EU-Startups Podcast

Károly Ludvigh, CEO and co-founder of ABZ Innovation Key Points Why existing agricultural drones on the market fell short on reliability, and why ABZ decided to build its own hardware from the ground up How technology is transforming the day-to-day work of farmers, even in a sector that looks traditional from the outside Building for customers who prioritise reliability over exciting technology, and the engineering lessons that come with it How the war in Ukraine has reshaped Europe's drone industry: manufacturing capacity, investment, and the shift toward local production ABZ's stance on dual-use and defence applications versus staying focused on agricultural and civilian industrial use cases Scaling across 40+ countries with divergent UAV regulations, and a look at what drones may routinely do in agriculture within five to ten years

Jack Mardack, co-founder of Oyster Key points: Why impact should be treated as a design problem built into a business model from day one, rather than a values commitment bolted on later The difference between impact by intention and impact by design — and how founders and investors can tell the difference What it takes to prove impact with evidence, and why investors should fund proof rather than claims What replaces the ESG scorecard as the scorecard era comes to an end A ten-year vision for the European workforce if talent, capital, and opportunity finally connect across borders

Roundtable episode Key points: Bridging the gap between scientific breakthroughs and real-world cancer care remains one of Europe's biggest challenges Sustainable, microalgae-based biomanufacturing could become a serious alternative for producing antibodies and other biologics Moving cell therapy from highly personalised treatments to scalable, "off-the-shelf" solutions is key to reaching far more patients AI and generative chemistry open up RNA as a drug target that traditional discovery has struggled to reach Europe excels at world-class research, but scaling BioTech companies still faces friction in funding, infrastructure, and ecosystem support Practical lessons from founders on turning research into a company - and how Women TechEU creates impact well beyond the grant itself Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. The Women TechEU scheme is an EU-funded project supporting women leading deep tech startup companies from Europe. As part of the consortium team implementing the programme, our mission is to foster inclusive innovation by supporting women-led startups, including under-represented deep tech sectors and European regions. We believe that diversity drives innovation, and we are here to provide women in deep tech with more opportunities, resources, and support in order to build market-shaping companies at global level. Between 2026-2028, the current project consortium will run a continuous open call with 4 cut-off dates. Following a rigorous evaluation process, 160 total beneficiaries will be selected. Each beneficiary will receive €75k grants (non-dilutive finance), as well as a tailored package of mentorship, training, expert guidance, matchmaking and networking opportunities, and support in bridging the gap to other EIC funding and support schemes.

Cornel Amariei, CEO and founder of .lumen Key Points: How the .lumen glasses actually work: 3D environment perception, human-centered path planning, and in-house mapping and semantic surface understanding The guide dog comparison - where the glasses match its benefits today, where the analogy ends, and why .lumen aims to complement canes and dogs rather than replace them What blind users taught the team that engineers alone could never have discovered, and how organisations for the visually impaired are responding to the product The road to commercial availability: what still stands between today and a pair anyone can buy and use in everyday life

Paul Bonnet, General Partner at 20VC Key Points The media-first model of 20VC is a real advantage for deal sourcing and building founder relationships. Keeping a small core team is a deliberate choice: it preserves conviction, keeps decision-making fast, and keeps the firm close to founders. As venture firms become publishers and investors break their own news, independent journalists and traditional tech publications still play a role - but it's a changing one. European founders who say the continent lacks funding should look closely at what capital is actually available at each stage and position themselves accordingly.

SDTH Winner (3 Month Challenge) Vaikesh Manimaran, Maelstrom Key Points: Real-time defensive systems force hard trade-offs between speed, accuracy, cost, and reliability - there's no perfect solution, only chosen compromises Working directly with operators and defence experts surfaces problems and constraints that pure lab development would never reveal If the prize funding is being used to accelerate MAELSTROM's development beyond the hackathon prototype

Singapore Defence Tech Hackathon Winner (48hr Challenge) Wayne Lin, NeuroMech Key Points: Hands-free control of unmanned ground vehicles could change how operators manage systems in situations where their hands and attention are needed elsewhere Brain-computer interfaces are notoriously difficult to make reliable, and rapid prototyping under hackathon pressure exposes those weaknesses fast A working prototype is only the first step — the real question is whether a hackathon project can become a viable company Prize funding is being used to push NeuroMech beyond a demo and toward a serious product

Gary Ang, Professor of Practice, Defence Innovation & Applications Key points: Defence technology often struggles to move from R&D into real-world use for reasons that span procurement, culture and organisational incentives - not just technical maturity Genuine dual-use value means a technology works credibly across both civilian and defence markets, not just carrying the label Europe's rising focus on defence innovation and Singapore's long-standing, integrated approach to technology, government and industry create strong opportunities for collaboration European DefenceTech founders should see Singapore as a partner, a market and a gateway to the wider Asian region - each role comes with different expectations Universities are becoming central to defence innovation, and turning research into venture-backed companies requires deliberate investment in talent, capital access and international scaling paths

Helmut Schönenberger, co-founder & CEO, UnternehmerTUM Key points: Turning strong academic research into companies that actually scale requires more than world-class science - it takes a deliberately built university venture ecosystem Munich and Singapore support founders and commercialise deep tech in notably different ways, and each has lessons to offer the other Singapore's model of connecting universities, government, investors and industry offers practices European ecosystems could adopt Europe's strengths in engineering, industrial technology and long-term research are assets that Asian innovation hubs can learn from - the exchange runs both ways Helping European DeepTech companies expand into Asia is a concrete role universities and innovation centres should own, from talent bridges to market access

Prof. Benjamin Tee, Vice President at NUSX Key points: Entrepreneurship teaches lessons that academia can't - insights that only come from trying to turn ideas into companies Deciding whether breakthrough research should stay in the lab or become a real company is a skill in itself, and one that can be learned The journey from lab to market for first-time founders can be structured and supported The biggest opportunities in physical AI sit at the intersection of AI, robotics and the physical world over the next few years Working at the frontier of research on technologies like electronic skin reveals just how long DeepTech really takes to reach the market University spin-outs rarely fail because of weak science - scaling globally requires doing things differently, from ecosystem support to commercial ambition