The 2026 speakers

Etienne Dilocker is Co-Founder and CTO of Weaviate, the open-source AI-native vector database powering semantic search, RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), and agentic AI applications for developers worldwide. In 2019, Etienne and co-founder Bob van Luijt recognized that modern AI—especially large language models—demanded an entirely new infrastructure layer, and built Weaviate to bridge the gap between unstructured data and intelligent applications. As CTO, Etienne leads development of Weaviate's HNSW-based vector search, hybrid retrieval, multi-tenancy, and distributed architecture, optimizing performance from billion-scale e-commerce product catalogs to partitioned email RAG systems serving millions of inboxes. A veteran software engineer with over 15 years of experience in cloud-native, high-performance systems, Etienne specializes in Golang, database development, and SRE-driven observability, previously working as a freelance architect and tech lead across retail, finance, and media. He contributed to the widely-used ANN Benchmarks project, integrating and tuning Weaviate's approximate nearest neighbor implementation with hands-on parameter optimization. Based in Mannheim, Germany, Etienne also runs Dilocker Software Engineering, bringing startup leadership and deep systems expertise to every layer of Weaviate—from Kubernetes operators to query optimization. His vision: transform AI from model-centric MLOps to developer-first AI Engineering, where every engineer can build stateful, memory-powered intelligent applications.

Nensi Hakobjanyan is a Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services, supporting enterprise Retail and CPG customers in designing and building solutions in the cloud. Alongside with her expertise in cloud technologies, Nensi has vast experience in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.

Faith Ruto is a globally recognised keynote speaker, executive coach, and AI leadership strategist helping organisations adopt AI ethically, responsibly, and inclusively.

With over 20 years of experience in digital transformation and leadership, she has advised and coached leaders across five continents, delivering more than 5,000 hours of executive coaching for organisations including Shell, HSBC, PWC, Capgemini, AstraZeneca, Unilever, Top Business Schools and NHS.

A TEDx Speaker and recognised by the Financial Times as one of the UK's Top 50 Leading Lights in Kindness and Leadership, Faith is also a member of the Hampshire & Solent AI Growth Alliance, where she contributes to responsible AI adoption. She has spoken at leading AI and technology events, including AI Public Sector Week.

Faith is known for translating AI into practical leadership action, enabling executives and founders to build inclusive governance, accelerate responsible adoption, and create measurable business impact while developing future-ready workforces.

Founder and CEO of Omnia (useomnia.com) - AI marketing agents for GEO.
Former General Manager Spain and Portugal at Klarna.

Wes Bush is the Founder and CEO of ProductLed, the leading coaching and education firm for product-led growth in SaaS. His bestselling book, Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself, has reached over 500,000 readers and sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide. Over the past nine years, Wes has worked hands-on with 400+ SaaS companies to help them scale self-serve revenue, collectively generating over $1 billion in ARR. A University of Waterloo graduate, he previously helped launch Vidyard's freemium product to over 100,000 users in under a year. He also hosts the ProductLed Podcast and founded the ProductLed Summit.

Astel Allame is the founder and CEO of NutriCheck, a precision health startup on a mission to democratize preventive medicine through AI-powered multi-omics analysis, at-home lab testing, and wearable data integration. With nearly 20 years of experience spanning clinic directorship and operational leadership across the health sector, he combines deep scientific expertise with entrepreneurial drive to decode individual metabolic profiles and prevent chronic disease at the cellular level. A finalist in the prestigious BFM Business Tech for Future competition, Astel is one of the emerging voices at the intersection of AI, biotechnology, and personalized nutrition.

Xavier Lombard is the CEO and Co-Founder of Leexi, a Brussels-based AI conversational intelligence platform used by over 1,000 companies to automate meeting capture and analysis in 120+ languages. A serial entrepreneur, Xavier previously founded Verdesis, a renewable energy company sold to EDF in 2013, and co-founded Seraphin (now Yago), Belgium's first digital insurance broker, which grew to 40 employees before being sold in 2021. Trained as an engineer at Ecole Nationale Superieure de Grenoble, he spent a decade as a research engineer at EDF with assignments at Hydro-Quebec, Westinghouse, and Honeywell before moving into entrepreneurship.

