Azure Update – 6th June 2025
June 7, 2025Plan your best summer bash yet with Microsoft Copilot
June 7, 2025
Dusseldorf , Germany added 3,000+ tech enthusiast and hosted the Microsoft for Startups Cloud AI Pitch Competition between May 26-28, 2025.
We were pleased to attend the European AI Cloud and Collaboration Summits and Biz Apps Summit– to participate and to gain so much back from everyone.
It was a packed week filled with insights, feedback, and fun. Below is a recap of various aspects of the event – across keynotes, general sessions, breakout sessions, and the Expo Hall.
The event in a nutshell:
- 3,000+ attendees
- 237 speakers overall – 98 Microsoft Valued Professionals, 16 Microsoft Valued Professional Regional Directorss, 51 from Microsoft Product Groups and Engineering
- 306 sessions | 13 tutorials (workshops)
- 70 sponsors | One giant Expo Hall
PreDay Workshop
AI Beginner Development Powerclass
This workshop is designed to give you a hands-on introduction to the core concepts and best practices for interacting with OpenAI models in Azure AI Foundry portal. Innovate with Azure OpenAI’s GPT-4o multimodal model in this hands-on experience in Azure AI Foundry. Learn the core concepts and best practices to effectively generate with text, sound, and images using GPT-4o-mini, DALL-E and GPT-4o-realtime. Create AI assistants that enhance user experiences and drive innovation.
Workshop for you
azure-ai-foundry/ai-tutorials: This repo includes a collection of tutorials to help you get started with building Generative AI applications using Azure AI Foundry. Each tutorial is designed to be self-contained and provides step-by-step instructions to guide you in the development process.
Keynotes & general sessions
Day 1 Keynote The Future of AI Is Already Here,
Marco Casalaina, VP Products of Azure AI and AI Futurist at Microsoft
This session discussed the new and revolutionary changes that you’re about to see in AI – and how many of them are available for you to try now. Marco shared how AI is becoming ubiquitous, multimodal, multilingual, and autonomous, and how it will change our lives and our businesses.
This session covered:
• Incredible advances in multilingual AI
• How Copilot (and every AI) are grounded to data, and how we do it in Azure OpenAI
• Responsible AI, including evaluation for correctness, and real time content safety
• The rise of AI Agents
• And how AI is going to move from question-answering to taking action
Day 2 Keynote Leveraging Microsoft AI: Navigating the EU AI Act and Unlocking Future Opportunities, Azar Koulibaly, General Manager and Associate General Counsel
This session was for developers and business decision makers, Azar set the stage for Microsoft’s advancements in AI and how they align with the latest regulatory framework. Exploring the EU AI Act, its key components, and its implications for AI development and deployment within the European Union.
The audience gained a comprehensive understanding of the EU AI Act’s objectives, including the promotion of trustworthy AI, the mitigation of risks, and the enhancement of transparency and accountability. Learning aboutMicrosoft’s Cloud and AI Services provide robust support for compliance with these new regulations, ensuring that your AI projects are both innovative and legally sound and Microsoft trust center resources.
He delved into the opportunities that come with using Microsoft’s state-of-the-art tools, services, and technologies. Discover how partnering with Microsoft can accelerate your AI initiatives, drive business growth, and create competitive advantages in an evolving regulatory landscape. Join us to unlock the full potential of AI while navigating the complexities of the EU AI Act with confidence.
General Sessions
It is crucial to ensure your organization is technically ready for the full potential of AI. The sessions focused on technical readiness and ensuring you have the latest guidance. Our experts will shared the best practices and provide guidance on how to leverage AI and Azure AI Foundry to maximize the benefits of Agents, LLM and Generative within your organization.
Expo Hall + Cloud AI Statup Stage + tutorials
The Expo Hall was Buzzing with demos, discussions, interviews, podcasts, lightning talks, popcorn, catering trucks, cotton candy, SWAG, prizes, and community.
There was a busy Cloud AI StartupStage, a Business Stage, and shorter talks delivered in front of a shiny airstream trailer.
Cloud AI Startup Stage
This was a highly informative and engaging event focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential for startups. The Microsoft for Startups is a platform to provide startups with the resources, tools, and support they need to succeed.
