At ArcticStartup we love events, heck, we even have a bunch of our own: ArcticEvenings for networking, Reverse Pitching to bring large corporations and startups together, and the jewel of springtime, Arctic15 in the end of May. But before 2015 arrives, let’s have a look at what else is out there and which bigger events especially interests us for the remaining of 2014.
Going to a conference you should plan well and have proper goals to achieve to maximize the effort. So check out our Battleplan article from last year and prepare yourself!
What’s coming up:
Webit Istanbul 1-2 October, tickets starting from €300
Webit is a massive, premium event of 10 000+ attendees from 110+ countries, 200+ speakers & 300 accredited media, where the Global Digital and Tech Leaders meet. They have many of the biggest companies participating and their speaker list has a couple of very interesting names, like Mark Shuttleworth (Ubuntu founder), Justin Kan (Founder of Twitch & Justin.tv and Partner at Y Combinator).
They have a special project called “They deserve to be @ Webit” to bring the best of the best young digital and tech startups from all around the world to the Congress and boosting their business. They have selected 350 semifinalists and up to 200 of those get to exhibit for free. Read more here.
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TechCrunch Disrupt EU London 20-21 October Tickets from £360/£780
TechCrunch Disrupt is one of the most anticipated technology conferences of the year in London. Join us at this iconic startup and thought leadership event as we’ll be setting up our own “Arctic Pavilion” to showcase 10 great startups from the Nordics and Baltics. You’ll learn more about this opportunity very soon. We also have discounts for startups exhibiting and for standard tickets lined up for you, our readers.
Disrupt will have about 3,000 participants and they claim to have a massive 50/50 startup-investor ratio as the main purpose of the event is to present startups to the investors and the media. The event has panels and one-on-one chats featuring TechCrunch writers and editors, special guest speakers, leading venture capitalists and fascinating entrepreneurs. In the afternoon, they host the Startup Battlefield competition which culminates in six finalists taking the stage at the end of the event for a shot at winning the Disrupt Cup and the £30,000 main prize plus a lot of media visibility as a bonus.
For some reason they are still holding on the speaker names for this year, but we can expect some impressive names as previous speakers includes the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Marissa Moyer and Jessica Alba.
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Pioneers Festival Vienna, 29-30 October Tickets from €301/€601
“The Event where Technology and Science meet Entrepreneurship.” With Pioneers Unplugged they are already active in over 40 major European cities and with the Pioneers Festival in Vienna they gather 2,500 of the brightest minds from all tech industries under the same roof for two days of excitement. The venue, Hofburg Imperial Palace, is truly an amazing place, and which other tech event venue can boast with such a history, Napoleon himself hanging out there and proposing to Marie Louise after conquering Austria, Beethoven’s 8th Symphony premiere 1814 and so on.
Announced speakers for this year include Justin Kan (Founder of Twitch & Justin.tv and Partner at Y Combinator), Neil Patel (KISSmetrics co-founder) and Jason Goodman (Founder of Albion)
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Web Summit Dublin, 4-6 November Tickets from €790
It’s been called “the best technology conference on the planet” with the attendee numbers growing hugely year-by-year, aiming to hit 20,000+ this year. Attendees range from Fortune 500 companies to the most exciting startups in the world. Their speakers are world class, and the networking, as they put it, is “simply legendary”. This year the stage will be occupied by very respected industry names like Peter Thiel (PayPal founder, Founders Fund founder), Drew Houston (Dropbox founder) and John Sculley (Former Apple CEO).
We have a partnership deal with Web Summit to raffle two free tickets and also a special discount code for standard tickets. We’ll share more info on this soon, so remember to subscribe for our newsletter so you will not miss this awesome opportunity!
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Slush Helsinki 18-19 November Tickets €295 (early stage)/€395
Hugely popular Slush is the focal point for Eurasian startups and tech talent to meet with international investors, executives and the media. In 2014, Slush aims to bring together 10.000 attendees and more than 2000 companies for the two-day event, and the word on the street is that it will be the biggest ever technical production in the history of Finland, outclassing Eurovision Song Contest production from 2007. Sounds spectacular!
Major difference compared to other such events is that Slush is a non-profit event organized by a community of entrepreneurs, investors and students, engaging hundreds of student volunteers every year to get a glimpse of the future waiting for them.
This year’s speaker list has some familiar names and some new names with the likes of Ilkka Paananen (Founder of Supercell), Hiroshi Mikitani (CEO of Rakuten), Leland Melvin (Astronaut, Head of Education at NASA), Sami Inkinen (Co-founder and Board member at Trulia), Taizo Son (Founder and Chairman at GungHo)
Last year, Slush was attended by more than 350 journalists, so there is a very good chance to get your story out to the world, but the competition will be fierce so plan your tactics well and identify who you want to meet beforehand.
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Le Web Paris, 9-11 December Tickets starting from €790
Launched in 2004, LeWeb is the international conference for digital innovation where visionaries, startups, tech companies, brands and leading media converge to explore today’s hottest trends and define the future of business.
Le Web has The Startup Competition, where they invite you to enter online for a chance to pitch your project to a panel of select judges. This year LeWeb launched its first-ever Startup Tour to explore the most vibrant ecosystems and identify the most promising startups around the world. They are stopping by in Stockholm on Sep 30th where you will have a chance to win a spot in the Startup Competition finals.
You can check out their speakers here.
Bubbling under: Other interesting events in the Nordics and Baltics
Silicon Valley Comes to Baltics Vilnius, 11-12 October Tickets from 39LT/69LT
Speakers from Silicon Valley. 3000 participants from all over Europe. The most innovative companies in their fields. Be a part of the biggest startup event in the Baltics.
Internet Discovery Day Gothenburg, 17 October FREE
IDD is the event where entrepreneurs find what they need and investors find the next big thing.
Digital Winners Oslo 21-22 October Tickets NOK 7,900 + VAT
Over the course if two days, 40+ speakers will give fresh and thought provoking perspectives on innovation and digital business opportunities.
Trondheim Developer Conference 27 October – Tickets NOK 2,500+VAT
MindTrek Nov 4–6th 2014 Tampere – Tickets from €105/€135
International three-day forum about the future of tech, knowledge and media, which gathers again all the professionals, academic experts, students and thinkers, who want to be ahead of their time, to discuss and experience the future trends.
Øredev conference Malmö 4-8 November, Tickets from SEK 7,700 (1 Day)
Aimed at developers, 10th Anniversary of the Øredev conference with courses and tutorials will be held at the Slagthuset, Exhibition & Convention Center, ‘
Nordic Venture Forum November 6th, Copenhagen – Tickets free/€300
Mobilize Your Business Kista, Sweden, 6 November – Tickets SEK 4,200
Event aimed for startups who are active and innovative either in Online & Mobile, Technology, Life Sciences, Cleantech or Food and are seeking growth funding in the next 24 months
Sime November 11-12 Stockholm – Tickets SEK 10,800 + VAT (30% off for international guests)
This year Sime/Stockholm will showcase digital magic with an unparalleled speaker roster. Meet some of the greatest wizards of our time transforming the world at warp speed.
EBAN Helsinki 2014 November 17-18 – Tickets €290/€390
Organized by FiBAN, aligning with Slush, they aim to gather 400 top European business angels looking for investment and exit opportunities.
Biohacker Summit 2014 10 December, Helsinki – Tickets starting from €99
Biohacker Summit is the exclusive international event for pioneers in quantified self and biohacking.
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As we may have forgotten some events, please feel free to add the missing parts in the comments section and we’ll update the article.
Photo – Daniel Schildt
