5-6 July 2023 I Budapest, Hungary
DEEP Startup
Ecosystem Conference
Conference for Ecosystem Leaders and Innovation Managers
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MEET OTHER ECOSYSTEM BUILDERS
- 2-day conference with up to 100 ecosystem leaders, investors, corporates, and governments
- Inspiration by thought-leaders on the frontiers of innovation
- Challenge-driven working groups with dedicated data analysts
- Joint Publication of White Papers with results of the working groups
- Meet startup portfolio managers and get access to the startup database
- Partnering around concrete opportunities, e.g. EU funding calls
Insights & Data
Interactive Exchange
Ideas & Partnerships

Welcome to Budapest: The Pearl of the Danube
The star of the Danube, Budapest, is known for the rich culture, underground caves, beautiful Parliament Building, local delicacies, and being the world’s Spa capital. The city is also turning into a destination for the innovation and technology community, attracting talent and companies from all over the world.
The city has been attracting multinational tech giants such as SAP, IBM, Robert Bosch, Canon and Microsoft. It is home for companies like Prezi with its amazing presentation templates, GoTo that offers a range of cloud-based connectivity services formerly known as LogMeIn, and SEON that helps fight online fraud.
DISCUSS IN WORKING GROUPS
- Several 2h interactive workshops that you can choose to join
- Hosted by leading ecosystem organizations
- Accompanied by a dedicated data analyst
- Provision of data insights for every participant
- Goal to collect and publish insights in joint white paper
- Connection with the DEEP Startup Ecosystem Accelerator Program and teams working on this topic


BRING HOME INSIGHTS, DATA, STARTUP LISTS
- Dedicated research team prepares each talk and workshop
- You get exclusive briefings and data access on each DEEP Dive topic
- Take home a full list of the best early-stage startups across Europe in an Excel File
- Meet portfolio managers with intimate knowledge on your favorite startups directly on the event
MAKE FRIENDS TO WORK WITH
- Join a relaxed community trip to the nature on the second day
- Taste wine and enjoy casual conversations with international friends
- Meet the person behind the organization and develop ties that last a life time
- Meet again at the next DEEP Conference get-away and be part of the community

5th and 6th July | 9:30 am – 19:00 pm | TBC, Budapest, Hungary
#Agenda: DEEP Ecosystem Conference
Partnering conference for ecosystem leaders and innovation
managers to kickstart strategic projects
Day 1
Part 1 : DEEP Visions
Future trends and why they matter for startup ecosystems
9:30 – 9:50
Welcome and Introduction
- Laszlo Bodis, Deputy State Secretary for Innovation, Budapest, Hungary (TBC)
- Dr. Kovács Levente, Rector, Obuda University (TBC)
- Thomas Kösters, Co-Founder & CEO, DEEP Ecosystems
9:50 – 10:10
LAUNCH: Presentation of the 2023 Startup Heatmap Report with a ranking of the top startup hubs in Europe
Dr. Erica Santini, Head of Research, Startup Heatmap
10:10 – 10:40
KEYNOTE: “ Fark Labs: Transformation of an Automotive Company into a Startup Hub via Innovation”
Ömer Hantal, Chief Innovation Optimizer of FARK LABS, Istanbul, Türkiye

10:40 – 11:20
PANEL DISCUSSION: “How Hungary Builds its Innovative Startup Ecosystem”
- Imre Hild, CEO, Global Traction, Budapest, Hungary
- Marius Almstedt, Co-Founder at PatentPlus, Munich, Germany
- Gergő Gulyás, CFO at Wolves Summit and Co-Founder of iScale Hub, UK
- Yakab Kitti, Head of Incubation, Lunar Program Zrt. (TBC)
- Istvan Szasz, Technical Project Manager, Bosch Hungary (TBC)
Part 2 : DEEP Dives
Data-driven and action-oriented round tables to promote ecosystems
DEEP Dives are roundtables for professional ecosystem leaders. Each table is co-hosted by a leading ecosystem player with domain knowledge and best practices. Further DEEP Dives are accompanied by a dedicated data analyst who provides each participant with strategic insights before the discussions. The results are summarized and published in a joint publication after our event.
