Podim DX, one of the 30 most influential startup & technology conferences in Europe, which was transformed into a fully digital online implementation this year due to changed circumstances, has been finished. The conference was recently selected among the 20 best online startups and technology conferences in Europe, and the reactions of the participants after the event only confirm the justification of this choice.
The statistics of the event, which brings together the most promising startup and scaleup companies from the region, the most motivated regional and global investors, business executives, dozens of top-notch speakers who share valuable knowledge and rich experience with the participants in one place every year is once again exceptional. Until last year the venue of the event was the Hotel Habakuk in Maribor, and this year for the first time Podim was held online.
As many as 1,126 participants from all over the world has been networking, meeting and making deals for three days. The online dealmaking platform Podim DX Deal Room hosted 842 meetings of representatives of startups & scaleups with investors and businessmen. The participants were dominated by members of startup and scale teams (294), 77 investors, 122 businessmen, 144 speakers, and 489 other participants, including members of the support environment and entrepreneurship and startups enthusiasts.
More than 100 studios from all over the world united in one virtual venue
Matej Rus, CEO of Venture factory, organiser of Podim DX, was frank: “The situation with the coronavirus forced us to embark on a completely digital path. While many similar events for startups have been canceled or postponed, we have not given up.”
The virtual venue of the event this time was the online platform Hopin.to provided by the London startup, and the transition between the diverse Podim DX program contents required just a few clicks. A special feature of the conference were also two Podim DX studios, one in Maribor, which the team prepared together with the teams of BK TV and the company Soundbiro, the other was in Vienna, made by Podim’s Austrian partner Der Brutkasten. The main program of the conference took place from these two studios, and most of the guests joined the program stream remotely, from their homes and offices. Therefore Podim DX had more than 100 "studios" this year.
“It was a real pleasure for us to organise this top-notch conference with Podim team. With this production, we were able to set new standards in digital conferencing. On top, I have seen some of the most interesting panels and talks since I have been in this business. Big congrats to both teams, Podim and Der Brutkasten, for pulling off this great event!” Dejan Jovičevič said after the event.
Matej Rus admitted that the team had flirted with the introduction of digital technologies in the past, but they found it almost unacceptable to use the technology in a way that would offer "shortcuts". “But now we have been forced into it and we have accepted it as an opportunity. We were scared but also daring at the same time. We told ourselves we were going to pull it off - and we did. And now we know that the use of digital technologies is not so bad at all. It is also sustainable, because it saves the environment due to fewer trips, and it is also good for our use of time.”
Recognition for implementation came from Brussels as well
An additional confirmation for the Podim DX team that it is on the right track was the participation of Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the digitization of the European Union. Vestager was the guest of honor at the opening of Podim DX, where she said, among other things: “The crisis has shown what a person is capable of when he is forced to do so. Among other things, to adapt to new conditions overnight. I hope we will be able to use part of this experience as a foundation along with customized established models. So that in the future we will not only use digital technology, because sometimes it is good to meet live.”
She praised the implementation of the event and highlighted the commitment of the team: “It is so impressive to see how much the human ambition is driving this. And that I find to be the fascination about tech. It’s not just the machine, it’s humans driving the machine to make sure that we can make the most of it. And Podim is an excellent example of exactly that.” Also extremely interesting was the conversation between Robin Wauters, editor of Tech.eu, one of the leading European media in the field of technologies and startups, with Margrethe Vestager, which we broadcast live on the Internet, also on the European Commission's Facebook page.
