Our Mentors
Adrian Iacovelli
Areas of expertise: Data Masking & Data Protection Compliance, Project Management, Software development methods, Advanced Java development, Mentor and teacher on software conception & development.
Project Manager at Gnubila & Be-Ys Research, where he manages the research around the topic of data masking and the development of the Be-YS Anonymizer tool. Adrian worked with Gnubila on several European projects in the health domain (MDPaedigree, NeuGRID and Cardioproof) and has a Phd on the domain of software development methods. In the meantime of working at Gnubila, he founded a organic market garden company.
Anu Oks
Areas of expertise: Pitching to investors, Fundraising, Investment strategy
CEO Estonian Business Angels Network and startup ecosystem builder working with angel investors and startup teams on a daily basis. She is building a bridge between startups and investors – thereby offering the best investment opportunities to investors and great “smart-money” value for startups.
David Ruiz de Olano
Areas of expertise: Business Development, Product-market fit, B2B sale and sale process, Customer acquisition, Business model definition, Marketing and communication
Director of Corporate Relations and Professor of Marketing at Deusto Business School. Before joining Deusto Business School – DBS, David was the Director of Studies at ESCP in London and a member of faculty. Before joining academia, he worked in several companies in the Financial Services sector, both in Milan and Paris. He has worked in several start-ups in the financial sector, both private owned and as part of large financial institutions in the marketing departments.
David holds a PhD in Business Administration, University of Turin (Italy), EECPCL, MA in Business Administration, ESCP-EAP (Paris, London, Madrid), and BA in Physics, University of Cantabria (Spain). He has also attended executive training programs at Harvard Business School, MIT and IMD. David is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Italian. David has taught undergraduate, graduate and executive courses in Spain, UK and Italy in the area of marketing, innovation, entrepreneurship and new product development. He helps and advices corporations, SMEs and R&D Technology Centres for creating innovative working environments.
His research area explores which are the main drivers of innovation and emerging concepts like servitisation. David is also looking at how industrial companies are shifting from selling products to start selling services as a response to the increase competition. David publishes regularly in academic and practitioners’ journals such as Harvard Deusto Business Review and international conferences
Dimosthenis Ioannidis
Areas of expertise: Project Management, Solutions Architect, Novel Products Prototyping
Senior Researcher and R&D Solutions Architect at CERTH/ITI, Dimosthenis Ioannidis has profound experience in designing & implementing large-scale technical systems related to next-generation technologies such as big-data platforms, next-generation HPC architectures and decentralized solutions backed by blockchain technology.
He also participated in more than 30 European projects, being either the Project Coordinator or Technical Manager of relevant development teams. He holds a Phd in Computer Engineering & Informatics and MSc in Advanced Communication systems and Engineering by University of Patras and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki respectively.
Iñaki Azpiazu Gáldiz
Areas of expertise: Customer acquisition, Partnership contracts and agreements, Funding, Corporate customers onboarding, Monetization Strategy, Approaching Business Angels, VCs and Investors, Customer trial negotiation
Iñaki holds an Law Degree at Deusto University and MBA Cum Laude at Instituto de Empresa. He is member of Instituto Español de Analistas Financieros and teacher at Deusto Business School and Mondragón University. His career has been linked to different Strategic Consulting and Corporate Finance (DBP Consultants; now PWC, Arthur D. Little Telco Spin off; Innovation Partners and Eboli Corporate). He has been active in the diffusion and setup of different equity Gap mechanisms such as Business Angel Networks, incubators and Deal Clubs).
He funed HUB Advisory in 2010, delivering a boutique approach in Strategic and Corporate advise to SME, Technology Centers and entrepreneurs as well. He is member of the board in different companies and active speaker in topics such as entrepreneurship, finance Corporate Strategy.
Iñigo Lopez Callejo
Areas of expertise: Hiring strategies, Leadership and team management, Negotiation Skills
Consultant and Trainer in Management Development, Entrepreneurial Development and Organizational Transformation. He also has an important focus on helping other people in the development of their potential, both in the managerial and entrepreneurial fields, and he is passionate about Leadership and the Transformation of People and the Cultures of Organizations, through training and consolidation of High-Performance Teams.
