4YFN: AI for Meaningful Impact

Apps changed the way we work. Agents will change who we work with. We explore the next leap forward: from software tools to autonomous colleagues. The next business revolution won’t be about creating more applications, but about building organizations capable of collaborating with autonomous artificial intelligence. Esade professor Esteve Almirall, drawing on real examples from pioneering companies, reveals how to design organizations where humans and AI cooperate, make decisions, and learn together.

Esteve Almirall, Professor at Department of DATA (Data, Analytics, Technology and AI) at Esade

The technological revolution is no longer just about efficiency or speed, it is about purpose.
In a world where AI reshapes entire industries and redefines the value of human work, organizations face a new responsibility: to generate impact that truly matters. What does leadership mean when innovation is exponential and inequalities can be as well?

Daniel Traça, director general, Esade 

How can we build technology-driven companies that are purposeful, investable, measurable, and scalable? How do we educate leaders who can combine technology, business, and real social change? What funding models are shaping impact entrepreneurship today and what are impact investors really looking for? In this conversation, Lisa Hehenberger, Dean of Esade Business School, together with a leader from the entrepreneurial and VC ecosystem, discusses how talent capable of turning technology into meaningful social solutions is identified, supported, and financed.

Lisa Hehenberger, dean at Esade Business School
Nuno Brito Jorge, Founder & CEO at Goparity

By 2026, so-called “AI agents” are embedded in many professional activities: managing processes, proposing decisions, and executing tasks with minimal human intervention. While their adoption promises efficiency, it raises a deeper challenge—how to preserve human capacity to guide, interpret, and take responsibility for meaningful decisions. This 
panel examines what happens when people move from doing to supervising, often without sufficient information, time, or conditions to exercise true oversight. We will explore shifting accountability dynamics, emerging dependencies, and the implications of working in environments where system recommendations tend to be accepted by default. The discussion will also address how to design governance practices that allow humans to retain judgment and agency, rather than merely validating decisions that arrive already “predefined”.

Irene Unceta, Associate Professor at Department of DATA (Data, Analytics, Technology and AI) at Esade
Sergi Bastardas, Founder, CEO OrbioAI 
Migle Laukyte, Professor in Artificial Intelligence and Law at UPF and member of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies

AI has mastered logic, speed, and efficiency. But in the battle for consumer attention, IQ has become a commodity—the new competitive advantage is emotional intelligence. Are we approaching an AI capable of genuinely moving, seducing, and emotionally connecting with people? Or are we headed toward a future of cold, perfectly optimized— and perfectly boring—interactions?

Ana Valenzuela, Professor of Marketing at Esade
Salome Gozalishvili, CRM & Lifecycle Marketing Leader at Candy Crush Saga (KING / Xbox)
Javier Recuenco, CSO & Founder of Singular Solving

The digital ecosystem is entering a new cycle marked by the convergence of AI, 5G/6G, satellites, edge computing, IoT, quantum technologies, and sustainability. The year 2026 will be decisive in determining which business models attract investment and which technologies drive the next wave of growth.

Davide Rovera, Manager Esade eWorks

What digital future are we building for the generations growing up in the constant company of artificial intelligence? In a context where algorithms do more than just organize content—they influence how a generation learns, connects, thinks, and shapes its identity—this conversation proposes a radically different approach to rethinking digital technology. Liliana Arroyo, Director of the Chair for Socially Responsible Digital Innovation and Professor at Esade, sits down with ethical designer and researcher Alison Lee, Chief R&D Officer at The Rithm Project, and Marisol Jimenez, Research Fellow at the same project. They will discuss how to design technologies that truly foster human relationships, sustainable digital wellbeing, and personal agency. Grounded in the principles of prosocial AI—which prioritizes genuine human connection over algorithmic addiction—they will explore how the devices and platforms that dominate our digital world can be redirected toward spaces that nurture connection, purpose, and shared wellbeing.

Liliana Arroyo, professor and researcher at Esade’s Department of Society, Politics and Sustainability 
Alison Lee, Chief R&D Officer of The Rithm Project
Marisol Jiménez, researcher at The Rithm Project

In this challenge, organized by Esade, Deloitte, and 4YFN, students from the MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship apply the knowledge acquired during the program to select the most promising startups participating in 4YFN 2026.

En esta edición el Welcome Desk de Esade reserva su espacio y protagonismo para eWorks, el programa de creación de empresas del Entrepreneurship Institute de Esade, con el objetivo de conmemorar su 10º aniversario. Durante los 4 días de feria expondrán sus proyectos de emprendimiento y Startups en el stand. Participarán también estudiantes del Challenge Based Innovation de Esade presentando los prototipos de que han trabajado en esta edición del programa.