Agenda

Networking, drinks and informal kickoff on the ISTA campus.

Enter the Conference Area and find your seat.

Join Martin Hetzer (ISTA), Markus Wanko (XISTA), Federal Minister Eva-Maria Holzleitner (BMFWF), and Georg Knill (IV) for an explosive opening. Moderated by Tina Deutsch, this session sets the stakes for the day: Where are the next massive commercial breakthroughs hiding in European life sciences, and what does it take to scale deep-tech life sciences in today's global market.

Professor Constantin Coussios Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation at the University of Oxford, OBE FREng FMedSci, Statutory Chair of Biomedical Engineering and Professorial Fellow of Magdalen College

Listen to heavy-hitting ecosystem architects Jens Nielsen (BII), Katja Rosenkranz (V-Bio Ventures), and country president of Novartis Catherine Emond, as they address the critical bottlenecks in translation and explore the vital infrastructure needed to keep Europe globally competitive.

The Vienna area is rapidly becoming an unstoppable biotech magnet. In this session, the powerhouse female leaders driving this transformation, Elly Tanaka (IMBA), Manuela Baccarini (Uni Wien), Maria Rescigno (CeMM), and Michaela Fritz (Meduni Vie), take the stage, exploring regional growth and culminating in an exciting new ecosystem announcement.

Explore the crucial first steps of a science-entrepreneur's journey, We are pairing ISTA’s most disruptive breakthroughs with their commercial counterparts to dissect what makes a winning startup. Featuring Hans Danzl and Alexander Bronstein, this session reveals exactly how curiosity driven life sciences are transformed into tech, that moves the needle in society.

Conference warp up and ecosystem announcements.

Join us for an evening of networking and refreshments, celebrating the advancements and connections made at bigX 2026.