The Brainport region will be host to a major European start-up event this spring. Registration has opened for Beyond Tech, a full-day event “for tech innovation in the Netherlands, Europe and beyond”, hosted by start-up accelerator HighTechXL.
The event expects to bring together 450 guests – startups, investors into high tech, corporate partners and community leaders – on 11 April 2019 at the High Tech Campus Conference Centre, in Eindhoven.
The tightly packed agenda is designed to connect local, national and global start-ups with investors, to share information about the high-tech scene and about the successes of its role-players. The schedule includes 15-minute matchmaking sessions running in parallel with 25 expert sessions, with the latter themed around innovation, sustainability and entrepreneurship.
Beyond Tech builds on last year’s Beyond XL, also held in Eindhoven. “This year, Beyond Tech is going, well, beyond what we did last year. It is an international event as we have invited startups, investors and speakers from all over the globe”, says Betsy Lindsey, Managing Director of HighTechXL. “Brainport is fast becoming the high-tech capital of the world, and we think there’s no better way to put the spotlight on Eindhoven than to hold a high-tech conference on High Tech Campus. We also help the fundraising flow for startups by matching them with potential investors and corporate partners for future collaboration.”
(See also: Why the Netherlands is the new Silicon Valley: Eindhoven)
Experts, pitch sessions and funding
Expert-session speakers include Amber CEO Steven Nelemans on the future of car sharing; Anupam Nayak, Founder and COO of Eindhoven Medical Robotics; Christoph Lynen, CTO of the Psylaris, on his learnings at the Californian accelerator Y-Combinator; and Jan Visser, Dutch Industrial Liaison for CERN & Dutch CERN-BIC Coordinator.
“The Expert Sessions offer dialogue with presenters in an intimate setting, so we expect there will be great interaction. The Expert Sessions were a big hit last year,” says Lindsey.
Start-ups will compete in pitch sessions, with big prizes at stake. These prizes are provided by impact track ambassadors Philips, ASML, NTS Group, TomTom, IBM, Accenture, Here, BOM, EY, imec and DSM, each representing an impact track for which a winner will be selected: Healthcare, Smart Cities, Advanced Materials, New Mobility, Industry 4.0 & Advanced Equipment, Energy, Food & Agriculture and Data & Connectivity.
The day will end with the two-hour Beyond Tech Showcase, featuring keynote speakers and announcements of the pitch-session winners.
(See also: HighTechXL hackathon to recruit startups for CERN)
Deep Tech at Beyond Tech
HighTechXL runs three-month programmes to support hardware startups in going from prototype to market and to help corporate teams to develop their innovative ideas.
HighTechXL Chairman Guus Frericks last year announced that he and his team were moving away from what he calls “cute tech”, to focus on “deep tech”, which he says requires a completely different approach. “Moving forward, the only thing we’re going to do is work on technology where we as a region can make an incredible impact and a difference. And that’s what we call deep tech.”
Registration for Beyond Tech is free. More information is available on the event website.
Photos and images: HighTechXL
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