Founder of Adcities, the first ad manager enabling the launch of real-world contextual advertising campaigns.

Siobhan is a product and engineering executive at Compliance & Risks/Adherent, where she leads the development of AI-driven regulatory intelligence solutions for global enterprises. With a background spanning platform transformation and data-centric product strategy, she has played a key role in evolving legacy systems into modern, AI-first architectures.

Beyond her work at C&R/Adherent, Siobhan is a founder and fractional CTO, advising B2B SaaS companies on scaling engineering teams, embedding AI into products, and navigating complex technical pivots. Her experience bridges deep technical execution with commercial product thinking, particularly in regulated industries and data-rich environments.

Prof. Dr. Thorsten O. Zander is Founder and Chief Scientist of Zander Labs, a German-Dutch DeepTech company pioneering passive brain-computer interfaces (pBCI) and neuroadaptive technology. A respected researcher in human-computer interaction, he invented the concept of passive BCIs that enable technology to understand and adapt to human mental states in real time without invasive procedures. Thorsten holds the Lichtenberg Professorship for Neuroadaptive Human-Computer Interaction at Brandenburg University of Technology, where he has led research since 2020. His work bridges neuroscience, AI, and ethics, addressing how neuroadaptive systems can enhance productivity and wellbeing while protecting privacy of thought. He has collaborated with Microsoft, Volkswagen, Airbus, and published extensively on RLHF integration with pBCI technology.

Ricard Garriga is the co-founder and CEO of Trioteca, one of Spain’s leading digital mortgage brokers and a pioneer in applying artificial intelligence to the mortgage industry. Under his leadership, Trioteca has built a technology-driven platform that reimagines the traditional mortgage process, combining automation, data and AI to make financing more transparent, efficient and scalable.

Before founding Trioteca, Ricard spent more than a decade in the financial sector, gaining deep experience in banking, mortgages and digital business models. His entrepreneurial vision has positioned Trioteca as one of the most innovative players in the European mortgage ecosystem.

Ricard is particularly focused on how artificial intelligence can transform financial services, especially in areas such as customer interaction, call center automation and decision-making processes.

Based in Barcelona, he frequently speaks about fintech, AI and the future of the mortgage market, and is committed to building technology that helps families access better mortgage conditions.

Jose Manuel Pérez Marzabal, LL.M. is an independent commercial and TMT lawyer specializing in AI, tech startups, platforms, and innovative ventures. He runs his own practice under MTN Projects (Modern Thinking Networks). With over 29 years of professional experience, he advises ISPs, venture capital funds, software developers, and startups on commercial law, M&A, intellectual property, privacy, regulatory compliance, and AI governance.

He serves as an External Expert to the European Commission on cybersecurity and digital governance, a designated expert in the ITU-U4SSC Working Group on AI in Smart Cities, and a selected stakeholder in the drafting of the EU AI Act Code of Practice for General-Purpose AI Models. He is a guest lecturer on AI and intellectual property law at postgraduate level, and an active speaker and investor in the European tech ecosystem.

Magda Kufrej, founder of Work Ally, is a career strategist, coach, trainer, and speaker who helps professionals redesign their careers in the age of AI.

She has trained over 3,500 participants and coached hundreds of individuals navigating career pivots across industries and geographies. Her approach combines practical tools, strategic thinking, and a strong belief that people should take agency over their careers — not leave them to chance.

Magda is also a Lead Career Curriculum Trainer at the Climatebase Fellowship, a program recognized by Forbes, where she supports professionals transitioning into climate and impact-driven roles.

Her work focuses on helping people understand their strengths and long-term direction, adapt to a changing job market, and make confident, future-proof career decisions.