João Fernandes
Areas of expertise: Pitch Training, Fundraising, Marketing
Project Manager & Investment Analyst at Bright Pixel early-stage VC, where he coordinates a blockchain accelerator and mentors data-driven startups in EU-funded acceleration and incubation programs. João worked in a multinational touchscreens manufacturer, promoted a European nanomedicine program, provided consultancy to SMEs and stimulated open innovation at the largest retailer in Portugal. In the meantime, travelled 3 months around Asia and founded a pet accessories brand.
Konstantinos Votis
Areas of expertise: HCI, AI/ML, Decentralised Technologies, experience on European Blockchain Services Infrastructure
Senior Researcher and Blockchain Team leader at CERTH/ITI while he is also a visiting professor at the University of Ulster in UK but also a visiting professor in the University of Nicosia regarding Internet of the Future activities (e.g. Decentralized Ledger Technologies). He received an MSc and a Ph.D. degree in computer science and service-oriented architectures from Computer Engineering and Informatics department, University of Patras, Greece. In addition, he holds an MBA from the Business School department in the University of Patras. Since 2001, Dr. Votis has participated in more than 40 Research and Development projects in the fields of HCI, IoT, information Visualisation and data analytics, personal health systems, cybersecurity, but also in the area of distributed ledger technologies.
He is also involved to EU Blockchain observatory and forum while he has contributed to standardization activities like CEN/CENELEC Blockchain technologies, European Cybersecurity Organisation (ECSO), European Blockchain Partnership (EBP) for the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure implementation (EBSI). Actually, regarding EBSI, he is involved as National representative for Greece.
Margret Kanniste
Areas of expertise: Funding, Business Model definition
Deal Flow Manager at Estonian Business Angel Network. She is responsible for the entire venture capital investment process for EstBAN starting from deal sourcing to syndication. Margret has previously worked for Estonia’s leading business newspaper Äripäev, managing a diverse portfolio of internal and external events and collaborating with a broad range of partners and stakeholders. She has also gained experience in communications while managing Äripäev’s Radio content and production.
Margret’s first introduction to the venture investment scene was by organising the Baltic M&A Private and Equity Forum and she is daily involved in supporting the development of the Estonian startup ecosystem.
Miguel Bravo-Arribas
Areas of expertise: Data Science - Data Curation, Predictive Modelling
Data Scientist and spokesman for the team of data scientists in the R&D department at ITI, Miguel Bravo carries out national and European projects related to Machine Learning and Big Data.
With prior experience on data analytics positions at two of the well-known multinational Big Four companies, PwC and Deloitte, he now spreads its knowledge by teaching courses of Machine Learning and Python as well as mentoring SMEs on data-driven projects.
He holds a Joint International MSc in Smart Systems Integration and a Bachelor’s in Telecommunications Engineering at Carlos III University in Madrid.
Vicent Ortiz
Areas of expertise: Data privacy, data, and algorithms bias prevention
He received a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the Universitat Politècnica de València, València, in 2015, and a Bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, as well as a Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence at the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo, Santander, both in 2022.
Currently, he is studying for a Master’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona. He worked as a research assistant at AI2 – Instituto de Automática e Informática Industrial, Universitat Politècnica de València, in 2015. From 2016 to 2018, he was a researcher in Biomechanics at IBV – Institut de Biomecànica de València. Since 2018, he is a researcher in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision at ITI – Instituto Tecnológico de Informática. His interests include Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Model Interpretability, and Computer Vision.
Marek Mühlberg
Areas of expertise: Business model design Marketing, Communications B2B sales, Process Partnership contracts, Monetization strategies Fundraising
With over 15 years of experience in technology, media, and professional services, he is a full-stack business development executive and the owner of consultancy that helps high-growth companies communicate their value to investors, customers, and partners.
He has a passion for design thinking and innovation, and leverages skills in marketing communications, new business development, and strategy to create and deliver impactful solutions.
Jaak Ennuste
Areas of expertise: Approaching business angels & VC-s
Jaak Ennuste is a seasoned business angel and tech entrepreneur with a keen eye for recognizing and nurturing emerging companies. He expertly manages a diverse portfolio of startups, guiding them towards growth and success.