European AI Gets 100 New Enterprise Deals
Europe's newest enterprise AI format unveiled, four high-performance computing Guardians worth your time, and the Defence and Space startups you want to meet.
Europe spends €50 billion a year on AI. Only one in five enterprises actually use it in operations.
The AI Productivity Summit — DTM26's newest working format, co-hosted with Merantix and Harmonic AI, is built to close that gap. The goal: launch 100+ new enterprise AI collaborations in a single morning.
To further strengthen enterprise competitiveness in AI, you'll find four high-performance computing 'Guardians' (and 16 others across defence, space, manufacturing and robotics, advanced materials and energy) who are worth your time at DTM26.
In this edition:
Agenda Highlight: Inside DTM's newest invite-only AI Productivity Summit co-hosted with Merantix and Harmonic AI
DTM100 Spotlight: Seven Defence and Space startups — from counter-drone systems, AI-enabled UAVs, sovereign space surveillance, and more – confirmed for the DTM100 stage
Guardians Spotlight: Twenty of the most influential Guardians at DTM26, spread across six markets — the decision-makers turning pitches into signed contracts at DTM26.
Enjoy the read!
Across Europe, more than €50B flows into AI every year — yet only 1 in 5 enterprises actually use it in operations. The gap between investment and deployment is where most of the value is leaking.
That's the gap the AI Productivity Summit at DTM26 is built to close.
On the morning of 21 May 2026, DTM will bring 100 senior enterprise leaders into the same room as 100 of Europe's most ambitious AI builders — for one purpose: to launch 100+ new enterprise AI collaborations in a single morning.
No keynotes. No pitch reel. A closed-door, structured format built around curated roundtables — designed not for showcasing, but for scoping real pilots.
We're proud to introduce Merantix and Harmonic AI as co-hosts: two of Europe's leading enterprise AI companies, bringing real deployment experience and serious convening power into the room.
The roundtables span the eight productivity domains where AI is already moving the bottom line:
Coding & developer productivity
Industrial AI
Supply chain optimisation
Sales productivity
Customer support AI
Enterprise knowledge assistants
AI legal & workflow automation
Energy optimisation & digital twins
If you're an enterprise leader trying to turn AI investment into measurable P&L impact — or a founder building AI that delivers on that promise — this is the room you want to be in.
By the time most companies see the productivity gap clearly, the frontrunners have already locked in their partners. The AI Productivity Summit exists so you don't end up on the wrong side of that curve.
📍 21 May 2026 | Berlin
Seven of the early-stage builders heading to DTM26 — four from Defence, three from Space — clustered by the technology problem they're attacking. These are the sovereignty-stack startups confirmed for the DTM100 stage in the past two weeks.
Defence
Counter-drone systems
Fiberdome — Germany, early stage
Develops passive fibre-based counter-drone systems that physically disable hostile UAVs by deploying ultra-thin (6 µm) carbon-fibre clouds — a kinetic-free, low-collateral soft-kill system already validated at TRL 4 with TU München. Their cyberdome variant builds an ad-hoc electromagnetic shield to keep friendly C2 links and GNSS alive under jamming. One of the few credible answers to mass-drone attacks that doesn't require expensive interceptors.
INLEAP Photonics — Germany, 2023 · pre-seed
Spin-off from Laser Zentrum Hannover, applying ultra-fast industrial laser-beam-steering technology to drone defence. Their FASTLIGHT SHIELD system can intercept agile drone targets in milliseconds with sub-10 kW of laser output by hitting structural weak points, claiming a theoretical defence capability of up to 300 drones per minute. Backed by HTGF and Ventis Capital.
Autonomous platforms & dual-use
Unmanned Defense Systems — Lithuania, 2022 · €3.2M
Builds AI-enabled UAVs and drone-swarm coordination platforms — reconnaissance UAVs, loitering munitions and FPV drones — already deployed by the Lithuanian and Ukrainian armed forces and selling into NATO. Founded by the team behind Lithuania's first satellite, with deep aerospace credentials. One of the most battlefield-validated names in the cohort.
SunCubes — Italy, 2023 · €1.1M
Laser-based wireless power beaming for in-flight energy transfer to drones, sensors, satellites and remote devices. Targets defence, space and industrial autonomy markets with a single platform — a rare cross-market play in a cohort that mostly specialises. Sits at the intersection of Defence, Space and Energy.
Space
DBSpace — Italy, 2021 · early stage
Builds 3D-printed electric turbomachinery — high-speed e-pumps — for next-generation space propulsion. The technology enables simpler, more reusable rocket engines with better operability and lower development cost, sold into launch vehicle and spacecraft engine manufacturers. Led by founder Dario Bruna and backed by Italy's first astronaut Franco Malerba.
Spaceflux — UK, 2022 · £5.4M / €6.2M seed
The UK's leading sovereign space domain awareness provider, with a global optical telescope network and the AI-powered CORTEX analytics platform. Holds all three multi-year UK Space Agency and MoD surveillance contracts under the National Space Operations Centre framework, and is supporting Canada's national Surveillance of Space programme. The most commercially validated startup in the cohort.
