Sergio is building strong portfolios of deep-tech startups and education programs at EIT DIGITAL, comfortable in the stretched discipline of shaping high performing venture teams and accelerating them in short delivery cycles. Founder of the the Innovation Laboratory in Tractebel Engineering (ENGIE) to deliver breakthrough innovations in the energy sector. Qualified with an Executive MBA from INSEAD and a Master’s Degree in Energy Engineering.

Minerva is currently working at the European Investment Fund managing the equity financial instruments such as InnovFin Equity – part of Horizon 2020 – and EFSI Equity, and developing alternative financing programmes for thematic investments such as Blue Economy, Space, AI and Blockchain.

Her professional experience has been in both public and private research organisations including universities, technological start-ups, technological centres and governmental institutions, acting as a project and research manager. She is skilled with a thorough understanding of the EU Policy and Programs, enabling her to connect policy, capital market needs, research and the supply of financial instruments.

Minerva graduated with a degree in Biology and Postgraduate in Forensic Sciences from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, holding at later stage an Executive MBA from Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management.

Anthony is heading the venture capital activities of the investment group. Both engaging in direct investments and as investment director for the PDENH climate tech fund, Anthony’s direct responsibilities and focus are in scaling innovative climate tech ventures. His (direct) VC experience is predominantly in the fields of grid balancing (Sympower, Dexter Energy Services, S4 Energy), circularity (Faiphone, Chaincraft, MX3D), energy storage (E-magy, EST-FloatTech and sustainable heating and cooling (Triple Solar, Asperitas, Thermagy). His previous entrepreneurial experiences help him to understand and tackle the daily challenges of ventures. Driven to realize an impact through technology and smart revenue models, he believes in the credo: “Take risks, dream big. If you fail, fail early and fail forward.

Francesco is an innovation manager with 20 years of experience spent as a researcher in materials science, as a Corporate R&D Manager within the field of technologies for renewable energy production and storage, and as an intermediary of knowledge trying to exploit the research results within the field of energy and environment. As a facilitator of knowledge exploitation (IoK), he co-managed publicly funded projects, as well as Emilia Romagna Climate-KIC Innovation Centre, Dhitech Living Lab on Nanotechnologies, Emilia-Romagna Greentech Clust-ER.

Jan is a venture capitalist, non-executive Director, and startup advisor specialized in energy and sustainable technologies. He has more than 16 years’ professional experience, including roles at Future Energy Ventures, E.ON, Innogy Venture Capital, MPS Capital Services and Interbanca. He also serves as Expert Jury Member in the European Commission’s EIC Accelerator.