From Barriers to Breakthroughs

In this dynamic 75-minute session, stakeholders from industry, academia, SMEs, policy and societal organisations come together to address a critical challenge for accelerating innovation: why do so many promising innovations struggle to scale into successful start-ups and scale-ups?

Through an interactive panel discussion, founders will share real-world experiences of where they got stuck, highlighting the systemic barriers, missed opportunities, and critical gaps that slowed their growth. What held them back? What support was missing? And what needs to change to unlock real progress on a systemic level?

What follows will be a professionally moderated, high-energy pitch round, where innovators present their ideas and clearly articulate what they need to succeed, whether that is funding, partnerships, policy support, or system changes.

This lunch session aims to be a catalyst for collaboration and innovation. It will actively connect founders, innovators, scientists, engineers, industry, societal partners, and policy makers. The goal is not just dialogue, but action: by the end of the session, meaningful matches are made, and concrete connections are established to help bridging the gap between technology development and application.

Would you like to pitch during this session? You can find more information and register here or here.

Netherlands Academy of Engineering: https://nae.nl/ 

4TU.Federation: https://www.4tu.nl/

VNO-NCW: https://www.vno-ncw.nl/