NetworldEurope ETP

Navigating Investor Negotiations and Due Diligence for Startups and SMEs, 9 December 2025
2025-12-09 09:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Berlin)
Join us and demystify the investment process when preparing to engage with investors!

To further propel innovators’ entrepreneurial journey in Europe’s thriving innovation ecosystem, the European Commission Horizon Results Platform (HRP) is co-organizing an interview with one of its partners, Business Angels Europe (BAE):
“Navigating Investor Negotiations and Due Diligence for Startups and SMEs”
Signing a deal with investors is just the start of a long partnership. You only get one chance to finalise the agreement – so it is worth making sure everything is right from the start of your negotiations.
The Horizon Results Platform (HRP) is the dynamic hub at the forefront of fostering innovation across the EU, showcasing innovations from Horizon Europe, Horizon 2020, FP7, European Innovation Council (EIC), European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), and other programmes. HRP also includes policy-oriented results.
Our dedicated team, in partnership with the EIC, EIT, Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), European business angel networks and others, holds go-to-market initiatives – pitch events, open innovation challenges, matchmaking meetings, investor readiness webinars, and more; HRP also offers a wide range of business services, to advance your go-to-market journey.
Join the Navigating Negotiations session and ensure everything is perfect from the start: this webinar is designed to help demystify the investment process for you: negotiations, term sheets and due diligence.
Date: 09 December 2025
Time: 10:00 – 12:00 CEST
Registration (required): https://ecconf.webex.com/weblink/register/rc8ee3cf173f74da9d6318a23e1f9641b
Questions: Horizon Results Platform team: EC-HORIZON-RESULTS-PLATFORM@ec.europa.eu
Who is this webinar for?
Founders, startups and SMEs in the midst of, or looking to succeed negotiations with an investor
What will you learn more about?

Investment process — from first contact to closing signature
Negotiating terms: why collecting multiple term sheets matters
Key terms: valuation, liquidation preferences, reserved matters, drag/tag-along rights
Due diligence: what investors look for and how to prepare effectively
Due diligence from the investor perspective
Closing the deal, because it isn’t over until it’s over!

Whether you’re setting up your first spin-out or planning a future raise, this session aims to give you clarity, confidence, and a more strategic view of the investor landscape.
Expert: Jan Debets

Senior Advisor at BAE – Business Angels Europe
Worked in venture capital at the Silicon Valley-based 500 Global, and Capital Mills in the Netherlands
Manager at META Group
MBA from HEC Paris
Board member – HEC Alumni Angels Club

“Investor Negotiations: it isn’t over until it’s over!”

Workshop: Agentic AI – Applications and Network Impact – 4th March 2026 @MWC26 in Barcelona
2026-03-04 09:00 - 12:30
Workshop: Agentic AI – Applications and Network Impact

Rationale and Objectives
The Workshop “Agentic AI – Applications and Network Impact” took place on the morning of the 04th March 2026, organized by NetworldEurope and CCSA. The event had 2 components, one online and the other onsite in Barcelona with a very limited number of seats available. The respective zoom link was made available upon registration. The workshop aimed to provide an open information space to share current and future views about the Agentic AI, and how this theme is being addressed by different stakeholders. Two different discussion panels were organized, addressing challenges and evolution, new use cases and technology trends as well as standardization and next step industry developments related to Autonomous Networks.
The workshop featured key speakers from industry and academia, representing the views of manufacturers, operators, industry bodies, and research scientists.
The agenda was as follows:

See the workshop report here
See the presentations here
See the videos here

Workshop moderators and speakers Prof. Rui L Aguiar, Chair of the Steering Board of the NetworldEurope European Technology Platform, has been involved in research and strategic research management since 1988, having been involved (in multiple positions) in all European-funded framework programs. He was involved in the development of the NetworldEurope initiative, and the launch of the 5G-Infrastructure Association PPP, and has led the association before. He has been an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer on 5G in the last years, and has several hundred papers on communication networks and services. He is also the co-chair of the Networks and Multimedia area at Instituto de Telecomunicações, a Portuguese state-associated laboratory, and a Full Professor at Universidade de Aveiro. Mr. WEN, Ku Board Chairman of China Communications Standardization Association (CCSA), Professor of Engineering. He is entitled to the special government allowance of The State Council. He used to take positions in succession as Deputy Chief Engineer of Posts and Telecommunications Administration, Director of Data Communication Administration of Shandong Province, Deputy Director General of the Department of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Deputy Director General of the Department of Science and Technology, Deputy Director General of the Telecommunications Administration, Director General of the Department of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Information Industry, Director General of the Department of Science and Technology, Director General of the Department of Information and Communication Development and News Spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Dr. Ioannis Arapakis, Ph.D., is the Head of Telefónica Scientific Research at Telefónica Innovación Digital, where he leads a team of scientists in machine learning, neuroscience, cybersecurity, sustainable AI, and network systems, and a member of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) Society. He is also the PI in the EIC Pathfinder “Awareness Inside” project SYMBIOTIK, which investigates the next generation of neuro-adaptive InfoVis systems for time-critical and context-sensitive settings. Previously, he worked as a Research Scientist at Yahoo Labs in Barcelona (2011–2016), at the User Engagement, Web Retrieval, and Ad Processing and Retrieval groups. He earned an M.Sc. in Information Technology, specializing in Interactive Systems Engineering, from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden (2007), and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Glasgow (2010). In addition to his research roles, he has served on several international committees, led multiple projects under FP7, H2020, Horizon Europe, and EIC Pathfinder, and is an Adjunct Professor in the Master’s Program for Data Science for Decision Making, having supervised numerous M.Sc. and Ph.D. students. Cao Feng, Senior Engineer and Director of the Platform and Engineering Department at the Artificial Intelligence Institute of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT).
He holds several key leadership roles in industry standardization and research, including serving as the Leader of the Internet Applications General and Artificial Intelligence Working Group at the China Communications Standards Association (CCSA), the Deputy Leader of the Model and Platform Subcommittee under the MIIT Artificial Intelligence Standardization Committee, and the Deputy Director of the MIIT Key Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence Large Model and Basic Software/Hardware Evaluation.
With a long-standing commitment to supporting major industry research initiatives, he has led the development of more than 60 international, industrial, and group standards. He also has spearheaded the development of the Trustworthy AI evaluation system and capacity building, and has directed major projects including the formulation and evaluation of specifications for large model engineering, large-scale pre-trained models, dataset quality, and typical AI products and services. Fang You is the Director of Standardization Department at Huawei Technologies. With nearly two decades of experience in ICT standardization, she previously held leadership roles including OASIS Board of Directors member, Co-Chair of SNIA China Committee, and Vice Chair of IEEE P2937, etc. Currently, she focuses on AI infrastructure and Agentic AI standardization across several SDOs, and is serving as Vice-Chair of SAC/TC 28/SC28, Vice-Chair of CESA-AI, Deputy Secretary-General of SAC/TC 28/SC25 and several members in AI related Technical Committees. She earned both her B.S. and M.S. in Electronics Engineering from TsingHua University. Nikolaos Bartzoudis is a Senior Researcher and technical team leader with over 18 years of experience in developing innovative wireless communication systems. He currently leads the Adaptive Processing Technologies (ADAPT) Research Unit at CTTC, building on his extensive experience as Principal Investigator and Associate Researcher in 40 R&D projects funded by the EU, the Spanish government, and industry. Nikolaos has been actively involved in shaping strategic research agendas, contributing to Horizon Europe Work Programmes, as well as to associations such as NetworldEurope, SNS JU, and one6G. He has delivered invited talks at top-tier events (e.g., MWC), co-chaired workshops (e.g., WCNC), and coordinated high-impact demonstrations (e.g., EuCNC). His research focuses on Agentic AI for 6G architectures, AI-enabled RAN systems, edge computing, and agile FPGA accelerators. Mr. Xuemin Wang, Vice President of Huawei European Research Institute Director of Huawei Europe Standardization & Industry Dept.
Mr. Xuemin Wang, joined in Huawei in 1995, served as Project Manager of Huawei B-Type Circuit Switching product, Vice General Manager of Product Testing Department, Vice General Manager of General Technical Management Office, Director of Standardization & Industry Dept, etc. Currently served as the Vice President of European Research Institute and also the Director of Europe Standardization & Industry Development Dept, responsible for implementing standard and industry strategy for European regions.
Also served as IIC Steering Committee member China Electronics Standardization Association (CESA). Vice Chair of Board of Director, CCSA board member, etc., for the aim of building nice communication channels with external organizations, partners and customers in the multi-level standardization and industry development environment. Dr. Yue Wang is currently a Chief Technologist at China Telecom, where she leads strategic research on next-generation ICT with a focus on AI-native mobile networks and network-cloud convergence for AI. Her work spans from foundational innovation to pilot deployments.
Previously, Dr. Wang held technology and leadership roles across the US and UK at Philips, Toshiba, NVIDIA, and Samsung. At Samsung Research UK, she served as Head of 6G Research and later as Head of the Advanced Network Research Lab, where she built and led high-impact teams in AI-native networking and 6G technologies.
Dr. Wang is internationally recognised for her pioneering contributions to AI-native telecommunications. She is a member of the O-RAN Alliance Board of Directors and former Chair of the UKTIN AI Expert Working Group. She has led large-scale European research programmes, contributed extensively to global standards development organisations, and served as Secretary and Rapporteur of ETSI ENI, where she received ETSI award for her extraordinary contributions to the ISG.
Dr. Wang is a frequent speaker at major international telecommunications conferences, including MWC. Michael Dieudonné is currently an R&D Department Manager for the 6G program and manages Keysight’s relationship with EC and local authorities in Europe. He currently coordinates the 6G-SANDBOX SNS-JU project and is a member of the 6G-IA Board. He supervises research performed in different domains around B5G/6G wireless, network test, and high-frequency metrology.
Over the years he initiated and led different R&D initiatives such as test automation (with the launch of OpenTAP.io, the first open source project from Keysight), Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) test, the Internet of Things (IoT) test and battery test.
Over the years he has been active in various international cooperative projects, such as the EURAMET EMPIR MET5G Project (on 5G EMF), coordinated European Union (EU) SAMURAI Project defining early day multiple input multiple output (MIMO) techniques for 4G systems, and European Union-Horizon 2020 (EU-H2020) Triangle (test of application in a 5G context).
Education: Michael Dieudonné holds an MsC in Micro-electronics, Digital Design (De Nayer Institute part of the KULeuven) and an MBA from the Vlerick Business school accredited by all three major international quality assessment bodies: EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB.
Michael Dieudonné publications can be found on ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8134-4029