Ebony James is Founder & CEO of Atlast, the AI-native recruiting operating system built for ambitious teams scaling without a dedicated HR or TA function. She brings more than 17 years of people and talent leadership from some of Europe's fastest-growing companies, including Facebook, Instagram, N26, Glovo, Tier, and Amenitiz, where she repeatedly owned hiring outcomes and was the person called in to build the people infrastructure that fast-moving teams lacked. That pattern, seen across six high-growth companies, became the foundation for Atlast, which she co-founded to sit as the orchestration layer to make hiring run itself. Alongside Atlast, Ebony advises early-stage founders as a fractional talent partner, helping them put in place the hiring foundations most teams only wish they had from day one. She speaks on the intersection of founder mindset, people strategy, and the systems that separate companies that scale cleanly from the ones that don't.

Caroline De Cock, LL.M., is Head of Research at information labs and Senior Fellow at the Lisbon Council. A long-time strategist at the intersection of technology, law, and AI governance, she has spent over two decades shaping EU and global digital policy. She specializes in translating complex issues in AI, media, copyright, and Internet governance into accessible insights for policymakers and the public. Caroline is also the Founder of Square-up Agency and N-square Consulting, which advises global technology and civil society organizations. Having lived in 11 countries across four continents, she brings a uniquely global perspective to regulation. Her book, AI Tools, Not Gods, was published in January 2026.

Fred is a passionate and (very 😅) opinionated builder. He's been in the infrastructure space, and in particular in serverless technologies back when they were new-age.

He built Lift, to help people ship piece of infrastructure without previous knowledge, and then built Revant to help those same people reduce their newly generated infra cost... He's also been part of the AWS community builder team for 5 years.

He's now building with Alpic the missing infrastructure layer for the new agentic internet where AI consume services instead of human. He's working full time on Skybridge, a new open-source framework to build ChatGPT and MCP Apps.

Bhavishya Ramchander is the CEO and Co-Founder of Have it SUST, Europe's first AI-powered sustainability verification platform for fashion, driving transparency and traceability in the consumer space. A Forbes 30 Under 30 nominee with over nine years of experience in MarTech, data strategy, and product development, she brings a systems lens to fashion's sustainability challenges. At Nestlé, Bhavishya created the data strategy portfolio for $6.5 billion of global advertising spend, advising on strategy, data modeling, and marketing insights. She co-founded Have it SUST after struggling to verify genuine sustainability claims while shopping for a bridesmaid dress, building a rubric that turns sustainability claims into credible, data-backed stories.

Jorge is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He is Venture partner at LUMO LABS to invest in technology companies aligned with his purpose to improve quality of life and wellbeing of individuals, relief the increasing strain on healthcare, social welfare, and the planet.

His expertise also extends to scale up technology companies on fundraising, as well as Mergers and Acquisitions through his M&A boutique and investment vehicle, The Net Street.

Dr. Carl Strathearn is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Data Science, AI, and Software Engineering at Edinburgh Napier University, and a leading researcher in embodied artificial intelligence and realistic humanoid robotics. His research mission: create assistive social humanoid robots that appear, function, and interact like humans, making state-of-the-art AI accessible to everyone—especially people with health conditions requiring social support. Carl's breakthrough work includes developing a machine learning algorithm for robotic lip sync that generates real-time speech visemes from audio, named one of BBC Science's Top 13 Scientific Moments of 2021. He built Baudi, a fully automated 3D-printed humanoid with eyes that dilate to light and emotion using a novel gelatine artificial muscle trained on human pupillary data, and Euclid, a social robot with automatic speech recognition, computer vision, generative AI, and skin sensors designed for older adult care. Carl's robots combine mechanical realism with embodied AI: pupils expand or shrink based on facial expression sentiment analysis and ambient light, mimicking human autonomic responses. His work has been featured in The Guardian, BBC, and the World Economic Forum, and he consults for UK Government and businesses on humanoid robot deployment. Carl holds a PhD on the Multimodal Turing Test for Realistic Humanoid Robots with Embodied AI from Staffordshire University (2020), and is currently conducting feasibility studies deploying humanoid robots in mental health wards. His philosophy: the human face is the most natural interface for communication—by replicating it, we increase accessibility and human connection.

