András Inotai

Head of the Taskforce for Startups and Scaleups, Head of the Innovation Policy and Access to Finance Unit at European Commission

Speaker

András is acting Head of the Taskforce for Startups and Scaleups and the Head of the Innovation Policy and Access to Finance Unit in the European Commission’s Research and Innovation Directorate General. His teams are responsible for designing and implementing policy actions to remove bottlenecks to innovation in the EU, including the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy and the European Innovation Act. They also oversee the preparation of the European Innovation Ecosystems Work Programme, offering funding opportunities of 500+ million euros over seven years, as well as the development of financial instruments supporting innovation, including under the InvestEU programme.

Previously, András was Deputy Head of Cabinet and Member of Cabinet of European Commissioners for environment, maritime affairs and fisheries, advising the Commissioners on blue growth, international ocean governance, the fight against illegal fishing and relations with the European Parliament. He was also Deputy Head of Unit in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Environment, responsible for coordinating infringement procedures against Member States for non-compliance with EU environmental rules. Before that he worked as a competition lawyer in the Competition Directorate General of the European Commission as well as the Brussels office of the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.