We’re pleased to announce that visitors to our flagship event will once again get exclusive access to our Pioneers500 Report. Limited to 1000 copies to be distributed at Pioneers ’19 in Vienna, this is a co-production of PwC Austria, our key partner to the Pioneers500 program, and our consultancy arm Pioneers Discover.
Central to the Pioneers500 Report will again be the topic of Open Innovation – namely how corporates can stay competitive by collaborating with the kinds of quality startups we choose for the Pioneers500 program every year. It will offer valuable insights on not only those 500 seed startups we’ve chosen – and who consequently earned an invite to join us at Pioneers ’19 in Vienna – but on startup-corporate collaboration as a whole.
The section authored by our Pioneers Discover team will break down startup-corporate collaboration into its component parts and explore the factors critical to success. Drawing on their experiences running Open Innovation projects across all industries, our expert consultants have shared ‘collaboration readiness’ checklists for corporates and startups. These pages will help both sides know exactly which questions they need to ask themselves ahead of a collaboration, and to weigh up the value of any Open Innovation proposal.
As Head of Pioneers Discover Anton Schilling says: “Open Innovation approaches offer a great chance for corporates and startups to strengthen their innovation power on the market. But we’ve seen that there are both right and wrong ways to go about it, and both parties frequently need guidance on best practice.”
The report will also feature similarly practical first-hand insights from PwC Austria’s experience in the innovation arena, which includes bringing startups and corporates together on a daily basis. Our partner’s experts will share their learnings on how and why certain formats work better than others, clearly outlining the benefits of an Open Innovation approach for corporates looking to get the most out of their strategies.
“In many ways, corporations and startups inhabit two different worlds, and it can be tough to bridge the gap and find the right platform or intermediary to make an efficient professional relationship possible,” says Thomas Riegler, Digital and Innovation Partner at PwC Austria. “Successful cooperation is the key to survival for both and paves the way to mastering future challenges. Ultimately, collaboration can lead to symbiotic success, leveraging each other’s strengths to lift performance to an even higher level.”
Naturally, the report will also be the best possible source of information on the Pioneers500 startups themselves: look out for infographics and statistics illustrating where these seed-stage innovators come from, what they do and other key measurables.
There’ll be deeper individual introductions to the Top 50 startups, with each getting half a page detailing its product or service. It’s the perfect way to get to know those whom you’ll see pitching their hearts out for the Pioneers Challenge Award, which last year went to Austrian startup SzeleSTIM. Once again, the winners will be whisked off to Silicon Valley for a networking trip as part of their prize.
“We made a number of valuable contacts and got inspired by the startup culture in the San Francisco Bay Area,” recalls SzeleSTIM Co-Founder Stefan Kampusch of their journey to America last year. “Everybody saw the need and tremendous market for our solution, but thanks to the feedback we received, we got more focused on the essentials of our business.”
“We also used our time in San Francisco to meet with a potential American partner and discuss details around entering the US market.”
In addition to being awarded tickets to Pioneers ’19, selection as a Pioneers500 startup earlier this year was the first step to getting chosen to pitch or exhibit at the Hofburg. For the full line-up of pitching startups at Pioneers ’19 and further details on the prizes they could win, click here.
Additional benefits of being a Pioneers500 startup include a number of deals we’re offering via partners. These include growth, customer services and marketing products from ConvertKit, Fomo, Semrush, LiveChat, NinjaOutreach, GetResponse and Google Cloud for Startups.
Pioneers ’19 guests will once again be able to pick up their Pioneers500 Report copy at the PwC Lounge, as well as at the entrance to the Hofburg or at the first-day startup pitches at the Launch Pad.
Click here to meet our 500 selected seed-stage startups at Pioneers ’19 on May 9th-10th.
Pioneers ’19 is supported by Google Cloud, Media Apparat, Red Bull, the Vienna Business Agency and PwC Austria.
