The Future Unicorn Award aims at celebrating SMEs from across Europe that have the potential to become the future European Tech giants. It puts under the spotlight SMEs which have demonstrated to be successful in digitising their business processes and in offering innovative digital products and services.
A New Space scale-up that specializes in designing, manufacturing and operating small satellite systems.
Its innovative approach unleashes unprecedented computational power, enabling it to deliver breakthrough solutions in multiple industries.
They have developed an intelligent sports camera that enables sports teams of all levels to record and automatically live-stream matches.
A fast-moving digital disruptor that automatically connects businesses and workers on its proprietary digital platform, like Netflix but for jobs.
It’s Netflix for jobs. As a talent (B2C) you decide when you want to work, for whom, for how much. As customers you’ll find a seamless, fast access to workers incl. quality assurance. Our matching algo ensure the best experience for both sides of the marketplace.
We are a tech enabled on-demand staffing agency, with most of the involved processes being fully automated. When we stared Zenjob six years ago, the industry was 96% paper driven.
Meet our shortlisted nominees for the Future Unicorn Award 2025. For the first time there will be two categories for this award, the Future Unicorn Award and the Dual-Use Technologies Award.
From this list, there will be 3 finalists chosen per category who will attend the ceremony on 19 February at our VIP Gala Dinner where they will also find out which one of them has won!
Danish company that creates customizable mobile robots for inspection, logistics, and maintenance, with indoor and outdoor capabilities.
Uses AI to make medical imaging faster, cheaper, and more accurate.
Provides global Voice and IVR (Interactive Voice Response) testing for seamless customer communication and call path optimization (detects and fixes call issues before they impact customers).
Develops next-gen catalysts and electrodes for green hydrogen production, revolutionizing electrolysis technology (makes green hydrogen production cheaper and cleaner).
AI-powered negotiation platform automating commercial agreements for global companies at scale (it negotiates on your behalf, faster and better).
Pioneers in Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS), helping organizations improve cybersecurity through validation and mitigation tools (its tools test and fix their cybersecurity before threats hit).
Develops AI models that enable secure, collaborative intelligence from cloud to edge, catering to regulated industries.
Focuses on making UAVs (drones) work together smarter and more safely with less human risk, using collaborative autonomy. They aim to set new standards for autonomous drone teaming, improving capabilities while maintaining ethical standards.
Uses AI and satellite images to assess building damage after wars or natural disasters, generating detailed maps of destruction and building heights.
Creates advanced drones with long endurance and multi-sensor capabilities, serving both defense and commercial sectors.
Designs unmanned ground vehicles, remote weapon stations, and tactical awareness systems to enhance battlefield safety and capabilities.
Builds cutting-edge drone technologies to improve first-person-view (FPV) systems, enhancing the precision and usability of remote operations for defense.
Develops robotic prosthetics and control systems for human augmentation, potentially advancing exoskeletons and human-machine integration for defense applications.
Designs cost-efficient satellites for tailored missions, offering rapid deployment and reliable space-based intelligence, vital for defense and security needs.
An expert jury will decide the three finalists from the list of nominees, along with the winner of the Future Unicorn Award for 2024. Make sure to sign up for Masters of Digital on 21 February to find out who the winner is!
Ms Mine leads Strategy & Technology for Nokia’s global sales and marketing organization. Ms Mine and her extended team of Customer CTOs and strategists ensure a strong voice of customer in Nokia’s technology strategy and vision to support the broader goal of helping Nokia’s customers realize their ambitions, while supporting Nokia’s go to market teams with thought leadership, new market incubation, and customer success strategies.
In addition, Ms Mine serves on the Executive Board of DIGITALEUROPE as President.
Ms Mine has a broad experience globally and operationally over the past 20 years with Alcatel/Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia. She has run sales and operations in 21 countries across Europe and Asia; run strategy, marketing and comms functions globally and in the US; run the global Consulting business; and helped define the company’s cloud strategy including founding new products.
Before joining Alcatel, Ms Mine was a much cited and published analyst and consultant working across the IT and telecom industries. She has worked in the communications and IT field for more than 30 years.
Hilary Mine
VP Strategy & Technology,
Nokia
Kadi Silde is the Chief ofStaff/Head of the transition teamfor DIANA(Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic)at NATO since July 2022.She previously served as Undersecretary for Defence Policy at the Estonian Ministry of Defence in 2019-2022. In this position, she was responsible for policy planning, intelligence coordination and operations planning; EU and NATO matters and other bilateral and multilateral international cooperation. Kadi Silde joined the Ministry of Defence in 2008, holding various positions including the director of policy planning. She joined Estonia’s EU Council Presidency team in 2017, coordinating defence efforts and working on defence initiatives such as the European Defence Fund. She was subsequently seconded to the European Commission to implement it.She holds a BA in political science from Tartu University, an MA in International Relations fromTallinn University, and anMSc in Digital Transformation from Tallinn Technical University.
Kadi Silde
Chief of Staff, Head of the Transition Team, DIANA,
NATO
Eric de Montgolfier is Chief Executive Officer of Invest Europe, the association representing Europe’s private equity, venture capital and infrastructure sectors and their investors.
Eric joined Invest Europe after a career spanning three decades in leading private equity firms. He was previously CEO of Gimv France, a division of the Brussels-listed mid-market investment firm, where he oversaw strategy and investments in the French market. Prior to that, he was co-founder and co-managing partner of Edmond de Rothschild Capital Partners. He started his private equity career in 1990 at Astorg – where he subsequently became a co-founding partner of Astorg Partners.
He holds a Master in Management from ESCP Business School in Paris.
Eric de Montgolfier
Chief Executive Officer, Invest Europe
Indrek’s leadership experience and strategic mindset ensure that our teams are aligned to achieve our ambitious goals. He has 15+ years of experience working as a leader, strategist, and consultant in 20 countries on 3 continents, with companies including Luminor Bank, Jumia, McKinsey and others. Indrek believes in Agile Leadership philosophies, investing in and growing talent, and working smart with a good focus. High-performing teams can achieve pretty much anything, as long as there is a clear shared dream they want to achieve.
Indrek Heinloo
COO,
Veriff
Stéphane Ouaki, the Head of Departmentof the European Innovation Council (EIC) in the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency. In his role, he ensures effective and efficient implementation of the EIC from the emergence of new technologies having thepotential to generate game changing innovation up to the scaling up of deep-tech enterprises (mainly startups and SMEs). He also chairs the Investment Committee of the EIC Fund. Beyond the EIC, Stéphane oversees the implementation of the Research, Innovation and Digitisation Window under the InvestEU Programme. Previously, he was the head of unit for Financial Instruments in DG Research and Innovation at the European Commission. Before joining DG R&I, he was the head of unit for the Connecting Europe Facility and investmentstrategies in DG MOVE. Beforehand, he was Deputy Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Vladimír Špidla, responsible for employment, social affairs, and equal opportunities (2004-2010). Previously, he was part of the Commission’s team negotiating with the Czech Republic its terms of accession to the EU (2001-03), and then moved on to be part of the team coordinating the enlargement strategy (2003-04).
Stéphane Ouaki
Head of Department, European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA)
If you are interested in finding out more about the event, please contact Kivanc Akil, Associate Director for Events & Executive Coordination, DIGITALEUROPE: