The big week is finally upon us! Pioneers ’19 goes ahead in Vienna this Thursday and Friday (May 9th-10th), and our team is already setting things up at the Hofburg Imperial Palace as we speak. While they prepare our magnificent venue for hordes of innovators to get inspired on the first morning, here’s a final handful of headlining speakers who’ll be enlightening the audiences.
We’re delighted to welcome Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili to the Arena Stage, where she will take part in a discussion on Africa’s potential to grow into a substantial technology hub. A former Vice President of the World Bank (Africa Region), former Nigerian Minister of Education and founding Director of Transparency International, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Essex Business School in recognition of her role in promoting economic and social justice in African countries.
Meanwhile Nichol Bradford, CEO of the Willow Group and Executive Director of the Transformative Technology Lab, will bring her fascination with human possibility and technology to the Work Redefined discussion on the Launch Pad stage.
We’re also pleased to welcome Ariel Kramer of CELLINK to the discussion Making Dinner: Can Biotech Save Food Production?, in which she will share more about the rise of the 3D bioprinting company and the contribution its technology can make to our food supply.
If neurotech is your thing, you won’t want to miss Matthew Bosworth on the Arena Stage. Bosworth is Director of Cloud and Data Engineering as well as Data Protection Officer at EMOTIV, the global leader in contextualized neuroinformatics. He’ll be talking brain-computer interfaces, quantified mental states, and the virtuous cycle that occurs when everyone has access to technology and the resulting data is used for the good of all.
Finally we can reveal that Sara de la Rosa, Co-Ordinator of the Interagency Supply Chain Group, will be joining us at Pioneers ’19. She’ll be talking about the latest in impactful applications for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), which include health transportation, humanitarian situations, maritime security and public safety.
We’re also pleased to confirm the six jurors who will judge this year’s Top 8 final at the end of day two. The following are the brave experts who’ve agreed to ask the sharp questions and ultimately decide which startup gets ultimate glory at the Hofburg.
Roman Scharf (capital300)
Marvin Liao (500 Startups)
Oliver Holle (Speedinvest)
Geraldine le Meur (The Refiners)
Sakshi Chhabra Mittal (SoftBank Investment Advisers)
Amy Wu (Lightspeed Venture Partners)
But this is just the fraction of the over 30 jurors who will judge the entire competition, which begins on day one with 50 startups pitching in seven different categories. Meet the full list of investors, growth hackers, storytelling experts and serial entrepreneurs from across the international innovation ecosystem here.
We’d also like to thank the large group of mentors who will be working with the 50 pitching startups this Wednesday (May 8th), helping them to prepare for the challenges later in the week and beyond. Bringing the full range of expertise from all over the startup world, you can see their names here.
Now, if you want to set up meetings with attendees such as these at the Hofburg, make sure you head here to fill out your agenda preferences before tomorrow. That’s when our acclaimed Match & Meet system will start scheduling meetings – so make sure you’re in the game ASAP!
Of course, if you don’t have a ticket, then you’re going to miss out on all of this. But the good news is that there’s a quick remedy below!
Click here to buy one of the last remaining tickets for Pioneers ’19.
Pioneers ’19 is supported by Google Cloud, Media Apparat, Red Bull, Raiffeisen Bank International, the Vienna Business Agency and PwC Austria.