This portion of the event offered value to budding entrepreneurs and established startups looking to scale. For example, on day 2, we focused on accelerating innovation with Microsoft Founders Hub and Azure AI. Startups could kickstart their journey with Azure credits and gain access to 30+ tools and services, benefiting from additional credits and offerings as they evolve. It’s a great way for Startups to navigate technical and business challenges.
Cloud AI Startup Pitch
The Microsoft for Startups AI Pitch Competition and Startup Stage at European Cloud Summit 2025
This was a highly informative and engaging event focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential for startups. The Microsoft Startup Programme was introduced as a platform that provides startups with the resources, tools, and support they need to succeed.
The AI Empowerment session provided an in-depth overview of the various AI services available through Microsoft Azure AI Foundry and how these cutting-edge technologies can be integrated into business operations. This was perfect for startups looking to get started with AI or those interested in joining the Microsoft Startup Programme.
The Spotlight on Innovation session showcased innovative startups from the European Cloud Summit, giving attendees a unique insight into the cutting-edge ideas that are shaping our future. The Empowering Innovation session featured a panel of experts and successful startup founders sharing insights on leveraging Microsoft technologies, navigating the startup ecosystem, and securing funding. This was valuable for budding entrepreneurs or established startups looking to scale.
Startup Showcases
With this autonomy comes high variability: the difference between a minor efficiency and a major one could mean millions in savings. Conversely, a seemingly small misstep could cascade into catastrophic reputational or compliance risk. The stakes are high—but so is the potential.
The next frontier introduces a new paradigm: AI managing AI. As organizations deploy swarms of autonomous agents across business functions, the challenge expands beyond governing human-AI interactions. Now, it’s about ensuring that AI agents can monitor, evaluate, and optimize each other—in real time, at scale. This demands a shift in both architecture and mindset: toward native-AI platforms and a new human role, moving from human-in-the-loop to human-on-the-loop—strategically overseeing autonomous systems, not micromanaging them.
In this session, Adriano Koshiyama will explore how forward-thinking enterprises can prepare for this emerging reality—building governance and orchestration infrastructures that enable scale, speed, and safety in the age of agentic AI.
D-ID | The #1 Choice for AI Generated Video Creation Platform, Yaniv Levi
In a world increasingly powered by AI, how do we make digital experiences feel more human? At D-ID we enable businesses to create lifelike, interactive avatars that are transforming the way users communicate with AI, making it more intuitive, personal, and memorable. In this session, we’ll share how our collaboration with Microsoft for Startups helped us scale and innovate, enabling seamless integration with Microsoft’s tools to enhance customer-facing AI agents, and LLM-powered solutions while adding a powerful and personalized new layer of humanlike expression.
Startup Pitch Competition
Day 2 of the event focused on accelerating innovation with Microsoft Starups and Azure AI Foundry. Startups can kickstart their journey with Azure credits and gain access to 30+ tools and services, benefiting from additional credits and offerings as they evolve. The Azure AI Foundry provides access to an extensive range of AI models, including OpenAI, Meta, Nvidia, Hugging Face.
Moreover, startups can navigate through technical and business challenges with the help of free 1:1 sessions with Microsoft experts.
The Cloud Startup Stage Competition showcased the most innovative startups in the Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI ecosystem, highlighting their groundbreaking solutions and business models. This was a celebration of innovation and success and provided insights into the experiences, challenges, and future plans of these startups
The Judges
The Pitches
.
The Winners
1st Place Graia
2nd Place iThink365
3rd Place ShArc
Overall, this event was highly informative, engaging, and valuable for anyone interested in AI and its potential for startups. The Microsoft Startup Programme and Azure AI Foundry are powerful tools that can help startups achieve success and transform their ideas into successful businesses.
In the end…
We are grateful for this year’s active and engaging #CollabSummit & #CloudSummit #BizAppSummit— so much goodness, caring, learning, and fun!
Great questions, stories, understanding of your concerns, and the sharing in fun.
Thank you and see you next year!
We look forward to seeing in Cololgne – May 5-7, 2025 – Collaboration Summit (@CollabSummit), Cloud Summit (@EUCloudSummit), and BizApps Summit (@BizAppsSummit) and continue the discussion around AI in our Azure AI Discord Community