Strategy & Innovation

Creating Europe's AI Moment – Now or Never

with Thomas Saueressig & Thomas Jarzombek & Antonella Mei-Pochtler & Jasper Bennink

Thursday 9 July 12:50 – 13:20 Tech Leaders Stage

About This Session

Europe has the talent, the research and the industry, but turning that into global AI leadership is another matter. This panel brings industry and policy to the same table to ask what it would really take for Europe to lead rather than follow. An honest look at where Europe stands and what has to change.

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Speakers

Thomas Saueressig

CCO and Member of the Executive Board · SAP SE

CCO and Member of the Executive Board of SAP SE

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Thomas Saueressig is a Member of the Executive Board and Chief Customer Officer of SAP SE. His board area, the Customer Value Group (CVG), brings together SAP’s go-to-market and delivery functions to help customers effectively drive their business transformation, fully leverage the benefits of AI, and build long-term customer value in the cloud. Saueressig has a strong track record of delivering customer value. In his previous role, he led the Executive Board area Customer Services & Delivery, where he worked closely with customers to achieve business outcomes through innovation and end-to-end business transformation. Before being appointed the head of SAP Product Engineering, Saueressig served as Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Global Head of IT Services at SAP. As CIO, he was responsible for SAP’s IT strategy and its execution with a cloud-first approach. Saueressig joined SAP in 2004 in consulting and subsequently held various international management positions with increasing responsibility. Saueressig holds a degree in Business Informatics from the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University in Mannheim and a joint Executive MBA from ESSEC Business School (France) and Mannheim Business School (Germany). Since April 2022, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of Nokia and serves as vice-chairman.
Thomas Jarzombek

Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation

Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation

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Thomas Jarzombek was born in Düsseldorf and has been active in politics for more than 25 years. He served as a member of the Düsseldorf City Council and as a member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 2009, he has been a Member of the German Bundestag. From 2013 to 2018, he acted as the spokesperson for the Digital Agenda of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. Between 2018 and 2021, Thomas Jarzombek served as the Federal Government Coordinator for Aerospace, and from 2019 to 2021, as the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs’ Representative for the Digital Economy and Start-ups. Most recently, from 2021 to 2025, he was the spokesperson for Education and Research of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and a member of the Committee on Digital Affairs. Since May 2025, he has served as Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation.
Antonella Mei-Pochtler

CEO and Executive Chairwoman · Pochtler Industrieholding

CEO and Executive Chairwoman of Pochtler Industrieholding

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Antonella is an Italian executive and multiple board member with many years of strategy consulting experience at BCG, where she became one of the youngest partners and a member of its global executive committee. Her work focus is in media, technology, and consumer goods. She was named amongst the top 25 consultants worldwide by Consulting Magazine and was honored with the Women Leaders in Consulting Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. From 2018 to 2022, she was Special Advisor to the Austrian Chancellor and headed the ThinkAustria strategy unit. She also co-chaired the Kofi Annan Award for Innovation in Africa. Today, she is CEO of iSi Group, Executive Vice Chairwoman of Pochtler Industrieholding and contributes her in-depth transformation expertise as non-executive director in international supervisory boards (Generali, Publicis, Westwing, and DEAG). Previously, amongst other positions, she was Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of Wolford and an IFC-nominated director at the Ivorian company SIPRA. She is strongly engaged in the non-profit sector, among others as a Vice-President of the European Forum Alpbach (EFA) and co-founder of the Sovereign Europe Forum, board member at TUM Venture Labs and advisory board member of the Drucker Forum. She has been committed to equal opportunities in education for many years (Teach For All, Business@School, Phorms Schools) and has published essays on leadership and strategy (“Acupuncture for Management”). Antonella studied in Munich and Rome and has an MBA with distinction from INSEAD. She lives with her family in Vienna.
Jasper Bennink

Tech Reporter · POLITICO

Tech Reporter at POLITICO

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As a reporter for the POLITICO Technology & AI newsletter, I am following every tech- and AI-related in both Berlin and Brussels closely. I’m mostly passionate about how AI development and implementation become increasingly geopolitical issues.