11:20 – 11:35
Arnbjörn Eggerz, Managing Director, Iceventure
11:40 – 12:40
Topic 1:
STARTUP ACCELERATORS: “Startup Lies: From Greenwashing to Theranos and Wirecard, how to protect against fraud?”
Topic 2:
IMPACT ECOSYSTEMS & INVESTING: “Building the impact innovation scene in emerging markets”
Topic 3:
RAISING FUNDS & DIVERSITY: “Financing Gender Gap”
Topic 4:
STARTUP TECHNOLOGY TRENDS: “Communities of Future: The Blockchain and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)”
12:40 – 13:25
13:25 – 14:25
CONTINUATION: DEEP Dives continue for the second part
14:25 – 15:10
Part 3 : DEEP Match
Marketplace of ideas & opportunities
15:25 – 15:55
KEYNOTE: “Decoding Silicon Valley: Attitudes, Beliefs, and Culture of Innovation” (online)
Michelle E. Messina, CEO & International EIR at Explora International LLC, author of Decoding Silicon Valley: The Insider’s Guide, San Francisco, USA
15:55 – 16:40
NETWORKING: Use the opportunity to meet the other participants and chat over a coffee and a small snack
Part 4 : DEEP Accelerate
Startup Ecosystem Accelerator for moonshot collaborations to tackle global challenges
16:40 – 16:50
ACCELERATOR: Presentation of the DEEP Startup Ecosystem Accelerator Gen #5
Harald Eisenhauer, Co-Founder & Head of Platform, DEEP Ecosystems
16:50 – 17:30
17:30 – 18:00
18:00 – 18:10
ECOSYSTEM PROJECT AWARD: The winner of the pitch session will be announced
18:10 – 19:00
Closing Remarks & Cocktail Reception
Day 2
Outdoor Community Building Activity (TBC)
Our DEEP DIVES
The DEEP Dives are prepared and presented collaboratively between DEEP and our research partner Iceventure.
Iceventure is niche consultancy specialized in business development and organizational development with more than 12 years of experience. Their consultants work with corporates, SMEs and startups on how innovation and future tech can be integrated into organizations and generate business advantages.
Startup Accelerators
Meet international peers from other startup support organizations and exchange about the current trends in acceleration and scaling of future unicorns.
This time, we want to exchange insights, data and learning on the topic of “Startup Lies: From Greenwashing to Theranos and Wirecard, how to protect against fraud?”
The world of startups lives by the motto “fake it ’till you make it”, but some companies just push their luck a little too far, such as Theranos and their revolutionary blood tests that never existed or an increasing number of fintech and crypto companies. In this workshop, we will provide you with a review of the biggest scams and their dangerous repercussions on users and investors. But we also want to hear your experiences and discuss the biggest threats to the integrity of the startup scene today.
Impact Ecosystems & Investing
An open debate of impact innovation stakeholders from around the world on the latest trends and opportunities linked to the transformation of a sustainable economy.
Here we take the opportunity to specifically discuss: “Building the impact innovation scene in emerging markets”. As startup ecosystems continue to evolve, it’s becoming increasingly important to focus on impact and sustainability. In this workshop, we’ll explore the unique opportunities and challenges that arise when building startup communities in emerging markets with a focus on creating positive social and environmental impact. You’ll hear from experts in the field who have experience working with impact-driven startups and ecosystem builders in diverse regions, as well as from founders and investors who have successfully built businesses with a social or environmental mission.
Raising funds & Diversity
With only roughly 16% of Europe’s founders being female, diversity remains a challenge across the board for ecosystems everywhere, we offer an open debate on the current state of diversity in international ecosystems. Join the conversation and learn from best practices in other hubs.