CXO at Magnific.

Edouard Getaz is Founder and CEO of InsideRisk, the worldwide leader in experiential leadership development, having trained over 12,000 executives through immersive simulations of high-stakes crises. With 25+ years in live entertainment production—from music festivals and theatrical extravaganzas to multimedia events and TV—Edouard pioneered InsideRisk's hyper-immersive format based on real stories, where participants make tough decisions in extreme scenarios (e.g., 1988 Colombia hostage crisis). His programs, like UNBLINDED and Assault on the Summer Games, leverage neuroscience and behavioral economics for "cognitive breakthroughs," fostering trust-building leadership amid AI-driven complexity. Edouard innovated during COVID by pivoting to online and Live2 hybrid formats (live stream + local moderators), enabling global reach from Shanghai to Riyadh while offsetting carbon footprints. Featured in Financial Times for crisis simulations that sharpen executive decisions, he collaborates with top firms on programs blending VR, role-playing, and debriefs for day-to-day applicability. A techno-humanist visionary traveling globally to track leadership trends, Edouard speaks on AI ethics, emotional intelligence, and sustainable L&D—recently announced as a speaker for AI Summit Barcelona. Brooklyn-based, he emphasizes rebounding through innovation, as InsideRisk grew post-pandemic via digital scalability.

As CTO at Nuvolar (A software development consultancy and Salesforce partner) I oversee our tech stack, engineering practices, and infrastructure. Over my 15-year career, I’ve worked across the entire software development lifecycle, progressing from Developer to Scrum Master, Tech Lead (QA and Salesforce), and ultimately into executive leadership.

Today, a core focus of my role is guiding Nuvolar into an AI-driven future: embedding AI seamlessly into our technology offerings, engineering practices, and day-to-day operations. It is an exciting time to be a CTO in this ever-evolving industry.

Don Kilburg, Ph.D. is the Founder and CEO of Mind Leap Institute, helping individuals and organizations get AI adoption right — not just deploying tools, but building the mindsets and leadership capacity that make those tools actually perform. He is the author of AI Use Cases for Diplomats (Routledge, 2025) and Mind Leap: How to Think, Feel, and Flourish in the Age of AI (Routledge, forthcoming 2026). During his 21 years as a U.S. diplomat, he pioneered enterprise technology adoption across the diplomatic corps, developing AI use frameworks now embedded in government training programs and building tools that measurably expanded operational capacity. His work earned multiple State Department innovation awards. A U.S. Army veteran and experimental psychologist, Kilburg has briefed presidents, secretaries of state, and ambassadors. He directed strategic communications at embassies across Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Kilburg is based in Madrid and works with clients internationally.

Sami Ghozzi is the Founder & CEO of Saverflow AI, a team of AI engineers and growth specialists building AI-driven sales and automation systems for B2B companies.

Before launching Saverflow AI, he worked at Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, focusing on process optimization and digital transformation in complex enterprise environments.

Today, he and his team help companies build predictable sales pipelines using AI, automation, and AI agents. They combine strong sales fundamentals with data and modern technology to generate qualified meetings, streamline operations, and increase efficiency.

Sami works primarily with high-ticket B2B businesses where positioning, trust, and a clear sales process are critical. His approach is practical, results-driven, and focused on real business impact, not hype.

Nathan Bonnet is the founder and CEO of Polymnia, the first AI dedicated to analyzing and improving public speaking — from students and executives to prison rehabilitation programs. A law graduate turned entrepreneur, he built Polymnia from a personal passion for oral communication into a platform that has already impacted over 18,000 people across France, partnering with schools, corporates, and social reintegration initiatives. A sought-after conference speaker on AI and entrepreneurship, Nathan represents a new wave of purpose-driven founders using artificial intelligence to develop deeply human skills.