#TDD4Future, the entrepreneurial meeting that explores the technology of the future
Starting on Thursday, May 14th, the 50 most important technology-based startups will be part of #TDD4Future, the virtual version of the usual TechDemoDay, the great entrepreneurial and technological meeting organized annually by La Salle-URL through La Salle Technova, its innovation park. The #TDD4Future is made up of different stages since its launch last week and wants to culminate, if circumstances allow us, with the in-person celebration of the tenth edition of TechDemoDay on October 22nd. "For six months our entrepreneurial community will meet the 50 best startups of the moment, new business models will be debated, new forms of financing will be analyzed and the effective relationship with corporations", explains Josep Miquel Piqué, director of Internationalization and Innovation at La Salle -URL and Executive President of La Salle Technova.
The #TDD4Future was born as an opportunity and a response to circumstances, going into the virtual environment to be held in different phases from May 14th, the date of the official launch, until October 22nd, when the conclusion will be also a crucial moment of the program: the TechDemoDay celebration. The event, then, changes from being made up of a single main meeting to become a thread of reflection - over the next six months - on the technological entrepreneurship of the future, organizing pitches, thematic capsules, webinars and networking activities.
‘Back to the future’, analyzing the new normality
La Salle-URL and La Salle Technova have chosen the slogan 'Back to the future' as the central theme of the event, a motto that now makes more sense than ever. The #TDD4Future wants to serve as a space for analysis to explore how technology and innovation will be a key factor building PostCOVID-19 normality “new normal". As Josep Miquel Piqué sais the role of startups will be important: "They are the most agile and effective mechanism to identify opportunities, create value propositions, develop pilots and scale quickly".
In this sense, the pandemic will be part of the program in a tangential but constant way, it will serve to draw prospects, to guess trends, to assess consequences and to specify the impact of COVID-19 on entrepreneurship, technology and society in general. "The moments of crisis serve to revalidate business models or pivot them to capture new markets," explains Piqué. In addition, the #TDD4Future will help connect participating startups with investors, large companies, the media, students, researchers and teachers, creating a wide space for reflection and exchange of ideas, in which social networks and digital platforms they will play an essential role.
The program and the speakers
The #TDD4Future is made up of dozens of activities that will be held in webinar format, such as the meeting 'Reinventing space in the PostCOVID-19 era', which will take place on May 28th and will serve to BMP Accelerator Closure, the program of acceleration of real estate companies organized by La Salle Technova and the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (Barcelona Free Trade Zone Consortium - CZFB). On June 3rd, it will take place the session 'Corporate Venture: The rules of the Game with Jerry Engel ', in which Jerome Engel of UC Berkeley will be the keynote speaker. It will happen within the framework of the European project ScaleUp Champions, in which La Salle-URL and La Salle Technova participate with other innovation parks and university centers on the continent.
In addition, weekly themed video capsules will be launched in which some of the participating startups will analyze the future in their sector. One example, the startup Mediktor will talk about digital health, an area of entrepreneurship in which it has been a pioneer. There will also be video capsules on sustainability, a round table on investment strategies, a meeting between the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Barcelona and San Francisco to explore new opportunities for digitization in the New Normal, pitches of the participating emerging companies, presentations, events networking, and a Time Capsule with blockchain technology by the startup Ekratos and much more.
The TechDemoDay, in October
The purpose of the #TDD4Future is to culminate its celebration on October 22nd with the tenth anniversary of the TechDemoDay, which would serve as the final meeting of the virtual initiative but, in this case, in person at the La Salle-URL Campus. The TechDemoDay is a sample of the potential of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of La Salle Campus Barcelona-URL. “With the tenth edition of TechDemoDay we will have 500 startups that have used the La Salle-URL platform to connect with 10,000 clients, investors, corporations, researchers and students. A sample of how La Salle Technova is one of the great Innovation Hubs in Barcelona”, explains Josep Miquel Piqué. In any case, the celebration of the event will depend on the situation in the country in October and on the measures that the administrations dictate regarding the organization of meetings of this type. As in previous editions, the TechDemoDay will feature keynote speakers who will talk about entrepreneurship, innovation, technology and disruption, cross-cutting themes in all the #TDD4Future activities.
More information here.