Here we focus on the “Financing Gender Gap”. Despite progress in recent years, the financing gender gap remains a significant challenge for female entrepreneurs around the world. In this workshop, we’ll explore the causes and consequences of the gender gap in startup financing, check the effectiveness of existing gender parity instruments, share strategies for bridging the gap and creating more opportunities for women-led startups to access the capital they need to grow and thrive.
Analyst: Leyla Karaha, Founder at Your Y Network
YourY Network is a global community of social entrepreneurs and changemakers with the aim to raise public awareness of social entrepreneurship.

Startup Technology Trends
Join the debate on the latest trends in technology and learn the basic concepts behind the buzzwords. Innovation support actors come together in this workshop to exchange and learn, so don’t be afraid to join and ask your questions.
This time we focus on ” Communities of Future: The Blockchain and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) “. Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are a new and innovative organizational communities that are getting popular and could have the potential to transform the way we build and support startup ecosystems. In this workshop, we’ll explore the opportunities and challenges of using DAOs to organize and govern startup ecosystems and discuss their influence on the startup world. We will see what makes them special and what makes them challenging.
Analyst: Shivam Dhawan, Founder & CEO at GetBoarded Technologies
GetBoarded is a talent analytics start-up that helps organizations, Academic or Business, to manage the career progressions of their talent.

Tickets
Full access to Conference
Lunch & Cocktail Reception
Community Building Activity
DEEP T-Shirt
Strategy Briefs on Ecosystem Trends
Heatmap Startup List (4x year)
Speaker Slot on Your Ecosystem
DEEP Academy with >20h online learning
Access to DEEP Data App
VIP Dinner Invitation
DEEP FREE Swimmer
1x Conference Pass
As a grass-root initiative with no budget, an entrepreneur with a passion for the ecosystem or a student, you can apply for a free ticket to the conference.
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FREE
DEEP Surfing
1x Conference Pass
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349 €
incl. VAT
DEEP Pro
1x Conference Pass
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499 €
incl. VAT
DEEP Advanced Subscription
Annual Membership with Free Access to ALL Conferences
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899 €
incl. VAT
Terms and Conditions
- Payment: Payment with an invoice is available for corporate and group tickets upon request. The invoice will be sent to you separately. For the invoice, please contact us.
- Cancellation & refunds: Please note that your payment is non-refundable.
- COVID-19 policy: If required the organizer is entitled to setup special access and participation guidelines and limitations that attendees must comply with.
Our Speakers
Laura Egg
Managing Director at Austrian Angel Investors Association
David Bowles
Venture Capital Investor at The Yield Lab Europe
Igor Oliveira
UN consultant on ecosystem modelling,former Managing Director of Semente (Brazil)
Sebastián Díaz Mesa
Co-Founder at DEEP Ecosystems and Head of Acceleration & Community
Matija is the founder and CEO of Agrivi- an agri-tech startup that is creating the global agricultural eco-system with vision to change the way food is produced. With an intelligent cloud farm management solution, the company helps farmers to increase their productivity and find buyers for produced food. Agrivi is the winner of World Startup Competition 2014.
Matija Zulj
CEO & Founder at AGRIVI
In her role as Business Development Manager & Project Leader, Katja brings together key stakeholders from business, academia, the public sector, and the startup and ecosystem scene on a national and international levels and enables the entrepreneurial and innovation exchange within this strong network and strengthen the strategic development as well as the national an international visibility for the Munich Innovation Ecosystem.
Katja Werner
Business Development & Project Leader at MUC SUMMIT
Economist as background, Catherine has been working at the European Commission since 1994 in various services where she has been highly committed to support companies in the field of transport and energy infrastructures. Since 2015, she has further developed her experience in innovation where she has been responsible of the EIC-Accelerator evaluation process selecting highly innovative SMEs with a strong capacity to scale up.
