Merel is the Chief Operations Officer at Dealflow.eu, where she drives collaboration across the team to ensure startups, investors, and corporates receive top-tier support and bridge all players in the VC ecosystem to drive European Innovation forward.
Before joining Dealflow.eu, Merel was an investor at No Such Ventures, a Dutch VC firm, where she led activities across Southern Europe. She also brings firsthand entrepreneurial experience, having been a founder herself. Passionate about advancing the venture ecosystem, Merel co-founded Women in VC Portugal and co-authored a landmark report on corporate venturing with the European Innovation Council (EIC) and Erasmus University.
Idris is part of Hello Tomorrow’s consultancy team and coordinates the European Innovation Council’s (EIC) Corporate Partnership Programme. He supports major European and global corporations in collaborating with startups and scaleups from the EIC portfolio, through tailored business acceleration services designed to create business and drive European innovation forward.
Simon Weaver KPMG's Global Head of ESG Advisory. With over 15 years of experience at the Board level, Simon focuses on enabling companies to achieve their climate and broader ESG ambitions. Formerly an audit partner, he understands the financial implications of sustainability decisions and how to best embed sustainability thinking in to broader enterprise strategies. Simon helps major clients with their sustainability transformations - across strategic, reporting and technology lenses. He served as KPMG's representative on the TCFD and sat on the ISSB's technical reference group. Passionate about Sustainable value creation, he has worked with the WBCSD on creating a framework for helping companies build the business case for sustainability.
Bruno Vanwelsenaers is CEO of WEAREONE.world, the company behind the globally renowned Tomorrowland brand. He joined the organization in 2012 as International Director, where he played a pivotal role in launching Tomorrowland’s first global editions in the United States and Brazil. Since becoming CEO in 2022, Bruno has led the transformation of Tomorrowland from a leading music festival into a global entertainment company. With a background at Alpro and The Boston Consulting Group, he combines strategic expertise with a deep understanding of brand building and international growth.
Bindi is passionate about technology entrepreneurship and investing in the European innovation ecosystem. She advises and connects across four innovation pillars (Corporates, Startups, Venture Capitalists, Government) for commercial success. She has worked as a Strategy Consultant (PwC), at Microsoft Ventures, Trayport, and at Silicon Valley Bank. Recognized as a SuperConnector across Europe by GQ UK, the IoD, Wired and The Evening Standard, she is a long term Board Advisor and has served on the Boards of the EU European Innovation Council, Startup Europe, and the University of East London and was appointed by WEF to the Digital Leaders of Europe group. She is an investor and advisor, has sat on the AdBoard of a Venture Debt fund, a Venture Partner for Molten Ventures, and is currently Non-Exec Director on two FTSE 250 Boards: Zigup plc and Telecom Plus plc. Bindi is British born, raised in Alberta, Canada, her entire family is from Kenya, but London is home. Â
Michiel Scheffer, a Dutch national, has three decades of experience in business, academia and public policy. He is equipped with a wide network in the world of research and innovation and has a remarkable professional experience of more than 20 years in the field of innovation, including on breakthrough technologies, disruptive innovations, start-ups impact investment.

From June 1st 2023 he is the President of the Board of the European Innovation Council, appointed by the European Commission. He is a strong believer in technological progress and innovation and its transformative power for a better society and for new generations.