From breakthrough science to global business impact: Here’s how deep tech is finally crossing the commercialization chasm
Deep tech is no longer just about the next scientific breakthrough—it’s about transforming entire industries, from cutting-edge startups to traditional companies seeking to future-proof their operations. It plays a key role in building resilient, competitive, and innovation-driven economies.
But even the most groundbreaking technologies often struggle to leave the lab and find real-world applications. Why? Commercialization is complex, and integration into established businesses adds another layer of challenge, as well as opportunity.
That’s exactly why Podim 2025 is dedicating a full program block to deep tech and collaborative innovation—to confront the funding gap, bring public and private ecosystems together, and explore how Europe can unlock its deep tech potential. Whether you’re a researcher, investor, corporate leader, tech transfer expert, or policy maker, this is your roadmap to turning deep science into deep impact.
🔍 Program overview: 3 sessions that connect science, capital, and collaboration
💰 [Deep Tech] Funding
Powered by: SPIRIT Slovenia Business Development Agency & Vesna VC
Deep tech doesn’t scale with traditional VC logic. It requires patient capital, public-private partnerships, and brave founders who know how to navigate the maze of grants, IP, and go-to-market timing. This session features the most influential voices shaping Europe’s funding landscape for science-based ventures—offering insights into specialized VC funds, public funding schemes, and commercialization programs tailored to deep tech innovation.
Speakers:
- Uli Grabenwarter (Director of Equity Investments, European Investment Fund)
- Miguel García González (Managing Partner, Sploro, Spain)
- Angela Ivanova (Co-Founder & CEO, LAM’ON, Bulgaria)
- Snježana Miliša (Director, Merlin Hat, ex Bugatti Rimac, Croatia)
- Nina Dremelj (Managing Partner, Vesna VC, Slovenia)
- Yann Ménière (Chief Economist, European Patent Office, Germany)
- Michael Stucky (Partner, Serpentine Ventures & DeepTech Alliance, Switzerland)
🎤 Talks & Panel:
- A Pan-European View on Tech Investment — Uli Grabenwarter
- How to Bridge the Financing Gap for Deep Tech Commercialization — Miguel García González
- PANEL: Funding Deep Tech Growth and Unlocking Europe’s Potential
🤝 [Deep Tech] Collaboration
Powered by: SPIRIT Slovenia Business Development Agency, EPO & SIPO
Collaboration is the fuel for deep tech commercialization. In this session, we explore how corporates, startups, scientists, and innovation agencies can work together to bring science to market faster, boost implementation in more traditional industries, and achieve greater real-world impact.
Speakers:
- Pedro Costa (Head of Open Innovation, Beta-i, Portugal)
- Roland Waldner (Chairman, KWF, ex Philips, Austria)
- PJ Mistry (Strategy & Ecosystem Builder, Unilever Foundry, Netherlands)
- Naoki Kamimaeda (Partner, Global Brain, UK)
- Christian Kumar (CEO, Capital Kinetics, UK)
- Jerneja Lončar (Founder, Good Tech Ventures, Slovenia)
- Rok Pestotnik (Professor & Scientific Councilor, Jožef Stefan Institute & University of Ljubljana)
🔥 Talks, Fireside & Panel:
- Unlocking Deep Tech Commercialization Through Open Innovation — Pedro Costa
- FIRESIDE CHAT: Innovation Insights from 30 Years at Philips — Roland Waldner
- PANEL: Open Innovation – Catalyst for Deep Tech Commercialization
🌍 Deep Tech Meetup
Powered by: SPIRIT Slovenia Business Development Agency
Between the two content blocks, we’re hosting a curated Deep Tech Meetup, bringing together all key stakeholders of the Alps-Adria tech ecosystem:
- researchers & professors
- scientists & innovators
- investors
- IP & commercialization experts
- corporates & global tech leaders
It’s an intimate, no-pitch, high-trust environment for sparking new collaborations, funding opportunities, and ecosystem connections.
🎯 Who should attend?
1. Regional deep tech stakeholders
You’re working at the intersection of science and business:
- Tech transfer experts
- Researchers & scientific leaders
- Policy makers & innovation funders
- Deep tech founders
You’re asking: How do I commercialize this breakthrough? Where are the investors? How do I navigate EIC or IP challenges?
2. Corporate leaders & innovation strategists
You’re looking for the next leap, not the next iteration:
- Heads of R&D and Innovation
- Business development leads
- Strategic partnership managers
You’re asking: How do we collaborate with deep tech startups to stay globally competitive? How do we co-develop game-changing solutions?
🚀 Why this matters now
Europe has the science.
Europe has the talent.
What it needs is speed, funding, and collaboration to turn innovation into industrial and societal transformation.
The Deep Tech & Collaborative Innovation program at Podim 2025 is built to do just that.
👉 Join us in Maribor, May 12–14
It’s time to move deep tech from potential to reality.
🤝 Supported by
Deep Tech at Podim is supported by SPIRIT Slovenia Business Development Agency and the EIC National Contact Point — aligned with our shared mission to accelerate European innovation through collaboration.
Podim partners supporting this program block are also:
Vesna VC, European Patent Office, and the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office (SIPO).
