How Enterprises Evaluate AI Startups / The AI Collective Bucharest Chapter

An official How to Web Side Event organized by AI Collective Bucharest @ Oracle Romania What does an enterprise need to know before saying yes to an AI pilot? For AI providers and enterprise buyers alike, moving from a promising demo to formal approval is often the hardest hurdle. Using a realistic proposed AI pilot as an anchor case study, this session walks directly through the evaluation gauntlet from the buyer's perspective. The panel deconstructs what enterprise gatekeepers actually evaluate when reviewing customer data flows, security boundaries, AI reliability, and compliance requirements—revealing the concrete evidence and preparations startups need to bring to the table to secure a green light. Attendees will leave with a clear, practical understanding of how enterprise buyers assess emerging tech and how AI startups can proactively prepare for procurement and security evaluations. Key Discussion Themes Customer Data & Privacy: How customer data handling, boundaries, and enterprise governance are scrutinized during intake. Security & Vulnerability Gaps: The specific technical red flags, architectural risks, and missing safeguards that hold up approval. AI Reliability & Model Evidence: Evaluating benchmarks, hallucination risks, and operational resilience beyond vendor marketing claims. The Buyer's Checklist: The single most important assets and documentation startups must prepare before their next enterprise sales conversation. Speakers Florina-Mondana Neag — CISO, E.ON Energie Romania Ana Maria Pricop — CEO & Co-founder, Artifact Lens; CBO & Co-founder, Artifact Security Ovidiu Popeti — Head of Government Affairs & MSSP Partnerships, OutThink Alexandru-Adrian Bîrzu — Distinguished Engineer, Cloud Blackbelt Observability & Security, Oracle Moderator Dr. Irina Raicu — Founder, Institute for Applied AI; Chapter Lead, AI Collective Bucharest Agenda 18:00 – Guest Registration 18:30 – Host Welcome Remarks 18:40 – Oracle Innovation Lab Tour 19:30 – Moderated Panel 20:15 – Audience Q&A 20:30 – Networking Target Audience AI Startup Founders, CTOs & Product Builders preparing to sell into mid-market and enterprise accounts. Enterprise AI & Innovation Teams structuring internal pilots and evaluation frameworks. Cybersecurity, Risk & Procurement Professionals tasked with evaluating third-party AI solutions safely. As always, food and drink, engaging conversation, and incredible company will all be provided! Please be advised: Unfortunately, space is very limited at these community events and we can not always accept everyone we would like to. If you are not accepted to this event, please keep applying! We appreciate your application tremendously and we are looking forward to seeing you at a future event very soon!