April 29, 2026
Upstream Festival Speakers - Part 3
We don't only have speakers that will be in a conversation with our moderator, but also panels. Here are some more of our speakers and their bios.
Sophie is a Seed-stage venture capital investor at Graduate Ventures, backing alumni founders in deeptech, climate, health, and AI. She brings a decade of experience across B2B software investing, strategy consulting, and startups, and co-founded the Women in VC NL community. She is passionate about equal access to capital and building a globally competitive, sovereign Dutch VC ecosystem.
Krijn is a founder and entrepreneur building Iconic Works, the AI operating system for large capital projects. He brings extensive experience as former CEO of Meatable, where he led the lab-grown meat company through significant growth, combined with a background in management consulting at McKinsey & Company and structured finance at Barclays Capital. As a UvA alumnus and active angel investor, he is passionate about supporting the next generation of Dutch entrepreneurs and strengthening the deeptech startup ecosystem.
Ingrid is the CEO of Q*Bird, a Delft-based leader in quantum secure communications, building ultra-secure networks that safeguard critical infrastructure today and prepare organisations for the quantum internet of tomorrow. Before co-
founding Q*Bird, she held leadership roles at QuTech, TU Delft and TNO and contributed to the Dutch National Agenda for Quantum Technology and Quantum Delta NL. At Q*Bird, she drives the transition to quantum secure infrastructure and future quantum internet connectivity. Beyond her role at Q*Bird, Ingrid serves on the Advisory Board of Women in Quantum Development (WIQD) where she champions diversity and inclusion in the quantum technology ecosystem in the Netherlands. At the national level, she serves on the board of Holland High Tech (TKI HTSM), the foundation that strengthens and aligns the Dutch (deep) tech sector. She holds a PhD in Physics and is deeply committed to leveraging breakthrough science to solve pressing societal challenges.
Koen Burgers is the Co‑Founder and CEO of SolarDuck, a global pioneer in offshore floating solar technology. With deep experience across the maritime sector and a strong foundation in business innovation, Koen leads SolarDuck’s mission to open a new frontier in renewable energy by bringing offshore solar generation to some of the most demanding marine environments.
Under his leadership, SolarDuck has grown from an idea and ambitious concept into a fast‑advancing business with technologies now serving multiple markets. The company’s patented elevated platform design enables solar power to be deployed safely and efficiently at sea—unlocking vast new areas for large‑scale clean‑energy production while also providing sustainable power solutions for offshore and subsea operations. Koen has played a central role in building major commercial partnerships across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, positioning SolarDuck as a key contributor to the global transition toward net‑zero energy systems.
Iggy Harmsen is a co-founder of Medal, the largest game recording platform globally, used by millions of players who capture over 2.5 billion clips annually. Later spun out AI research lab General Intuition, which raised a $134 million seed round to build foundation models for environments requiring deep spatial and temporal reasoning.