Melissa speaks regularly about building entrepreneurial communities and facilitating economic development through innovation. She also serves on boards such as the American Chamber of Commerce in Rotterdam and, previously, on the board of Restart Network - a nonprofit based in Rotterdam, providing free coding education and employment opportunities to refugees.

Moniek Buijzen is professor of communication and behavioural change at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Internationally renowned for her work on digital communication technology’s impact on well-being, she has received grants from the Dutch Research Council (including a VICI grant) and the European Research Council, chairs the interdisciplinary expert practice AI, Digital Communication and Behavioural Change at the Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics (ECDA) and is academic lead of the Erasmus Initiative Societal Impact of AI.

Bob Hendrikx is an inventor, architect and biodesigner who seeks to unravel the parasitic relationship between humanity and its environment by exploring a new living world. Collaboration with the natural world and imagining a new era in which our everyday objects come to life are important factors in his work.

Jari studied business administration at RSM, EUR. He is responsible for vision, product-market fit, fundraising and sales. Jari has been awarded by FD Jonge Talenten 2022, Forbes 30U30 2019, Best Pitch RTL Z in Zaken 2016 and won the Philips Innovation Award in 2016.

Dieuwke Hoogland has been an entrepreneur for many years and has co-founded several tech startups. As a non-tech educated female, she is an example of being able to successfully build a career in the STEM area.

Helena has a background in Medicine and Applied Mathematics and therefore focuses on human-like walking patterns and the safety and health of the pilot in Project March exoskeleton.

Having lived in four European countries Anna provides more than 15 years' experience in sustainable business model innovation. From being co-founder of the German branch of Dutch Triodos Bank to being a respected advisor to various international (tech) start-ups andEuropean organizations her focus has always been climate (tech) and business innovation.She is a strong advocate of science-based and impact-driven entrepreneurship, with a special focus on female founders.As a consequence of that, she provides a broad international network from key players in business to science in circular economy, energy transition and climate tech.

Over the past 20 years+, Ernst has been building a track record in several business domains, including IT, commerce, circular economy and related innovative supply chain providers. He is a passionate business leader with strong new business development skills and the ability to transform companies and startups into high- value organisations.

Joost Dieben is the co-founder and COO of the world's first all-electric regional aircraft development company Venturi Aviation. Joost began his academic career as Aeronautical Engineer followed by a Masters Innovation Sciences at Eindhoven University. Before co-founding Venturi, Joost operated as a business consultant at multiple SMEs and supported clients such as Bank of America, Google, Visa Card and Shell Global.

IJsbrand is founder and CEO of Stil. He studied Mechanical Engineering at TU Delft. The combination of having innovative insight in technology combined with his experience in undertaking business is his biggest quality. He combined these skills in his Master's thesis and developed, constructed and tested a novel actuator which is capable of mechanically suppressing vibrations in the arm. This was the start of a new MedTech start-up: STIL.

Within the Municipality of Rotterdam, Arno Bonte is primarily responsible for realizing the energy transition. The plan is to turn CO2 emissions from a steady increase into a significant decrease. Bonte started his political career in 2005 as a municipal councillor for GroenLinks. In 2010, he became the party leader of his party which he led for four years. He was previously a spokesman for the FNV and Milieudefensie. He also worked for the Drechtsteden cooperation region.

As a council member, he ensured, among other things, more trees in the city and extra money for bicycle facilities. Together with residents, he successfully fought against the speed increase on the A13 highway through Overschie. Arno Bonte was born in the Bergpolder district, grew up in Blijdorp and now lives in the centre of Rotterdam.