Decen Space — Germany, 2024 · pre-seed
Decentralised ground-station network connecting satellite operators with a global community of antenna owners — built on Solana DePIN infrastructure, with smart scheduling and automated coordination across enterprise, university and amateur ground stations. Bridges the gap between satellite supply and ground capacity that has emerged as orbits get more crowded.
All seven will pitch live at the DTM100 Pitch Competition stage on 20 May and compete for a finals slot on 21 May.
Drawn from DTM's 300-strong Guardian community and this week's NZZ × GlassDollar Top 50, here are twenty of the senior innovation leaders to watch in Berlin — spread across six deep tech markets.
Energy
Jacek Murawski — CEO, Orlen. Runs Central and Eastern Europe's largest integrated oil, gas and power group; holds first-mover positioning on BWRX-300 SMR deployment in Poland through Orlen Synthos Green Energy.
Jürgen Stein — Chief Innovation & New Business Officer, EnBW. One of Germany's largest integrated utilities, sitting at the intersection of nuclear decommissioning expertise, grid expansion and renewables build-out.
Frederick Støa — Senior Investment Manager, Equinor. The Norwegian major is one of the few European energy companies at hyperscaler-adjacent scale — and among the continent's most active corporate investors in clean energy technology.
Maximiliane Butler — VP Energy Innovation, enercity. The German municipal-utility segment runs most of Europe's district-heating networks and is the natural home for small and micro reactors; Butler is the face of that demand at DTM26.
High-Performance Computing
Paul Williamson — SVP Strategic Ventures, Arm. Arm sits at the core of Europe's semiconductor IP stack; Williamson runs the strategic investment function that touches nearly every European chip-design startup worth watching.
Andreas Nauerz — Member of the Executive Board & CPO, IONOS. Europe's largest sovereign cloud provider; on the Titans of Europe stage at DTM26 to frame the AI gigafactory question.
Mallikarjun Rao — Chief Technology & Enterprise Business Officer, Telefónica Germany. One of Europe's largest telcos at scale — edge compute, 5G private networks and enterprise AI deployment all run through his mandate.
Mario Brandenburg — Senior Director Research & Innovation Strategy, SAP. SAP's research and innovation strategist; owns the pipeline from academic science into SAP's enterprise AI, quantum and business-software stack.
Defence
Klaus Kappen — CTO, Rheinmetall. Europe's #1 land-systems prime in the middle of a historic production ramp; Kappen owns the technology roadmap for that expansion.
Claire Falzone — Head of Divisional Strategy & Portfolio Management, Airbus. Airbus Defence & Space strategy runs through her desk — a primary Guardian for dual-use and satellite procurement across the Airbus group.
Roberto Rossi — Head of Innovation & EDF Program Coordinator, Thales. One of Europe's two largest defence-electronics primes; Rossi is Thales's coordinator for European Defence Fund programmes, a direct line into EU capability spending.
Space
Kristina Wagner — CTO & CDO, OHB. Germany's second-largest space prime; Wagner holds both the technology and digital remits during OHB's current strategy reset.
Mathias Van den Bossche — Director Telecommunication and Navigation Systems R&D, Thales Alenia Space. Europe's leading satellite systems integrator for telecom and navigation; central to IRIS² and the next generation of European LEO.
Johannes Stuhlberger — Head of Global Innovation Network, Power & Flight Propulsion, Airbus. The entry point for propulsion and energy startups into the Airbus system — bridges space, aviation and flight-propulsion scouting.
Manufacturing & Robotics
Oliver Wick — Technology Scouting, BMW Group. BMW's front door for external deep tech; Wick identifies and shortlists the startups BMW pilots and, in the best cases, eventually buys from.
Kai Petrick — Head of BMW Startup Garage, BMW. One of Europe's most established venture-clienting programmes; Petrick runs it, with direct pathways from pilot to production line.
Jing Li — Director of Global Robotics and Emerging Technology Strategy, Husqvarna Group. One of the Nordics' most advanced industrial robotics and outdoor automation buyers; drives the group's emerging-tech roadmap.
Advanced Materials
Pascale Wautelet — VP Global Research & Development and Sustainability, Avery Dennison. Materials science leadership at one of the world's largest labels and packaging majors, with sustainability as a cross-cutting mandate.
Alexander Leitner — Head of Pioneer Research, RHI Magnesita. The global leader in refractory materials essential to steel, cement and glass; RHI's pioneer research function is the entry point for next-generation high-temperature and circular-materials innovation.
Martin Bude — Associate Director, Product Supply — Global Innovation, Procter & Gamble. P&G's global scouting lead for supply-chain innovation; packaging materials, formulation chemistry and circular polymers across one of the world's largest consumer-goods portfolios.
All twenty – plus all 300 Guardians – will be in the room at DTM26 on 20–21 May in Berlin. Between them they carry budget authority across nuclear, grid, industrial heat, semiconductors, sovereign cloud, telecoms, defence primes, satellite systems, automotive production, industrial robotics and the materials stack underneath all of it.
Guardian Connect places them in curated 1:1 meetings with pre-vetted founders. This format has turned past editions into signed PoCs rather than exchanged business cards. If your technology sits inside any of these demand categories, these are the conversations worth preparing for.
