR, ASC, EJC, with >9000 citations indexed by Scholar and H-index 52. His team won multiple robotic challenges in MBZIRC 2017, MBZIRC 2020 and DARPA SubT competitions.
Panel Discussion
Martin Jiránek
Martin Jiránek is as the Startup Envoy he serves as a bridge between the government and the startup sector. He coordinates the preparation of legislative and systemic improvements to the startup ecosystem, financial instruments to support startups and spin-offs, and institutional coverage of the startup agenda at both the national and regional levels.
Jakub Uchytil
Jakub Uchytil after graduating in Information Systems and Technology at the University of Economics in Prague, he has been involved in the economic evaluation of public investments and cost-benefit analyses since 2004. In 2011, he joined the Ministry of Education, where he focuses on the control and implementation of research projects funded by EU structural funds, since 2013 as department director. For many years, he has been battling administrative burden and auditors, although with varying degree of success.
Pavel Jovanovič
Pavel Jovanovič has been dedicated to innovation, entrepreneurship, and business development for over fifteen years. Since 2021, he has been leading the Central Bohemian Innovation Centre (SIC), transforming it into a customer-oriented innovation agency focused on startup growth, business expansion, and bridging the gap between academia and business sector. He was behind the creation of the Startup Accelerator, the SIC Ventures investment fund, and other programs that help founders validate market needs, scale, and secure both customers and investments. Previously, he worked as an analyst, consultant, and entrepreneur, focusing on innovation ecosystems and economic development.
Eva Brožová
Eva Brožová is the Director of the Cabinet and International Agendas Department at the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, where she also serves as the Deputy Director for Strategic Development. At the Ministry of Education, she managed an EU-funded operational programme for research and innovation. She also held managerial and expert roles at CzechInvest and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Her work spans research and innovation policy, strategy and international cooperation. She evaluates proposals for the European Commission. She studied and taught economics at Charles University.
Kateřina Rundová
Kateřina Rundová is Director of the Division of Technology Development and Startup Incubation at CzechInvest. She leads the Technology Incubation programme and oversees ESA BIC Czech Republic, the European Space Agency’s business incubation centre for space-related startups. She previously headed the Startup Incubation Department, where she oversaw initiatives supporting early-stage companies, particularly within the Technology Incubation project. Over the course of her career, she has also been involved in strategy development and international cooperation. Her current work focuses on supporting innovation, strengthening collaboration across the ecosystem, and creating business opportunities for startups, with a particular emphasis on deeptech. She is also dedicated to attracting talent and promoting social inclusion and diversity within the startup ecosystem.
Moderator
Otakar Fojt
Otakar Fojt is an experienced science diplomat based at the British Embassy in Prague. He is a part of the Science and Innovation Network of the UK Government. He has been advising on international research and innovation collaborations since 2003. In 2023, His Majesty the King Charles the III awarded Otakar an honorary Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in recognition of Otakar’s services to Science and Innovation in the Czech Republic.
Otakar Fojt is a Chair of the Board of Trustees of Palacký University in Olomouc and he is a member of the Board of Trustees at Technical University in Ostrava. He is a member of the Scientific board of the Central European Institute of Technology of Masaryk University in Brno. He is also a member of the Commercialization boards of Charles university in Prague and Palacký university in Olomouc.
Otakar Fojt received Biomedical Engineering Masters (1994) and PhD (1997) at the Brno University of Technology. He was awarded a Chevening scholarship at the University of Oxford (Merton College) in 1996 and 1997. Otakar then worked for four years as a Postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Mathematics at the University of York and as a visiting scholar at the Fields Institute in Toronto. In 2001 and 2002, he was a Managing Director of a small technology company operating in Central Europe.
