Marco Montali
Marco Montali is a Full Professor in Computer Engineering at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (Italy). His research focuses on artificial intelligence and process science, particularly combining model-driven and data-driven techniques to design reliable process-aware information systems. He has authored more than 250 research papers and has received multiple best-paper and test-of-time awards. Montali also serves as Vice-Dean for Studies at the Faculty of Engineering and has played leadership roles in major conferences on process mining and AI.

Bjørn R. Watne
Bjørn R. Watne is the Global Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at INTERPOL. He has more than 20 years of experience in cybersecurity and cyber-risk management across Europe and Asia. Before joining INTERPOL, he held senior security roles in industries such as telecommunications and financial services, including leadership positions at companies like Storebrand and Telenor. Watne holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Agder and an Executive MBA from ESCP Business School.

Nico Huybrechts
Nico Huybrechts is the founder and CEO of Datashift, a Belgian data- and AI-focused consultancy headquartered in Mechelen. He founded the company in 2015 with the goal of helping organizations turn data into real business value through analytics, data engineering, and AI. Under his leadership, Datashift has grown into a fast-growing scale-up with offices in Belgium and the Netherlands. Huybrechts also mentors and invests in other startups and has been selected for Belgium’s “40 under 40” leadership program.

Egwin Avau
Egwin Avau is the founding CEO of Panenco, a Leuven-based digital product studio specializing in software development, cloud architecture, and AI-driven products. After graduating as a Business Engineer in Policy Informatics from KU Leuven, he co-founded Panenco in 2014 within the university’s startup incubator. The company works with startups, scale-ups, and corporates to design and build scalable digital products and SaaS platforms.

Johan Vandendriessche
Johan Vandendriessche is a Belgian lawyer and partner at Affluo, specializing in ICT law, data protection, and intellectual property. His work focuses on advising organizations on GDPR compliance, IT contracts, outsourcing, and digital-law issues. In addition to his legal practice, he is active academically as a lecturer in ICT and data-protection law at several universities and professional training institutes.

Marian Verhelst
Marian Verhelst is a professor of Electrical Engineering at KU Leuven and research director at imec. Her research focuses on embedded artificial intelligence, low-power machine learning hardware, and AI accelerators for edge devices. She earned her PhD from KU Leuven in 2008 and previously worked as a research scientist at Intel Labs in the United States. Verhelst is an IEEE Fellow and has received several prestigious awards, including the Intel Outstanding Researcher Award and multiple European Research Council (ERC) grants.