Tag: Sofia

Within less than a week, Sofia will host the biggest startup event in the world - the Founders Games, part of the agenda of Webit.Festival Europe 2019. Our team chose the top 200 among 4000 candidates from all over the world. They will all be able to compete for the big prize - an investment of up to €200 000. But the price is just a small part of the opportunities the startups get with their participation in the festival. They will not only be able to present their work to 10 000 Webit visitors, but also impress over 500 potential investors. The event strengthens the role of Sofia as a Digital Capital - a title that Forbes gave the city in 2016 after Webit.Festival. This year 27 of the major European cities are competing to host Webit. The winner will be announced during this year’s event on 14th and 15th of May. In the latest edition of the Founders Games you can see a total of 9 startups coming to Sofia from the Silicon Valley. This is another indication that over the years Webit has succeeded in establishing itself and Bulgaria as a technological destination. Even companies that are created in the world’s center of investment are inclined to travel thousands of kilometers to be part of the event. Webit provides its startups with event tickets, exhibition spaces and an unprecedented opportunity to show their business to top audiences. Through the years, Founders Games became an investment platform for matchmaking hand-picked early-stage/post seed stage startups and Round A scaleups with investors, corporates and media. Webit was among the first in the world (11 years ago) to start connecting the startup and the enterprise worlds. We were the first to provide grants (over €1 million yearly) to selected startups. A total of 65% of all startups participating in the Founders Games through the years receive the necessary funding up to 6 month after Webit. At the same time the mortality rate is just 30%, compared to an average of 95% failures in the startup sector. “I am proud of the fact that we are changing the image of Sofia and Bulgaria all over the world. So far, 9 Silicon Valley based startups (and 4000 from around the world) have applied for the Founders Games”, said the executive chairman of Webit.Foundation dr. Plamen Russev. Webit.Foundation is more than just speaking, more than just judging. We wish to provide startups with the best tools to help them sell their idea with the encouragement and guidelines provided by our speakers. Here you can see a full list of the confirmed speakers at Webit.Festival, while here you can get all the information you need about the tickets for the event.

Most of the hotels in Sofia are already booked for the upcoming Webit.Festival Europe 2018!

As of today (40 days before Webit) Sofia is booked at almost 87% for the days of both - the Festival and the Digital Assembly, the two major events, part of the EU Digital and Innovation Week in Sofia. If you plan to join Europe's tech, digital and media festival and the unparalleled EU digital policy gathering for 2018, you'd better hurry up! There are only 6 available hotels for which you may use the special Webit discounted prices in Sofia - the Digital Capital during the festival - 25 - 27 June, 2018. One ticket for all events! Prices Go Up This Week

Exhibitions opportunities

As Webit doubled in size and we have moved to a much bigger venue, there are new available exhibiting slots. Join the 200+ exhibitors of Webit.Festival Europe 2018. Webit.Festival was among the first events in the world to introduce the multi content tracks (parallel independent summits) as part of the conference agenda 10 years ago.

4000 already booked their tickets to Webit

So far over 4000 influencers have registered for Webit.Festival Europe. They come from all over Europe and rest of the world (a total of 103 visiting countries so far). See who from your network is already booked for Webit.

Some statistics:

Over 68% of all attendees are senior-level decision makers. Over 70% are from Europe (38% from CE Europe, 32% W Europe). Next largest attendees groups come respectively from North America, followed by Asia and Africa

It is not about the size (although Webit is BIG), It is about the experience and your KPIs!

In order for our sponsors, exhibitors and attendees to better focus on their business goals and to experience unparalleled top level networking we have expanded the floorplan and built special networking and 1:1 meeting zones around each of the parallel summits.

10 separate events under one roof

Webit hosts 6000+ attendees but each parallel summit and expo welcomes between 300 and 800 of the leaders in the particular domain. Thus you join an intimate, highest level possible business networking while enjoying the benefits of a global large scale event.

You must have heard about data

Just open up any news website, newspaper and the figures are there. It’s the buzzword of our time - everybody is talking about data, flow of data, security, protection, etc. As is technology. You use technology everywhere - all around you. Уou use it every single day. Аnd that’s exactly where the real danger lies. The Estonian Prime Minister, Kersti Kaljulaid, is saying that society is changing because of the washing machine, not because it landed on the Moon, quoted by local media seems more inline with what’s happening today that any other jibber jabber. That’s to say, simple, everyday technology really changed the way people live, not high end software that very few people possess.

Now that you are scrolling facebook..

..how do you know that one of your friends is not exactly your friend? Or perhaps somewhere out there is holding you personal data for God-knows-what? Well you can’t. Internet and the websites offer anonymity to a huge extend. At least to somebody who knows how to work with data. For the artificial intelligence there are no hidden spots. Jason Jercinovic, the Global Head of Marketing innovation of Havas, tackled the ethical issues of companies using data, personal data, for various purposes @Webit.Festival Europe 2017. Machines today know all about you - the emojis you use, the personal thoughts you share and anybody with access to that can easily use this information. Why is it OK for a car company to know its customers, their behavior and send newsletters with the innovations they would be interested in? But it’s not OK when terrorist groups research and target young men and women to enter the military? Companies are still struggling to define what sensitive data is and how to protect it. The lack of clear regulations doesn’t help in fighting the problem. The first steps towards some kind of decision have been taken. In January 2012, the European Commission proposed a comprehensive reform of data protection rules in the EU. The directive will effectively enter into force from May 2018.

