Peter Nussbaumer has over 35 years experience in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery at Sandoz/Novartis. He is managing director of the Lead Discovery Center GmbH and Khanu Management GmbH, the general partner of KHAN Technology Transfer Fund I GmbH & Co KG, and its subsidiary wings4innovation GmbH. Peter is a member of several scientific advisory boards, advises private and public funding bodies and holds a PhD in organic chemistry from TU Wien.

Darryl McConnell works at Curie Bio building early stage Biotech companies. Previously Darryl was Senior Vice President and Research Site Head at Boehringer-Ingelheim’s Oncology Research Center in Vienna.

Darryl’s interests lie in drugging medicine´s most wanted drug targets with innovation and team science. Darryl studied chemistry and worked in Biotech in Australia and is author of over 75 peer reviewed publications and patents.

Ghazaleh Gouya, a clinical regulatory expert and board-certified in internal medicine, cardiology, and clinical pharmacology, has 25+ years of experience in clinical research. At Gouya Insights, she leads a team of experts providing biotech, pharma, and medtech companies with tailored strategies for clinical development, guiding products efficiently from discovery through operational clinical trials to regulatory approval and market.

Ulrich Granzer, PhD. is an independent consultant for drug development and regulatory affairs. He and his consultancy company are focusing on all aspects of drug development and regulatory affairs globally with a special emphasis on novel and orphan drugs. He has a track record of working on more than 300 new molecular entities in the US, Europe and other areas of the world.

Larissa Kahr has 20+ years’ experience in global pharma and finance, working on corporate and R&D strategies, new assets/technologies, risk management, market analysis, transformational technology projects, Due Diligence activities, CMC development, and set up a BD&L branch. Recently she expanded her expertise towards systemic organizational transformation and change management. Larissa holds a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Vienna.

Holger Ottleben, Ph.D. has over 20 years of experience in Pharma, Biotech, and Health Tech, gaining him profound knowledge of various therapeutic areas and the value chain. He served as General Manager in big pharma, top tier consulting and corporate. As co-founder of a biotech company, and board member of a VC backing start-up companies including clinical-stage biotech, micro-dispensing and telemedicine companies, he has significant start-up experience.

Troy Dale, a seasoned Pharmacologist with 30+ years in pharma across three continents, has expertise in Development, Marketing, Market Access, Policy, and Sales. At Novartis, he led a team identifying disruptive healthcare technologies, especially in Neuroscience. As former Head of Commercial Strategic Partnerships, he drove global collaborations. He chairs Cellbricks GmbH, advises Ochre Bio, and leads Biopharma assessments for Springboard Health Angels.

Ana Maricevic is Strategic Advisor to BioTech and MedTech companies, Investment Advisor for an oncology venture philanthropy fund and, as of recently, CEO of a Belgian gene therapy startup Questa Bio. Ana combines scientific background in Immunology with more than 25 years of experience in business management, entrepreneurship and advisory to Life Science companies and investors on issues of strategy, new business development and innovation.

Corinna Wilken completed her studies in Biochemistry at the University of Vienna and subsequently pursued her doctoral research at the Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP).

Since 2007 she works for the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) leading the funding initiative Austrian Life Sciences Programme. At FFG, her duties encompass the evaluation of research and development projects undertaken by Austrian biotech companies.

Philipp Hainzl is the managing director of Vienna’s life sciences platform LISAvienna. He is responsible for the Vienna Business Agency’s Startup Labs at the Campus Vienna BioCenter. Furthermore, he helps shaping strategic decisions on the future development of this sector and is committed to providing infrastructure and laboratory space for life science start-ups.

Elvira Kainersdorfer is cluster manager at LISAvienna since October 2022. She has a background in technical chemistry specializing in biochemistry, biotechnology and food chemistry (Graz University of Technology). With previous roles at Roche Diagnostics and Olympus Austria, she later became Secretary General at Austria Wirtschaftsservice (2007). In 2011 she started working as investment manager in seed financing deep tech for life sciences.

Cédric Barra is a Venture capital expert with more than 10 years of experience in funding deep tech startups in the healthcare and life sciences space.

He leads the life sciences team at OCCIDENT. Cédric is observer/member in several advisory boards and startup juries. Studied pharma­ceutical sciences and economics at ETH Zurich.

Christian Laurer is senior investment manager at tecnet equity, an early stage vc fund in Austria.

He is responsible for the life science portfolio in a broader sense with 7 years experience in marketing and sales with diagnostics and pharma and works in finance since 1999, mainly with early stage technology companies. Christian is a lecturer at the University of Vienna, where he received his PhD in biology. He is also a qualified car mechanic.

Bettina Bernhard is a senior pharmaceutical leader with deep expertise in market access and governmental affairs. She held roles at affiliate and European HQ levels at AbbVie and now leads Market Access, Governmental Affairs, and Patient Advocacy at AOP Health. Previously, she worked in consulting, advising life science clients on strategy, portfolio management and business development in international, cross-functional settings.

