TNO Fast Track – after the success of 2024 – we are once again traveling with pleasure and enthusiasm to Enschede – or rather, Eanske. In this creative city surrounded by greenery, Enschede Slush’D is being organized by Novel-T. As a partner TNO Fast Track is contributing by hosting an Unconference for:
- CTOs or CSOs
- Technical founders
- Senior technical leaders
Would you like to participate? Then sign up now for the CTO Unconference during Slush’d Enschede on Thursday morning, August 28 in Enschede.
Why atttend?
Let’s face it: driving technological innovation is tough. The pressure to solve day-to-day challenges, move to the next TRL, and refine your technology roadmap can be overwhelming.
This session is designed for CTOs like you, providing a trusted space to:
✅ Share your challenges and get input from experienced peers
✅ Learn from different approaches and gain practical takeaways
✅ Expand your network with like-minded tech leaders
What is an Unconference?
The purpose of an Unconference is peer-to-peer learning. This is done in mulitple rounds and multiple groups (e.g. 3 round and 3 groups leads to 9 conversation opportunies). The expertise, challenges and questions of the participants determine the program of the Unconference. What makes this gathering so valuable is that it revolves around topics that you find important! You bring in the topics that you want. Whether that's what you need help with or a valuable lesson you can share. It's a step back from your day to day hustle and zooming in on more strategic topics. These can vary widely but they could involve:
🧱 the building blocks for success during your company’s growth
🔬 how to set up an asset-light development approach
🎓 moving from science/academia to a business environment
💡designing for manufacturability
💸exchanging practical advice about raising investment
📝 your patent strategy
🧲the do’s and don’ts for attracting and keeping talent
🛒 whether your product is ready to sell
🥷 how to kickstart an agile hardware process
🗳️specific personal choices you have made in entrepreneurship
and any best practices or failures from which everyone can learn.
Session 1
IMChip CTO Saurabh Soni will share his experience balancing investor and customer feedback with the realities of a deep-tech roadmap — and is keen to hear how others decide what input to act on, what to ignore, and how to keep commercial and technical teams aligned.
Session 2
Pavlina Nanou, co-founder of Torwash, shares how she took a new hydrothermal sludge treatment process from lab research to a large demo plant with 12 partners, using strategic media coverage to build early interest and credibility. In her session she will share her experience on how to win early adopters and market trust before full scale proof.
Session 3
Phos4nova CTO Timo Rheinberger is developing a first-of-its-kind polymer contrast agent for MRI and now faces the leap into GMP production without an existing benchmark to follow. He invites peers from medtech, climate-tech, aerospace, foodtech, and other regulated fields to share how they’ve balanced innovation with compliance.
The program
9:30 - 10:00 Walk in and coffee
10:00 - 10:15 Opening/welcome
10:15 - 10:45 Introduction of format
10:45 - 11:15 Round 1
11:15 - 11:45 Round 2
11:45 - 12:15 Round 3
12:15 - 12:30 Wrap up
Sign up
Want to join? Sign up now for the CTO Unconference during Enschede Slush'D on Thursday, August 28 in Enschede. Relive the CTO Unconference - TNO Fast Track.
