Registration is open for the Start Summit 2016

The Start Summit is a conference that combines both business and technology to the same extent. The atmosphere at the Summit has always been exceptional. This year, hundreds of students, investors as well as entrepreneurs from 43 countries with a similar interest in technology attended the Summit. They were able to exchange knowledge on the topic, expand their networks and start-ups also got the opportunity to pitch to investors.

For years, the START Summit is the biggest student-led tech conference in Europe. In 2016 the event is expected to be even larger than before with about 1500 participants. The regional focus will be Israel, one of the fastest growing start-up ecosystem and innovation hotspot in the world. In next year’s, there are a number of interesting programmes scheduled for the two day event including the establishment of the first hackathon, a 40-hour coding format that is integrated within the regional focus on Israel in order to bring together Europe´s and Israel´s most skilled coders and programmers. Furthermore, the event has also set a strong focus on the most important technologies and trends such as FinTech, IoT and Smart Transportation.

The Start Summit is built for entrepreneurs of seed and early stage companies who have a strong value proposition and benefit from different growth opportunities at the START Summit. A unique programme has also been built for spin offs and university related companies to connect.  There will also be investors interested in start-ups. Thus start-ups will have the opportunity to get the investors’ attention by pitching on stage, during Meet-the-Investor events as well as privately scheduled meetings.

Participants are advised to follow the Start summit on Twitter and Facebook in order not to miss out on daily updates about the event. Also keynote speakers, some of them already listed on the website, will be announced during the next couple of weeks.

Some of the major topics at the summit include;

Geographical Focus Israel
The Israeli ecosystem is one of the fastest growing and most spectacular ones, especially regarding high-end technologies such as Cyber Security, Big Data, FinTech or Artificial Intelligence. The Start Summit Support Team is currently establishing valuable co-operations with Israeli corporates, investors, (tech) universities and political institutions. While being careful with political issues, factors for the success of Israeli entrepreneurs and what Europe can learn from Israel as technology and start-up hub will be presented. This is to allow students to benefit from the international exchanges at the Summit.

Fintech
Financial Technology is one of the most disruptive trends in the world – changing the way payments are made, the way money is transmitted and the way portfolios are managed. Organisers have collaborated with industry leaders and network partners to bring together the most promising FinTech startups worldwide, the most influential investors in that particular area as well as the most important speakers. At the conference the team has organized a considerable number of main- and second stage events for FinTech, for hackathons focused on FinTech as well as background sessions for corporates, investors and founders related to the matter to really generate new patterns and ways of thinking about our financial future.

Internet of things
Internet-of-Things (IoT) is the modern industrial revolution. Thanks to microchips, fundamental technological innovations of the past years and the ever growing internet and mobile availability, almost every physical item can be connected to the internet. That not only changes consumer markets but also industrial manufacturing, supply chains and mobility.

Smart Transportation
While FinTech and IoT can be referred to as technologies that change industries; smart transportation is an application of different technologies and trends with extremely high relevance for our society. FinTech and IoT are strongly connected to our long-term vision. Smart transportation can be considered as main topic for just the upcoming conference, giving an annual prioritization of technologies and markets with great momentum relevance. We aim to give a stage to future-oriented speakers in that area as well as also bring together industrial leaders such as BMW, Uber or SBB at the conference in St. Gallen, seeking for new ways of mobility and transportation in our future.

Start Hackathon
The START Hackathon, a 40-hour coding format, will not only be a unique setting compared to other European conferences, it will also increase the value for corporate partners and industry leaders and will help to strategically evolve FinTech as a main topic of the conference. The team will work with complex data and give hackers the perfect opportunity to solve different cases with real impact. We try to follow our identity by mixing the teams at the hackathon, so that business and tech students work in interdisciplinary teams.