Gregor Handler is a leadership consultant, facilitator, and executive coach with over 20 years of experience in German-speaking and international markets. A former McKinsey consultant, he specializes in strategic HR and cultural transformation. Founder of A4Change, he holds a PhD in organizational development and certifications in hypnosystemic coaching, PCM®, Hogan Assessments®, MBTI®, and group dynamics.

Marion Rottenberg is a pharmaceutical leader with 15+ years of experience in rare diseases, patient advocacy, and commercial strategy. She has held senior leadership positions at Pfizer and has successfully led diverse teams, managed product launches and driven initiatives that bridge the needs of patients, physicians, and the life sciences industry. She is recognized for her cross-functional leadership and commitment to patient-centered solutions.

Uros Tacar is a regulatory affairs and quality management expert with 30 years of experience in active medical devices.

He has gained extensive experience in the medical device industry as Head of Development and Head of Quality at a medical device manufacturer. More recently, he has been working as a consultant and is outsourced lead auditor at the notified body.

Gregory Vladimer is co-founder and CEO of Graph Therapeutics, a next generation precision immunology techbio leveraging perturbation modeling from primary patient cell samples combined with multi-omics data to deliver transformative targeted therapies and biomarkers for immune-driven diseases. Greg was co-founder and CSO of Allcyte (acquired) and VP of Translational Research and Multimodal Discovery Lab at Exscientia. Greg also supports first-time founders as an advisor and angel investor.

Daniela Buchmayr has an engineering degree in biochemistry, biotechnology and genetic engineering and held various management positions in international companies in the biopharmaceutical sector for more than 15 years. As CEO and co-founder of Sarcura, a device platform to scale global manufacturing capacity focusing on CAR-T cell therapy, she is responsible for setting and leading the strategic direction of the company and organization.

Mark Caffrey earned a fellowship at the Translational Medical Device (TMD) Lab, gaining recognition as one of Ireland’s Leading Innovative Engineers. After founding his first neurotech venture-backed company, he shaped Syntropic Medical, where he now serves as CEO.

As serial neurotech entrepreneur, he brings extensive experience and deep expertise in medical device innovation, which has been instrumental in advancing Syntropic’s mission.

Priyanka Dutta Passecker has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Trinity College and an executive MBA from WU Executive Academia. She has worked with Novartis AG, UCB Pharma, and Bioseutica BV. With 15+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and start-up sector. She is cofounder of Healiva SA, CEO of Neurolentech, Board member / advisor at VIFFFF, Juvion, and Tilia Health. She co-founded and serves on the board of the WU EA Female Leaders Network. She is advisor for India-Austria startup bridge and healthcare Partner for Atlanto as well as Venture Partner at Alvicus.

Michael Lukesch is CEO and Founder of VALANX Biotech, a company using synthetic biology to address unmet needs in the production of protein bioconjugates like Antibody-Drug-Conjugates. He took VALANX’ technology from idea in 2017 all the way to commercial applications in 2023. He has a background in chemistry and biotechnology and a passion for enabling teams to take ideas from concept to reality.

Jack  O’Keffee holds a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering and gained experience with industry leaders like Baxter and JnJ in medical device R&D. Through the Novo Nordisk Foundation Fellowship in Biomedical Design, he collaborated with top physicians on neurology challenges before joining Syntropic as CTO.

Jack brings hands-on expertise in needs-led innovation, product development, and design control, driving the company’s approach to impactful solutions.

Elisaweta Penewa Petrow has 15 years of experience in international Executive Search and Business Coaching & Training focusing on the Life Science Industry. She is founder of in-spectum and successfully developed and launched her own patented devices for drinking water analysis. Furthermore, she gained experience in Sales, Key Account Management, and Global Business Development in the Life Sciences Industry.

Guido Gualdoni, co-founder and CEO of G.ST Antivirals, leads the development of a promising broad-spectrum antiviral nasal spray that recently concluded Phase 1 clinical trials. Holding both MD and PhD degrees in Immunology from the Medical University of Vienna, Guido has significantly contributed to viral infection research as a physician scientist at the General Hospital Vienna, focusing on metabolism-targeted therapies.

Sanja Selak is a biotech and pharmaceutical executive, entrepreneur, scientist and innovator with 27 years of experience. She founded Origimm Biotechnology GmbH, which was acquired by Sanofi in 2021. At Origimm, Sanja designed and led R&D and business strategy from the idea to clinical phase, led multiple financing rounds, wrote patent applications and actively contributed to the innovation-focused and agile organisation of the company.

Ingrid Kelly is a technology transfer professional and a Partner at xista science ventures, as well as a board member of biomedical startups Brainhero, Brightmind.AI and Hephaistos Pharma. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology) and practiced as a European Patent Attorney in the Pharma industry.

Marco Masia is head of entrepreneurship at the University of Vienna, member of the investment advisory board of the Vienna technology incubator (INiTS), and serves as Academic Chair for innovation at the European University Initiative alliance Circle-U. For more than a decade, he has covered different roles at the intersection between research, innovation, and policy. He holds a PhD in Physics a MSc in Chemistry, and an executive MBA.

