Next Frontier AI – WARSAW

Next Frontier AI is Europe’s most radical initiative for genuine technological independence in AI.

We’re creating the conditions for Europe to discover and define the next frontier in AI — not by catching up, but by leaping forward with entirely new paradigms. Through massive funding (initially €125 million, non-dilutive), radical technological freedom, and a foundation of European values, we’re establishing the environment to build three new Frontier AI Labs for research and deployment in Europe. This is your opportunity to join this challenge.

We coordinate a European coalition with a unique mandate: deploy public money to pursue breakthroughs others can’t risk. Our presence in Warsaw joins a growing circuit that has already convened Europe's AI community in Munich and Paris, with Zurich and Amsterdam still to come.

Next Frontier AI is run by SPRIND, Germany’s Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation. Our Polish ecosystem partners include IDEAS Research Institute, PFR Ventures, Startup Poland and the City of Warsaw, with community support from vastpoint, Creators Fund, MLinPL Association, AI Tinkerers Poland, University of Oxford & Cambridge Alumni Network in Poland and Polonium Foundation.

What to expect?

This isn’t your typical tech meet-up. No auditorium marathons. No sitting through panels while secretly checking your phone. This is an open, interactive ecosystem designed to go deep into what frontier AI actually means, to hear from Europe’s AI leaders, and know more about the initiative and the challenge.17:00 Doors Open & Networking18:00 Main Programme21:00 Networking & Drinks22:00 Close

Content & session leaders:

What do we mean by Frontier AI and Frontier Labs?The research is here: now let's build the Labs.What if I had €1bn and permission to build?What we evaluate: from frontier thesis to proof.Team entry: who can apply and how teams form.What makes a winning team: operator and VC perspectiveLegal entity, IP and governanceCarsten Dirks - Innovation Manager at the German Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND) and Next Frontier AI Lead. Previously, he served as COO of Aleph Alpha, where he scaled the company from 30 to over 300 employees and launched PhariaAI.

Tomasz Trzciński - Professor at Warsaw University of Technology, where he leads the Computer Vision Lab. Fellow of the ELLIS Society and Director of ELLIS Unit Warsaw. Co-founder of Comixify and Chief Scientist at Tooploox. His research on deep reinforcement learning received the Best Paper Award at NeurIPS 2025.

Krzysztof Pyrć - President of the Foundation for Polish Science. Professor and head of the Virology Laboratory at the Małopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University. Author of more than 140 publications in journals including Nature Medicine and PNAS, cited over 12,000 times.

Aleksandra Pedraszewska - Founding Partner at vastpoint, a Warsaw-based VC focused on helping Polish deep tech startups scale globally. Previously at ElevenLabs, where she joined when the company had fewer than 40 employees, leading the AI Safety team and establishing high-impact partnerships. Also, co-founded and served as COO of VividQ, a Cambridge-based computer-generated holography company.

Callum Hill - Investor at Creator Fund, VC fund partnering with scientific founders at the earliest stage and giving them the support they need to scale. They invest across sectors and focus on AI, Deep Tech, and Biotech. Callum works on data engineering efforts for originating new investment opportunities.

Who should attend – and whyTop AI talent and promising juniors. Researchers with radical ideas. Engineers ready to build. Anyone who believes Europe can set the standard, not just keep up.

Come if

You’re already certain you're applying and want to meet potential co-founders and sharpen your thesisYou’re on the fence and need to see whether this is actually for you You have a team but need more people to fill key rolesYou’re flying solo with a strong idea and need to find your first collaboratorYou work at a big lab and wonder "could I do this myself?"You’re a professor, investor or run an AI network with access to the right people and teams

Note: Attendance is by application. Space is limited and we’re curating for fit.

What’s additionally on the agenda

Connections Hub – Find your people from the moment you arrive. Matchmaking wristbands show who you are and what you’re looking for.

Frontier Forums – Moderated discussions and deep dives where we shake up assumptions about where the next S-curve actually is.

Foundations Auditorium – Open Q&A on the fundamentals of frontier AI, the labs we want you to build, and how the €125M → €1B funding path works. Ask us anything.

Vision Desk – Pressure-test your frontier thesis. Not a pitch. Not a spotlight. Just an open table for real feedback on your thinking.

Open Desk – 1:1 time with the Next Frontier AI team. Questions about your application, your idea, the fine print? We're excited to talk.

Food and drinks throughout – Continuous, distributed, designed to keep conversations going. No forced breaks. Standing, grazing, talking.

Questions?

About the event: events@next-frontier.aiAbout the challenge application: nfai@sprind.org

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