09:00 - 10:00

Registration & Welcome Coffee @ the Royal Museum of Art and History (Parc du Cinquantenaire 10)

10:00 - 11:30

Plenary Session: From Start-up to Star
Accelerating Growth for European Entrepreneurs
Tomorrow’s global leaders should be coming from Europe

Is a European Silicon Valley an impossible dream?
Be part of a highly interactive Q&A on how Europe needs to be more aggressive in the creation of high-growth entrepreneurs, in particular, the proliferation of innovation clusters and incubation zones attracting VC investment and pushing the region into a leadership role in the development of new breakthrough technology. Such breakthrough technology is on the top of the European Commission agenda to not only compete globally but try and solve tomorrow's most difficult issues such as health, transport and the environment.

Panel participants:
- Mr. Ján Figel' - Commissioner for Education, Training,
  Culture and Youth
- Mr. Peter Jungen, SME UNION Co-President, Angel Investor
  and Former President of Business Angels Network EBAN
- Mr. Hugh Morgan-Williams - Vice-Chair of
  BUSINESSEUROPE’s SME Committee
- Mr. Jean-Philippe Courtois - President, Microsoft
  International

Moderated by Jacki Davis, Communications Director, EPC, former editor of European Voice and E!Sharp

12:00 - 14:00

Exhibition and Networking Lunch @ the Microsoft EBC
(Avenue des Nerviens 85, 1040 Brussels)

Investigate key stages in the lifecycle of a European entrepreneur. Walk in their footsteps from learning about risk taking in an education environment, to securing private capital when commercializing a new idea born from an R&D incubation center. See the challenges our entrepreneurs are facing and programs out there to help them be tomorrow’s global leaders. Come and speak to the entrepreneurs yourselves to understand how this process can be easier and Europe can take real leadership in boosting this community.

12:30 - 18:00

Breakout sessions

12.30 - 14.00

Track 1 - Breakout Room 01 @ the Microsoft EBC

Women’s Enterprise – Fostering Business Creation

Women represent only on average 25% of all entrepreneurs in OECD and CEI countries. With the European Union being responsible for over 70% of member country decisions it is increasingly important to foster the participation of women at the EU level.
This break out session will explore the different issues faced by potential and existing women entrepreneurs such as: type of education, lack of role models in entrepreneurship, gendering of entrepreneurship, social status, competing demands on time and access to finance, as well as discussing innovative ways to foster the participation of these women in the entrepreneurial sector and their possibility to become successful entrepreneurs in Europe.

Moderator - Thaima Samman, Associate General Counsel / Corporate Affairs Microsoft EMEA

Panel participants:
- Maria Cappone (Member of Bulgarian Parliament,
  Vice President of SME Women)
- Catherine Trautmann (Member of European Parliament,
  Vice Chair Committee Industry, Research and Energy)
- Belinda Pyke (Director DG Employment and Social Affairs)
- Viviane Ribeiro (Director General of Lefebvre Software)
- Pilar Manchon (CEO Intelligent Dialogue Systems)
- Ana Bela Silva (President of the Portuguese Association
  of Women Entrepreneurs)

14.30 - 16.00

Track 2 - Breakout Room 02 @ the Microsoft EBC

Better Regulation: can we move to a Small Business Act by swimming through red tape

While everyone agrees more must be done to empower Europe's economic engine made up of small to medium sized businesses, there is discord on exactly what political framework needs to be developed and what regulatory obstacles need to be removed that are in the way of the success of high-growth entrepreneurs. The SME UNION hosts will investigate these issues in an interactive political panel discussion with Members of the European Commission and European Parliament. What should the Small Business Act being developed by the Commission look like and what action can take place to accelerate its better regulation initiative?

Moderator - Nikolaj Mlanenov, MEP, Bulgaria

Panel Participants:
- Mechthild Wörsdörfer, Head of Unit Promotion of SMEs,   competitiveness, DG Enterprise & Industry
- Ben Butters, Director European Affairs, EUROCHAMBRES
- Patrick Voller, Secretary General SME UNION
  of the European People’s Party

14.30 - 16.00

Track 3 - @ the Royal Museum of Art and History

Igniting the Entrepreneurial Spirit in the Next Generation -
A critical look at Europe’s education system

This session is designed to be a lively debate that will look very critically at the European education systems and their contribution to a climate of entrepreneurship and risk-taking amongst youth. The moderator will challenge the kind of skills and attributes we are fostering in Europe through formal education and how this will enable or disable our competitiveness as a region. How could the transformation of education play a determining role in the ecosystem that fosters innovators and entrepreneurs?

