The home ofEuropean deep tech

Biography

Dr. Walter Buga is the CEO and founder of Arendai Inc.—a San Diego (U.S.)-based startup with offices in Łódź and Wrocław that automates factories and warehouses, preparing them to work with robots. Previously, he founded and led Arynga Inc. (based in San Diego with an office in Łódź), which was sold to Intel Corporation in 2016, generating more than a 10-fold return on investment for its investors in less than four years. He earned his Ph.D. in engineering from the Wrocław University of Technology and began his professional career at Bell Labs (AT&T/Lucent Technologies), where he developed a plan for AT&T’s successful entry into the Polish and Eastern European markets after 1989. He is an expert in telecommunications and autonomous systems, currently focusing on industrial IoT, robotics, and AI.

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Biography

Mikołaj Budzanowski is the CEO of InnoEnergy in Central Europe. He is responsible for initiating and overseeing InnoEnergy’s investment strategy across multiple markets in the CEE region—from the Baltic States, through Poland, Czechia, and Hungary, to Serbia, Romania, and Turkey. At the same time, he serves as a Board Member at the fund’s headquarters, which has already executed nearly 200 pre-seed and seed investments and is now planning to expand its investments, including in the U.S. Mikołaj Budzanowski is one of Poland’s leading experts in industrial energy transformation, with extensive experience in the energy sector and industrial innovation across Central Europe. Before joining InnoEnergy, he served as Chief Innovation Officer at Boryszew Group S.A., where he led investments in new technologies and hard-to-abate industries, including automotive, aluminum, chemical, and steel sectors (>35 factories). He was also the CEO of Boryszew Energy, an energy and gas trading company, overseeing green energy procurement and PPA contracts. Mikołaj has held several positions in the Polish government, including Minister of Treasury, where he supervised the energy and oil & gas sectors as well as privatization processes. Since April 2024, he has served on the Board of Directors at Repono, a pan-European storage owner and operator. He holds a PhD from Jagiellonian University and has studied business and finance at Stanford University and the University of Warsaw.

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Biography

Tomasz Misiak is a graduate of the Wrocław University of Economics and Business and IESE Business School (a graduate school for managers attached to the University of Navarra). He also completed the Global Leadership Seminar and Global CEO Program at Georgetown University. From 2022 to 2024, he participated in the Owner/President Management Program at Harvard Business School in Boston. He is the founder of Work Service S.A. (established in 1999) – the first and largest Polish temporary employment agency. Over 20 years of activity, he led the company, which started as a student project, to the status of a market leader in HR services in Central and Eastern Europe, listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. From 1999 to 2007, he served as Vice President of the Management Board, and subsequently as a member of its Supervisory Board. From 2012 to 2021, he served as Vice President of Employers of Poland, and is currently a Member of its Council. Since 2014, he has been a member of the Polish Business Roundtable. He is also a member of Corporate Connections. As an initiator and shareholder, he actively focuses on the development of Mizyak Investment Fund LTD. He is also a founding investor in the bValue fund. He began his socio-political experience with student organizations and the Wrocław City Council, where he served as Chairman of the Economic Initiatives Committee. In the years 2005–2011, he served as a Senator of the Republic of Poland, simultaneously acting as Head of the National Economy Committee and participating in the works of the European Union Affairs Committee. Currently, he sits on the supervisory boards of Antal Sp. z o.o. and Personnel Service S.A. In the past, he also served on the supervisory bodies of many other companies, including: Exact Systems Sp. z o.o., IT Kontrakt Sp. z o.o., Finance Care Sp. z o.o., Telakces Com Sp. z o.o., MM Conferences S.A. (listed on NewConnect), Hawe S.A., and IDM S.A. Furthermore, he served as President of the World of Ideas Foundation (Fundacja Świat Idei), publisher of the Polish edition of Project Syndicate. He is a laureate of numerous business awards, including Teraz Polska, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Entrepreneurship Leader, Market Leader, and Manager of the Year. He is passionate about literature and modern technologies. Every day, he shares his acquired knowledge through analyses of new trends, global changes, and the impact of new technologies and AI on our lives and future.

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Biography

Frane graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Split and completed his postgraduate specialist studies in Financial Institutions and Markets at the Faculty of Economics and Business in Zagreb. He was appointed to the rank of Lecturer by the Rector’s Conference and regularly features as a speaker at numerous tech and entrepreneurship conferences. He is the initiator of several international events, including the Zagreb Connect startup conference and the Startup Europe Regatta—a conference specializing in sustainable greentech and fintech solutions. He established Startup Factory, Croatia’s first acceleration program, initiated Global Growth and Tech Transfer, and launched financial instruments for startup grants and investments. He actively works on connecting stakeholders across society to build a thriving startup ecosystem. Through ZICER, he leads the largest startup hub in the region.

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Biography

Sven Zagała is the CEO of ResQuant, a serial entrepreneur, business developer, and business angel with nearly thirty years of experience building technology companies. At ResQuant he leads the development of European hardware chips that implement NIST-compliant post-quantum cryptography for IoT and edge computing devices. He is also a partner at Invento.VC and a mentor to ICT, deep tech, blockchain, and AI projects.

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Biography

Passionate technologist and experienced financial industry executive who loves to shift the borders of what is possible with strong track record of successful innovations merging cutting-edge technologies with practical financial industry challenges. Leader of the first Quantum team in the financial sector in CEE. Recognized as one of the Worldwide Quantum Strategists by Quantum Insider.

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