This and more will be discussed @Webit.Festival Europe 2018

Webit is the flagship event of a European digital week part of which will be the Digital Assembly, the annual high level gathering of European executives. Topics like Data encryption, privacy & security as well as data flow and its ethical implications are part of the Innovation Summit. They will be covered by experts and legislators. If you want to keep up with the latest trends in the world of digital economy and technology, then Webit.Festival is the right place for you. Visit our website and book 2 in 1 of our Super Earlybird tickets for Webit.Festival Europe 2018. You can watch Jason Jercinovic’s keynote here: [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlDC9VSxUCU[/embed]

This year’s edition of Webit.Festival Europe will be unprecedented in its size for the CEE region. The number of attendees will be nearly 30% higher than last years. The event will be held on April 25-26 in Sofia Tech Park under the patronage of the President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev, the Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova and the European Commission. After the huge interest in the past days and weeks, Webit Team is proud to announce that we are building a new conference hall and will have hundreds of additional seats for our valued guests. The Red Stage of the event will be exported outside the venue building to accommodate the huge number of visitors. Right now we are building thousands of square meters of facilities in addition to the buildings already involved. The official agenda of Webit.Festival includes 12 parallel conferences on topics, such as Marketing & Innovation, Digital Economy Leadership, Smart Cities, Mobility, Digital Transformation, FinTech & Blockchain, Big Data & Cloud, Security & Privacy, Health & Wellbeing, IoE and Software Development. Among our speakers you will meet Fortune 500 representatives, top brands, policymakers, founders of some of the most innovative businesses and the most exciting startups, not only in the region, but all over the world. This year 5062 people have registered for the event. They are coming from more than 90 countries. The leaders of some of the largest innovative tech companies in the world will arrive in Sofia along with founders of businesses like Skyscanner, valued at more than $1.74 billion. Webit attracted 2425 startup companies who think of the festival as a step towards their success. 100 of them were selected and will receive free-of-charge stands, tickets for the event and an opportunity to meet unparalleled selection of top enterprise leaders and investors, while presenting themselves in front of the world. They will also get the chance to compete for a €200 000 seed investment in our Founders Games. The market valuation of the selected startups is more than $1 billion, and so far they have attracted multimillion investments. With over 93% startup failure overall rate, the selected Webit startups for the Founders Games’s semi-finals in the past 7 years have less than 30% failure rate. Being among the Webit's Founders Games startup list is a statement of the company's credibility, innovation and potential in front of enterprise and investors as well as a great marketing opportunity.

Digital transformation is the process of adopting digital technology in all aspects of human society. Right now it sits atop the strategic agenda for businesses around the world and two-thirds of the top executives worldwide predict that their organizations will be vastly digital after the next two years. This will not be easy task, but it may bring huge opportunities for emerging and already established businesses. In the next 10 years between 40% and 60% of the companies in Fortune’s 500 will not play the same role on the world. Their places will be taken by new enterprises that manage to adapt best to the economic realities of the future. Over the last 8 years Webit.Festival has been all about creating density of opportunities for the business and entirely new entrepreneurial ecosystem. Among the 5000 guest of this year’s event in Sofia you can find top level speakers from all over the world, that will talk about the latest trends in the world of digital transformation. During the event’s Digital Transformation Summit the CEO of JetPack Aviation David Mayman will tell the audience about the smallest and lightest jetpack ever created and the change it can bring to the transportation industry. The chief designer of SAP Martin Wezowski will share his thoughts on how to build the future we want to live in and the merging meaning of what to be an innovator and designer. He will also talk about the designer’s role in creating of everything, including social and political systems in a space between cutting edge technology and humanism. The partner for Europe and Innovation at VCI Roby Stancel will talk about the digital transformation in the most real world. He brings to the stage two decades of experience in innovation, services, strategies, roadmaps and cultural transformations for over 100 partner companies. Now Stancel offers a unique combination of design thinking innovation and business strategy. As founder of Change Sciences, Pamela Pavliscak advises designers, developers and decision makers on how to create technologies that promote well-being. On Webit’s stage she will tell the audience how to design happiness - which has been the promise of technology right from the start. Researches suggest that technology has negative impact on our lives instead of aspiring us to get better at our work and augmenting human abilities. Pamela will share her thoughts on how we can start designing a long-term well-being rather than short-term goals. The Chief marketing officer of AngelHack Brian Collins will tell the best options for the existing communities to leverage their resources and build up their well-being. Right now AngelHack is the world’s largest and most diverse global hacker community. The company helps drive open innovation of tech products, platforms and brands with extraordinary smarts, scale and speed with tech education and hackatons. The CEO and Founder of SignAll Technologies Zsolt Robotka will speak about the first automated sign language translator that can improve the lives of 70 million people and unlock services for the deaf. Furthermore, the expert will share his thoughts on how to accommodate sign language users in smart cities. Here you can see a full list of the confirmed speakers at Webit.Festival, while here you can get all the information you need about the tickets for the event.