Moderator:
Christian Weinberger, Entrepreneurship and SME Policy Advisor, DG Enterprise & Industry

Panel participants:
- Maruja Gutierrez Diaz, Head of Unit “Lifelong learning:   Innovation and Creativity” at DG Education and Culture
- António Gaspar, Portuguese SME Public Agency
- Gabiza Albescu, President AIESEC International
- Tanya Muller-Borges, President JADE

14.30 - 16.00

Track 4 - Breakout Room 01 @ the Microsoft EBC

From Research to Revenue - process of commercialization of great European-generated IP

Helping turn ideas into viable products and solutions, creating a business proposition around these ideas, is not straightforward. This session examines some successful models and frameworks where third-level institutions, incubators, investors and private sector can collaborate to help the process of commercialization of great European-generated IP.

Moderator - William Stevens, Europe Unlimited

Panel participants:
- Ian Robertson, NCGE
- Michael Rauhofer, Managing Director INITS
- European Software Association
- INRIA Transfert (FR)
- Mathieu Carenzo, IESE Business School (ESP)
- William Dawson, Amadeus Capital Partners (UK)

16.00 - 16.30

Coffee break

16.30 - 18.00

Track 5 - Breakout Room 01 @ the Microsoft EBC

Social Entrepreneurs taking on society’s tougher challenges

Risk taking, vision and passion are inherent to successful entrepreneurship whether or not it is for profitable gain. Social entrepreneurship as a concept has been around throughout our history helping to fill the gap between rich and poor. A new age of social entrepreneurship is here where individual Europeans are stepping up to address society's most pressing issues by pioneering creative solutions through technology that bring wide scale and sustainable impact. Join an interactive exchange between all stakeholders from NGOs, foundations, members of governments, and corporations to reflect on what works and what doesn't and evaluating what impact is being made.

Moderator: Mirjam Schoening, Director of The Schwab Foundation

Panel participants:
- Catherine Guy-Quint. MEP Socialist (France)
- Eva Varga, Enterprise Development Director, NEsT
- Pamela Passman,Corporate VP, Citizenship, Microsoft
- Social Entrepreneurs among them Bernard Martin/
  Socialware- Belgium, Anne Karine Stocchetti/Optimomes-   France, Eamon Stack /Enclude -Ireland

16.30 - 18.00

Track 6 - Breakout Room 02 @ the Microsoft EBC

Patent Reform and the Community Patent

The European Commission and four successive presidencies have been focused on patent reform and the possibility of a community patent. There are still a number of issues to be addressed both in the areas of litigation reform, language translation and jurisdiction. Seperately, efforts are underway to introduce alternative dispute resolution (ADR) into the patent system. The Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), an international trade association for IT SMEs will explore the issues surrounding patents and SMEs, litigation reform, ADR and hopes for a community patent. Furthermore, the politics of these reforms and the role that SMEs can play will also be discussed.

Moderator - Jonathan Zuck, President Association of Competitive Technology (ACT)

Panel participants:
- Daniel Doll-Steinberg, CEO Tribeka
- Alain Pompidou, former president of the European Patent   Office
- Andre Carter, CEO Irimi, Author of The Little Blues: Building
  a Culture of Intellectual Property in Small Technology Firms
- Margot Froehlinger, Director for Knowledge Based
  Economy, DG MARKT

16.30 - 18.00

Track 7 - @ the Royal Museum of Art and History

Realizing the potential from Ideas to Innovation - Entrepreneurship Forum

The practical focus of this session is intended to inspire an audience of selected students who are on the cusp of deciding if starting a business is the right career decision for them through debate with engaged stakeholders.
The invited panelists will demonstrate the qualities, challenges and success factors that will pave the way from student to start up.

Moderator - Jonas Persson, Senior DPE Director Western Europe, Microsoft

Panel participants:
- Mark Spelman, Global Head of Strategy, Accenture
- Reshma Sohoni, CEO Seedcamp
- Marko Velic, Croatian Imagine Cup Finalist
- Eric Vaes, former Vice President Corporate Public Affairs,   InBev. MD, Best Practice Corporate Affairs