Europe has the scientists, the engineers, and a new generation of hardtech companies emerging across fusion, manufacturing and industry. The question is whether Europe can turn that innovation into the industrial capacity to match.

Join Ellen Smeele, Alexander Fitzgerald, and Wilbe for an intimate, unscripted conversation on what it actually takes to build, and keep building, the technologies and infrastructure Europe needs next.

Proxima Fusion is building the new generation of fusion power plants. Their approach is the stellarator, a complex magnetic device designed for continuous fusion, rather than the pulsed operation of conventional tokamaks. Building on research from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics and Wendelstein 7-X, Proxima is now developing Alpha, their first net-energy demonstrator near Munich. In July, Proxima raised €411M at a €2.4B valuation, making them Europe's best-funded fusion company.

Isembard is tackling a different piece of the industrial puzzle: the factories themselves. They are building a network of advanced precision manufacturing facilities, connected by software that coordinates everything across the shop floor. Their factories are already producing components for aerospace, defence, space, energy and robotics, and they have just opened a 160,000 sq ft factory in the centre of London.

Two very different approaches to building the next generation of European industry.

In conversation with:

Ellen Smeele, Chief of Staff at Proxima Fusion

Alexander Fitzgerald, Founder & CEO at Isembard

Ale Maiano, Co-Founder at Wilbe

Schedule:

18:00–18:30 Arrival, food & drinks

18:30–19:45 Unscripted with Proxima Fusion, Isembard, and Wilbe

19:45–20:30 Drinks & informal networking

Exact location provided upon registration.

About Wilbe

Wilbe is the first full-stack venture firm, with a platform and venture fund for scientists and engineers building generational companies from day 0. To date, Wilbe has trained more than 1,700 scientists from institutions including MIT, Oxford, Cambridge, and Max Planck, and backed 25 companies with a combined valuation of over $3.25 billion.

This event is part of London Deep Tech Week, presented by Deep Tech London — a 500 person Summit on 8th October for those building the next generation of Science & Industry in the UK & beyond.

Create a free profile at deep-tech-week.com/register to help hosts approve your registration and build your schedule for the week.