The Pioneers Festival opens the gates of the Hofburg in Vienna to startups. As in last year we traveled to Vienna and reported from the former Habsburg residence.
Every startup conference needs a unique selling point. What Oktoberfest Tuesday means for the Bits & PretzelsThe Vienna Hofburg is the venue for the Pioneers Conference. Startups, investors, and media professionals meet in the sophisticated residence of the Habsburg emperors to exchange ideas.
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The conference is considered the flagship event of the startup scene in the Austrian capital and has earned a considerable reputation since its first event in 2009. Recently, the Linz-based business angel group Startup300 acquired the Pioneers organizer JFDI for a "mid-seven-figure euro sum," as it was reported.
Free tickets for 500 startups
Around 2,500 participants move beneath stately chandeliers and on the red carpet. To ensure that the entry prices do not exclude the core target group, Pioneers invited a total of 500 selected startups to the conference and gave them two free tickets each. This campaign noticeably benefits the conference and ensures a high proportion of startups in the audience. From these 500 startups, the organizers then selected 50 particularly promising companies, which will have the opportunity to pitch for the "Pioneer of the Year" award at the festival. These top 50 startups include Smokeless and Sono Motors from Munich. The winners of the pitch competition will receive a funded networking trip to Silicon Valley, as well as travel and participation in the Techsauce Global Summit in Bangkok.
Blurred boundaries
The action on the main stage in the opulent ballroom was centered around the event's slogan, "Blurred Frontiers." In search of blurred boundaries, geneticist Josef Penninger spoke about the potential of the life sciences. Futurist Jonathan Knowles and marine researcher Gaelin Rosenwaks reported on deep-sea and space exploration.
LiliumCo-founder Patrick Nathen explains how his company will break down everyday barriers: Nathen says that in the future, traveling by Lilium air taxi will be commonplace. The journey from Vienna's Schwechat Airport to the city center would then take five minutes, instead of the current half-hour.
The second day of the festival also promises a whole series of exciting talks. Holodeck VR-Co-founder Jeff Burton will speak. We also talk to a Munich founder about his experiences at the Pioneers Festival.