Dr. Digvijay Thakur CEng FIMMM

Deep Tech Alliance Panel: Corporate-Start-up Collaboration in Deep Tech: Open Innovation and Venture Clienting Across Europe

Deep tech startups need more than capital: they need industrial partners who can test, buy and scale their technology. Corporates need access to breakthroughs they can’t build in-house. Yet most pilots never make it to real deployment. This panel looks at what actually works when corporations and deep tech startups join forces across Europe. Drawing on concrete cases from energy infrastructure, acceleration programmes and pan-European scouting, the speakers will discuss how venture clienting and open innovation can turn first pilots into lasting commercial partnerships. They will cover what makes a startup “corporate-ready”, how corporates can move faster without taking on excessive risk, and where CEE fits into Europe’s innovation map

• Urban BavcarELESUrban BavcarCommercial Project Specialist, ELESUrban is a Commercial Project Specialist in the Strategic Innovation Division at ELES, Slovenia’s combined transmission and distribution system operator. ELES manages more than 3,000 km of high-voltage infrastructure. He is one of the driving forces behind ELES’s corporate venture capital initiative, building the company’s path to becoming an active strategic investor in Europe’s energy-transition technology ecosystem. He also manages the company’s open-innovation process with startups, which takes early-stage technologies from scouting to pilot deployment on the grid. Urban leads ELES’s participation in EU Horizon projects including SUNRISE and HEDGE-IoT. He holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Ljubljana School of Economics and Business and is an alumnus of UC Berkeley’s VC program.Read full bio →
• Jakob GajšekRUJ VCJakob GajšekCEO of the Ljubljana University Incubator (LUI); Managing Partner of RUJ VC; Partner at Fil Rouge Capital; EIT Community Officer for Slovenia, RUJ VCJakob Gajšek is CEO of the Ljubljana University Incubator (LUI), Managing Partner of RUJ VC, Partner at Fil Rouge Capital, and EIT Community Officer for Slovenia. Over the past decade, he has worked across incubation, acceleration, venture capital and startup ecosystem development, with a particular focus on deep tech, university spin-outs and early-stage financing. Since 2018, he has led LUI, which was ranked by the Financial Times as the leading startup hub in Slovenia and the Adria region. He also serves on the board of the DeepTech Alliance, the network of leading European university-linked innovation hubs. Jakob holds an MSc in Sustainable Energy from the University of Edinburgh.Read full bio →
• Jakob HeibergTHINGSJakob HeibergPartner, THINGS AB; Partnerships, DeepTech Alliance, THINGSJakob Heiberg is Partner at THINGS AB and works on partnerships at DeepTech Alliance. THINGS is the #1 deeptech hub in Sweden, focusing on industry, infrastructure, energy, utilities, and space and defense. It helps corporates navigate the deeptech wave through a hands-on, business-first strategy, matching them with leading deeptech companies globally. THINGS manages a portfolio of projects and programs, the largest of which is DeepTech Alliance, a private association of 18 leading European entrepreneurship hubs from 16 countries. Since 2021, DeepTech Alliance has worked with 60 corporates. It helps open-innovation, tech-scouting, and CVC units find solutions and investment cases among Europe's most promising deeptech startups. Jakob manages corporate and investor relations for the alliance.Read full bio →
• Dr. Digvijay Thakur CEng FIMMMNSG Group (Pilkington)Dr. Digvijay Thakur CEng FIMMMIncubator Director, NSG Group (Pilkington)Dr Digvijay Thakur is Incubator Director at NSG Group, leading the Incubator team within the Group R&D function. He is responsible for identifying emerging technologies, startup collaborations, strategic partnerships and new business opportunities that can create future growth platforms for the company. Drawing on experience across advanced materials and foundation industries, including chemicals, steel and glass, he works at the intersection of industry, innovation and entrepreneurship, helping bridge the gap between breakthrough technologies and industrial deployment.Read full bio →

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