As the scope of funding options for startups is broadening as new financing sources are gaining more importance, we are also witnessing a significant evolution in the traditional sources. VC Funds are for instance increasingly focused on specific technology sectors – notably AI, Deep Tech, Bio-Tech – while corporate VCs are looking more and more at strategic value creation in their collaboration with startups, instead of looking only at financial returns. At the same time, new forms of funding are gaining ground such as blended ones combining different sources of funding, or cross-border crowdfunding with the emergence of global platforms.

• What does this diversification and evolution of funding sources mean for startup founders looking at forms of financing that will best support their development while protecting their long-term interest?
• While some investors are now relying on Data or/and AI to decide on which startups to support, what are the limits of this approach?
• As startup founders have now wider funding options, how is the role and value of investors evolving beyond being a capital provider?

Leveraging technology for maximum sustainability impact

Moving from startup to corporation status represents one of the most challenging moments in the company’s life. This implies a change of mindset, the blending of the entrepreneurial driven with corporate governance discipline and operational rigor, a permanent attention to financial markets expectations, the acquisition of some key financial knowledge, etc.

• What are the biggest cultural and/or operational shifts startups face after going public?
• How to manage post-IPO development effectively?
• What lessons do companies typically learn within their first year post-IPO?

• What models of international defense R&D collaboration have proved to be effective without compromising nation security imperatives?
• Which dual-use technologies applications (AI, robotics, cybersecurity) present the most realistic opportunities for cross-border innovation in the defense sector?

As we transition towards a new global balance of forces and the tremendous potential of frontier technologies keeps expanding, geopolitics and technology innovation will get ever more intertwined. Technology and is increasingly weaponized as a tool of power in the economic and geopolitical domains. Crucial strategic interests are at stake in the battle for digital sovereignty, especially for a fast-rising technology power such as India, but also for a more established one sike Europe – whose future prosperity, security and standing in the world will depend on their ability to avoid technology dependency on one of the two existing tech giants and to develop a technology capability that will shelter it from technology-focused pressures or even coercion.

• What are the implications of the fragmentation of the global technology landscape given the US-China geo-technological rivalry?
• How to look at digital sovereignty beyond the ability for a country to control and govern its own digital infrastructure, data, and technologies?
• What techno-economic alliances will help strengthen the position of a middle technology power in world where geopolitics and technology innovation are now intertwined?
• What initiatives to secure a place at the international institutions where rules on the governance of frontier technologies are being discussed?

• What role can cross-ecosystems collaboration play in accelerating India’s biotechnology growth over the next decade?
• What regulatory changes would make international biotech collaboration with India smoother and faster?
• What would make foreign universities and research institutes collaborate more effectively with Indian labs in frontier biotechnology areas?
• How can India leverage cross-ecosystems collaborations to expand its bio-manufacturing capacity?

As it entered the AI race later than the US and China, India is facing the challenge of catching up and asserting its position in a critical strategic domain dominated by two powers able to mobilize bigger financial and skills resources. The country’s AI drive has been accelerating, with the country’s total investment on AI above the US$ 20 billion mark, and with the India AI Mission created in May 2024 focused on developing sovereign AI capabilities. There are, however, significant challenges to be addressed for bridging the gap with respect to foundational AI models, to cutting-edge research, to Data Centers capacity, to public and private funding, compared to where the US and China now stand. In this position of still asymmetric competition in which it finds itself, what next actions from academia, private sector and government will allow India to join the AI global leadership league in the coming years?

• How to leverage optimally the open digital innovation model to accelerate India’s AI catching-up momentum?
• What actions to maximize the impact for AI development and innovation of some of India’s specific assets?
• What partnerships between Academia, Industry and startups to develop a strong research-to-product dynamics?
• What targeted collaboration schemes with foreign partners (business, academic or institutional ones) should India prioritize at this stage of AI development?