Catherine Eginard
Head of Sector H2020 at EASME
Anke has many years of experience in strategic marketing and business development in medical technology and biotechnology. Before joining the investment team of HTGF, one of Europe’s most active seed investor, she developed the product portfolios of international life science companies ensuring their future growth. At HTGF she is responsible for several early stage investments in medical technology, digital health and biotech.
Anke Cassing
Principal in the Life Sciences Investment Team at High-Tech Gründerfonds
Gergo is a Business Development leader at Amazon Web Services. In his current role, he is responsible for the strategic relationship with leading VCs and driving growth with their portfolio companies. His previous experiences include working as a Product and Business Owner at Zalando, Entrepreneur in Residence at Rocket Internet, and co-founding e-commerce companies Wimdu and WestWing.
Gergo Kalcsics
Senior Manager - VC Business Development at Amazon Web Services
Jan Verkooijen
Co-founder & Capital Management Director at WorldStartup
Maria João Silva
Brand Marketing Manager at GetBoarded
Cristian is experienced in FMCG manufacturing with a background on Electrical Engineering and Management. Based on a rich AIESEC experience and his previous sales jobs, he has developed a strong desire to lead teams and work with people, understanding and applying engineering principles at the same time.
Cristian Pogan
Co-Founder of PolyMore
After a convincing performance, the Ludwigsburg municipal council elected Renate Schmetz as First Mayor of the baroque city in March 2021. The 53-year-old took up her new office on 1 May 2021. Her department includes an enormous range of tasks with the department of civic engagement, social affairs and housing, the department of citizen services, the departments of fire brigade and civil protection, education and family, sports and health as well as the staff office of the equal opportunities commissioner.
Renate Schmetz
First Mayor of Ludwigsburg
Manuel is a Senior Consultant for Business Model Innovation and Coach in the Bosch Accelerator Program. His professional background is in Logistics, SCM, and Sales in Hydraulics and Factory Automation at Bosch. He thrives for explorative innovation and has first-hand experience in starting-up a new venture.
Manuel Krauß
Senior Consultant Business Model Innovation at Bosch Innovation Consulting
Jolanta is a studied publisher. She has an innovative spirit and coordinates the innovation network of the city of Ludwigsburg. Here she works with partners from business, industry and research institutions in a cooperative manner. The collaboration is intended to develop impulses for new, innovative technologies that can be tested on site under real conditions in the urban space.
Jolanta Gatzanis
Innovation Network, City of Ludwigsburg
Heike is responsible for operating a group of experts globally that offers advice and services on the topic of "Outside-In". Her curiosity for everything new, her desire to drive things forward, her ability to identify needs and associated business ideas and to develop them further in diverse, cross-divisional teams have led her to take over the management of a global consulting department for co-innovation and partnerships with external parties.
Dr. Heike Langner
Director of Performance Expert Service for Outside-In at Robert Bosch GmbH
Ertan Can
Managing Partner at Multiple Capital
Anna is a senior lecturer at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg’s Animationsinstitut in Ludwigsburg where she serves as a head of the subject area Interactive Media. Working for over 10 years as a freelance designer and producer for apps, games, immersive media, and spatial communication, Anna is now working as a consultant for media production companies and agencies on supervising creative productions.
Anna Brinkschulte
Head of Interactive Media, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
Christian is a founder of a mediaproduction company - eyecatchproductions. Since 2003 he realises a wide range of short, feature and business films, as well as animation driven / interactive content and live events. In January 2006 he has joined the team of Animationsinstitut at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, currently working as head of commissioned productions and talentinitatives.
Christian Müller
Head of Commissioned Productions and Talentinitatives, Animationsinstitut Filmakademie
Hanno leads MANN+HUMMEL „Performance Office“ - enabling organization via focused governance and agile project management to drive key global and x-functional strategic initiatives to execution. The scope encompasses product portfolio, footprint & structure, processes & organization, digitalization & innovation.
