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), Georg Knill (IV) and Eva-Maria Holzleithner 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 OBE FREng FMedSci, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation, Statutory Chair of Biomedical Engineering and Professorial Fellow of Magdalen College

This panel brings together heavy-hitting ecosystem architects Jens Nielsen (BII), Katja Rosenkranz (VIB), and a representative from the Francis Crick Institute, to 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, exploreing 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.

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