The fourth edition of an international conference for startups, investors and corporations, Wolves Summit, is over. One of the most important tech events in Central and Eastern Europe gained representatives from 47 countries, who could meet and discuss innovations in business for 4 days.
Startups, business and R&D
1956 participants from 47 countries from around the world met in Warsaw, Poland between 24th and 27th of October. 291 startups competed in the Great Pitch and took part in networking activities with 192 investors and 371 corporate representatives. Pre-planned 1:1 meetings again turned out to be a success, since there were 3072 of them carried out. Lectures and discussion panels were held by world experts in innovation, new technologies, business, marketing and sales. A new element of the conference agenda was a separate day dedicated to research and development of Polish companies. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and Higher Education Jarosław Gowin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Grey, Director of the National Centre for Research and Development Maciej Chorowski, Director of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development Michał Bańka and European science and business representatives participated in the debate. During the opening of Wolves Summit R&D, Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the audience about working on promoting Polish startups on foreign and national markets.
Great value for business
Four intense days of 1:1 meetings and lectures by world experts turned the Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science into a place of business development on a global scale. Startups had the chance to find out more about the art of presenting and investors and corporate managers could see young tech projects pitch live on a few stages.
– We managed to create conditions, which encouraged talks between startups, investors and corporations. Many participants from the October edition appeared at the conference for yet another time. It proves the values the event delivers – Barbara Piasek, CEO at Wolves Summit says.
Networking activities, opportunities to conduct talks in both formal and informal conditions and the presence of investors, corporate representatives and startups from 47 countries are not the only reasons participants willingly come to Wolves Summit.
Everyone in one place
– The atmosphere at the conference is great. We came here to meet investors and business partners, but also our future customers. It’s very convenient to have everybody in one location – Grzegorz Wójcik, CEO at Autenti, explains. Autenti is a startup that won the main prize of $100 000 in the Great Pitch competition. This platform for approving documents and signing contracts online won the recognition of the judges and as a result Autenti, as the first Polish startup in Wolves Summit’s history triumphed in the Great Pitch.
At the same time experienced startups, whose goal is often to find new clients and business partners, competed for a Media Package. The winner in this category was another FinTech company, a Danish startup Yourpay. It specializes in payment facilitation for small and medium companies.
– During the meetings my main focus was on investors. My colleague, a sales representative, got many new contacts from partners. We hope the Media Package we won will help us develop the company in Poland – Mathias Gajhede, CEO at Yourpay, says.
Research and development in Poland
Wolves Summit also focused on the activity of startups in Poland and on promoting R&D. Representatives from the National Centre for Research and Development, Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, Ministry of Science and Higher Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs particularly mentioned the support young tech companies in the country can count on regardless of their industry.
– In no way do we limit the initiative of entering a path of their own entrepreneurship. Any idea may turn out to be a divine spark. They do not have to be ideas from a certain list – Maciej Chorowski from the National Centre for Research and Development says – some areas, stated in the Responsible Development Plan like electromobility, Batory programme, naturally generate the concentration on concrete technologies. But it doesn’t mean an idea not fitting those strategies will be evaluated negatively, since it may be beyond all others’ imagination – he adds.
Networking at its best
– During the upcoming editions of Wolves Summit we still want to concentrate on networking, introducing business, technology and funds representatives. We receive feedback from the participants that startups established partnerships with investors from the very first day of the conference. It makes us even happier because it was our goal all along – Barbara Piasek sums up. The four-day conference full of meetings, lectures and startup pitches was a huge success, but the organizers do not stop there and plan another, even more valuable Wolves Summit event in 2017.