Hanno Hoehn
Chief Procurement Officer and Managing Director at Mann+Hummel
Jürgen studied economics with a focus on IT in Hohenheim. After his studies, he worked as a consultant for renowned management consulting agencies for large companies, including DAX companies. But there were also some small companies he was allowed to advise at the public sector, such as municipal and national energy suppliers. Since 2021, Jürgen has been Head of the Digitalisation & IT Department at Ludwigsburg City Council.
Jürgen Paulus
Head of Digital Transformation & IT, City of Ludwigsburg
Ana Rosa de Lima
Initiator and Director of Meli Bees Network
Ralph is Research Associate and PhD Candidate at Institute for Entrepreneurship, Technology-Management and Innovation (EnTechnon) at the Karlsruher Institute of Technology. He is responsible for the coordination of research activities in the field of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems. Ralph is a member and former marketing executive of the Pioniergarage e.V., which is the largest student entrepreneurship group in Germany.
Ralph Henn
Research Associate, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Oliver is responsible for the economic development of the county of Ludwigsburg since 2021. With 15 years of experience in supporting industrial companies, he is now developing strategies and initiatives for the county to stay a top place for production and innovation. This also includes building a fruitful environment for startup companies.
Oliver Reichert
County Economic Development in the County of Ludwigsburg
Andrea is a Consultant at Bosch Management Consulting. Her focus is on strategy development and scenario management. In addition, she empowers customers methodically and operationally with practical approaches to achieve high effectiveness in systematic business model innovation. Before joining Bosch in 2005, Andrea was self-employed and worked for various advertising agencies.
Dr. Andrea Bräuning
Director of Corporate Strategy at Robert Bosch GmbH
Plamen has been head of the new Solution Architects department at German Edge Cloud (GEC), a specialist in edge and cloud solutions and a Friedhelm Loh Group company. The expert for the digitization of industrial manufacturing processes previously worked for IBM for 27 years, most recently as Global CTO for the area of Industry 4.0.
Plamen Kiradjiev
Head of Solution Architects at German Edge Cloud
Nevena Stavreva
CEO of Enterri
Andreas Veit
Executive Director at Wohnungsbau Ludwigsburg GmbH
Award winning Inventor of two patented products, founder of Cleantech company, a Digital Commerce platform, Sustainability consultancy, Innovation Speaker, Business Coach, Non Executive Director, Podcaster and former fundraiser for Renewable Energy projects. He is mentor for Natwest Bank, EIT Climate KIC and Creative Quarter Nottingham and working with UK Government on COVID recovery funding for small businesses. Supporting innovators with achieving their business potential.
Assim Ishaque
Founder at The Entrepreneurs Trust
Julia is an International City Promotion Advisor at Barcelona City Council, where she actively presents the city and its economic opportunities in order to bring economic activity through foreign investment and create quality jobs in the city. A civil servant since 2016, she is committed to the city of Barcelona and its citizens.
Julia Cordonet
International City Promotion Advisor at Barcelona City Council
Michal is responsible for the management of several EIF-advised investment programmes, particularly the multi-country Central Europe Fund of Funds, the European Angels Fund and the ESIF-funded VC programmes in the Czech Republic and Croatia, helping build innovation ecosystems across the CEE space. Prior to EIF, Michal was responsible for international affairs at the International Investment Bank, which he joined from the Slovak Ministry of Finance.
Michal Košina
Senior Mandate Manager, Mandate Management – Equity, European Investment Fund (EIF)
Dr. Ellie Amirnasr started her career as innovation project manager at M+H in 2013. She is the founder of MANN+HUMMEL first corporate startup, qlair, focusing on intelligent solution for clean air management in commercial and industrial buildings. While growing the business for qlair and crossing the chasm she realized the difference between corporate and startup KPIs and developed corporate startup governance process for M+H.
Ellie Amirnasr
Director of Digital Ventures at MANN+HUMMEL
Outcomes of previous edition
White Paper on Tech Saves the World
White Paper on Emerging CEE Startup Ecosystems
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