André Loesekrug-Pietri, French-German nationalities, held leadership positions in private equity, government, industry and as an entrepreneur. Starting as assistant to the CEO of Aerospatiale-Airbus, he then spent 15 years in private equity and venture capital, including 10 years in China, investing in European companies with global ambitions. In 2017, he paused from the private sector to become Special Advisor to the French Minister of Defence, responsible in particular for European Defense policy as well as tech and innovation. He is currently Chairman of the Joint European Disruptive Initiative (JEDI), the European ARPA, to accelerate Europe’s leadership in disruptive innovations, and launched the first ‘Darpa-type’ GrandChallenge from Europe in 2020. HEC and Harvard Kennedy School graduate, he is lecturer at SciencesPo, member of the Innovation Board of the Munich Security Conference and of the Advisory Council of the Saarland Transformation Fonds, jury of the Global Teacher Prize and Science & former Tech editorialist on Europe 1. He attended Sup-Aero aerospace engineering school, was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, is a private pilot, Business Angel and Colonel with the French Air Force People’s Reserve.