A short opening session introducing Forvis Mazars XFactory, a boutique accelerator built around founders. Discover how XFactory supports startups through hands-on mentoring, access to senior experts, and a strong international ecosystem designed to help ambitious companies scale beyond the pitch.

Within the event, Orange Innovation Poland will lead a dedicated track “Building Trusted Digital Tech: Security, Sovereignty & Scale”.

The session is designed to show a pragmatic Orange approach to ecosystem-driven innovation, operational deployment capability, integration of startups with large-scale infrastructure and real business environments.

Orange Innovation Poland has developing defence and security products within one of the most operationally demanding security environments in the alliance. Poland’s position on NATO’s eastern flank, combined with significant EU investment in regional defence and security, has established the country as a critical validation environment for next-generation dual-use technologies.

Today, we are developing MILI-GUARD with immediate focus on drone detection: validating the capability to detect, identify, and track UAVs in real operational conditions using 4G/5G network radio sensing country wide. MILI-GUARD is AI multi-sensor protection system including modules of network sensing, IoT and robotics, as well as Video Analytics. We invite you to discover how it enables faster, more accurate operational decision-making, helping customers effectively assess impacts on security, infrastructure, and operational continuity.

Agenda highlights:

- short opening,

- Orange Innovation Poland operating model,

- Security & Defence program, with a focus on the MILI-GUARD initiative,

- fireside discussion with ecosystem partners,

- partnership call-to-action.

The panel “Investing in AI: Trend or Tech Shift?” explores one of the defining questions of our time: is artificial intelligence a true civilizational breakthrough or simply the latest investment buzzword? As AI transforms industries at unprecedented speed, investors are challenged to separate long-term value from short-term hype. This discussion brings together perspectives from major family offices, including Norman K, alongside Polish venture capital firms such as BetaCluster and 24Ventures, as well as experienced private investors. Through real business cases and investment experiences, the panel will uncover how capital is being deployed in the evolving AI landscape. Speakers will share insights into opportunities, risks, and the criteria they use to identify sustainable innovation. Attendees will gain a behind-the-scenes view of how investors are navigating the current AI shift and what it may mean for the future of business and society.

Discussion in the panel “Powering Intelligence: AI, Data Centers and the Race for Energy” will explore how the rapid rise of AI and digital infrastructure is reshaping electricity demand, grid constraints, investment priorities and long-term energy strategies.

Follow our French Tech Connect Awards, with a Pecha Kucha pitch competition bringing together French and Polish startups on May 21st, judged by a high-level jury of founders, investors, and corporate leaders. This year's three award tracks - Strategic Tech, Sovereignty & Security; Future of Work, Productivity & Applied AI; and Energy & Infrastructure Tech - will each crown one winning startup during a dedicated awards ceremony. Past winners have gone on to join Techstars, the Forvis Mazars X Factory accelerator, and earn nominations at VivaTech, proving that this competition is a real launchpad for ambitious startups. 

Fire-side chat "Energy & Blockchain" will explore how blockchain is being applied across the energy value chain, from transaction infrastructure and traceability to flexibility and new market models.

Europe's sovereignty is no longer an abstract political ambition - it is being built now, line of code by line of code, satellite by satellite, city by city. This panel brings together the pioneers who are actually doing it: securing critical infrastructure, certifying sovereign cloud environments, launching national space constellations, and turning mid-sized European cities into deep-tech hubs. From the French-Polish axis to the broader question of what it truly means to keep strategic technology inside European hands, this conversation will go beyond the buzzwords - and get honest about what it takes to scale sovereignty in the real world. 

How does a machine move from recognising simple patterns to producing fluent language, images, plans, and possible futures? This talk explains the core ideas behind LLMs, (almost) without technical terms. 

It also introduces world models, the latest in frontier models: the possibility that AI models may learn internal maps of situations, relations, and consequences.