There’s something in the air in September which gives us that back-to-school feeling. Suddenly we’re ready to knuckle down, take those extra-credit classes. So why not invest your extra energy and focus into one of this fall’s many incredible tech events? Below are the ones we’re looking forward to most.
4-5 September, Krakow
Join 1500 attendees for this digital product conference aimed at developers, designers and researchers conducted largely in English (50 lectures in English — though 15 lectures will be in Polish). Speakers will address topics as varied as whether UX is still a creative field; founder mental health; how to personalize products, managing a DesignOps roadmap, generative AI for UX writers and designers and ethics in digital design. Speakers include Boston Consulting Group’s design manager, Adam Bartczuk, Tonik’s no code developer Agata Milowska and Zendesk’s principal UX researcher Alicja Antkowiak.
24-26 September, Munich
Bits and Pretzels began life in 2012 as a small, cosy traditional veal sausage breakfast in Munich for entrepreneurs. Since then, it’s grown enormously, attracting speakers and guests like Barack Obama, Richard Branson and Jessica Alba. Last year, startups raised 3.4 billion euros after the event. This year, there will be a startup pitch competition and opportunities for startups to exhibit their products. It’s predicted that there will be over 15,000 founder-investor meetings. Speakers include: Michelle Obama, who will be encouraging the audience to push past self-doubt, Airbnb’s co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk, and Prof G Pod host Scott Galloway — alongside many others. Best bit? On the third day of the festival, they take you straight to Oktoberfest to meet other founders and investors there.
26-27 September, Amsterdam
Forming part of the IoT Tech Expo, the 5G Expo will feature talks on 5G, IoT, Digital Twins & Enterprise Transformation. It’ll also cover topics like IoT Security IoT Connectivity & Connected Devices, Smart Infrastructures & Automation, Data & Analytics and Edge Platforms. Speakers will discuss pressing questions, like are digital twins the best market product for reduced costs and risks? And can IoT tech act as a key enabler for the digitization of the supply chain? Speakers include Thomas Kleine, the Germany CIO of Pfizer; the VP of Engineering at IKEA, Anca Iordanescu, Airbus’s Head of IoT Nicolas Torralba, Barclays’ assistant VP and data scientist Mufeed Patel and many more.
2-3 October, Paris
Hoping to address the dismal state of diversity in venture capital, the WVC:E Summit is dedicated to women in VC. They hope to meaningfully affect the the venture capital system. This means, they argue, changing who is getting funded to who is raising a fund. It also means tracking women’s role in the changing venture landscape, and asking: does venture capital retain its promise in a high interest rate environment? Speakers include Sifted reporter Anisah Osman Britton, Kaiko’s CEO, Ambre Soubiran, HV Capital’s Anna Ott, Deliveroo’s Chantelle Zemba and many more.
11 October, Berlin
Hosted by venture capital company Project A, The Project A Knowledge Conference brings together founders, investors, digital experts and media. Conveniently for those short on time, it’s a one-day event packed with sessions, workshops and networking opportunities. More than 120 speakers will address the topic of The Obvious. Which means what? The way many of our current crises could have been anticipated. Amongst their number? Chief Economist and Global Head of Research of Deutsche Bank, David Folkerts-Landau; a Fast and Curious podcast host and one of the best known faces of the German startup scene, Verena Pausder and online marketing conference OMR founder Philipp Westermeyer, amongst many more.
24-25 October, Vienna
The European leg of the XR-focused global event series brings together end-users and solution providers, investors, startups, developers. It’s a space for AR and VR startups, as well as for startups creating enabling tech for spatial computing. Think: AI, haptics, lenses, tracking, waveguides and more! It also gives developers an opportunity to get first-hand advice. They’ll learn how to best use the latest platforms from Adobe, Epic Games, Meta, Microsoft, Niantic, Snap, Unity. They’ll also get to dig into SDKs such as Apple’s ARKit, Google’s ARCore, and more. Unlike your average conference, it has the added bonus of giving you access to AWE’s growing resource library. It also allows you to connect with other founders via their community portal, awe.live.
15-16 November, Berlin
Expect two days delving into the newest insights in predictive analytics for business, Industry 4.0 and Deep Learning. But don’t expect theory. The conference focuses on the practical application of analytics, machine and deep learning, data and text mining and generative AI. Speakers include Google’s Senior Data Scientist Dr Christoph Best; Mercedes’ Data Science Solution Architect Dr Ole Brodersen and RTL’s Data Product Manager, amongst many others.