Alexander Schwartz is a partner at xista, investing in and working with start-ups in life science, chemistry, and physics. He has more than 15 years consulting experience working for McKinsey and other companies. During this time he focussed on strategy, innovation, and business development in life science related industries. Alexander holds a PhD in chemistry, was a research fellow at ETH Zurich and a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. 

Regina Weinmüllner has more than 20 years of experience working with various young companies, leading cooperations between several industrial partners and working as an international project manager in the pharmaceutical industry. As Investment Manager at Austria Wirtschaftsservice, she specializes in Deeptech Founders. Regina has a broad academic background in Life Sciences and holds a PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Natural Sciences in Vienna.

Markus Pröll-Schobel studied Applied Business Administration in Klagenfurt, specialising in Marketing & International Management and Innovation Management & Business Creation. After almost 2.5 years as a business start-up consultant, he moved to the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) in 2008, where he took over the management of the national Spin-off Fellowship funding programme in March 2020 after holding several positions at the FFG.

Marion Biber has been leading INVEST in AUSTRIA – ABA’s department for foreign direct investment promotion – since 2019, marketing Austria as a business location internationally and supporting international companies and startups in establishing and expanding their presence in the country. She has been part of the ABA for more than 20 years, being responsible for the Southern Europe market before taking on the role of department head.

Holger Bock holds a PhD in organic chemistry and has over 25 years of experience in the early-stage startup sector.

He is startup consultant at the University of Innsbruck and supports Startup Tirol in the same role.

Prior to that, he was the founder and CEO of a biotech startup in the field of mRNA technologies. 

Dr Jonathan Cray is a senior patent attorney at Murgitroyd, one of Europe’s largest patent firms. He specialises in biotechnology and manages global portfolios for leading multinational biotech companies, helping them secure and protect valuable IP rights. Jonathan also regularly advises start-ups and major universities on IP strategy, guiding them through complex patent issues to maximise commercial value.

Laura Fè holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Leuven. She is an Italian and a European Patent Attorney, and head of the Murgitroyd Munich Office. Having worked in-house for global companies across a wide range of technologies, Laura is well-practised in understanding the dynamics and IP-related needs of a variety of clients and define strategic approaches that transform innovations into defendable assets that maintain their value.

Rudolf Dömötör is Director of WU Vienna Entrepreneurship Center and of the Entrepreneurship Center Network, a joint initiative of 31 Austrian universities promoting cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship. He is co-founder of Entrepreneurship Avenue, and co-author of the Austrian Startup Monitor, Austria’s largest startup study. Since summer 2022, he has been a member of the Startup Council of the Federal Ministry of Labor and Economic Affairs.

Barbara Heitger is a widely recognized thought leader, advisor and author in organisational development and leadership. Her focus is on Corporate Development, Complex change processes/strategy implementation, International Leadership Development Programs, working with and coaching senior management teams.

Peter Kayatz, PhD, is CEO of Sola Diagnostics and Stams Diagnostics, developing cancer diagnostics and nanotechnology therapies. With extensive experience in drug development at AlcaSynn Pharmaceuticals, and as the owner of Waterbergh Management, Kayatz offers expertise in start-up consulting, business development, and financing. His contributions to life science startups are complemented by roles in various advisory boards and as a lecturer.

Tibor Zechmeister is a startup founder, regulatory affairs manager and business leverager. His regulatory knowledge is based on three pillars of being an active part in multiple medical device startups, a consultant and an auditor for a European Notified Body. His entrepreneurial knowledge is based on over 11 years of being in the MedTech Startup ecosystem.

Verena Winter has over 20 years experience as a tax-advisor specializing in the areas of start-ups as well as venture capital funds. Besides her position as director at BDO Austria GmbH, Verena is member of the advisory board of the Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) venture capital initiative. She completed her education in business studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Bernhard Hlatky is a lawyer at Wirtschaftskammer Wien, specializing in public law and commercial law. After completing his doctoral studies at the University of Vienna he worked as a Legal intern at the Higher Court of Justice in Vienna and for the law firm Fellner Wratzfeld und Partner. At Wirtschaftskammer Wien his job is to advice Viennese businesses in the fields of business and commercial law. © Marko’s photography

Irmgard Nemec is an Attorney at Law at Herbst Kinsky Rechtsanwälte GmbH, specializing in intellectual-, industrial property- and unfair competition law. Irmgard advises start-ups and companies with a focus on biotech, life science and food&beverage. At Herbst Kinsky, she is a member of the Corporate/Start-Up/Venture Capital team advising clients in matters such as company foundations, financing measures and general corporate housekeeping.

Tahere Kalentary has helped dozens of companies in the pharma and biotech sector ask the right questions, and make decisions on their R&D strategy. She’s a manager at Catenion, and has a PhD in molecular biology.