EU – Baltic States, Forum, Latvia, Technology
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Saturday, 27.04.2024, 05:56
The Digital Freedom Festival to take place in Riga in November
This year the
festival will gather more than 1300 participants who will discuss the latest
trends and discoveries in digital technologies, as well as their impact on
startups and corporations, policymaking and modern lifestyles.
“The festival
and Latvia have received global recognition”, says Uldis Leiterts, one of the founders of the Digital Freedom Festival and co-founder of one of Latvia’s most
successful startups Infogr.am. “The
topics included in the festival are very pressing and important. The
competition in cooperation with our partners at 500 Startups from Silicon Valley has produced positive results, for
example - last year’s winner Funderful is growing and developing in
new markets. We want the DFF to become the most influential digital culture
event in Northern Europe where business people, investors, corporates and
policy makers are on the same wavelength, and gain the inspiration and
knowledge to embark on promising new business endeavours”.
Main topics for this year - Artificial Intelligence, Smart Cities, Fintech, Cybersecurity, Green Technologies and Digital Detox
Co-founder and
CEO of the DFF Dagnija Lejina says
“Our event is more just a startup conference. It is a multi-event meeting
platform, which takes a special interest in uniting the world of technology.
Technology implements swift changes in everyone’s lives, and it’s important to
encourage debate on how tech can truly “make the world a better place”,
creating greater digital dividends for everyone. We look at how to develop
global and sustainable business models, how artificial intelligence will affect
our daily lives, how technology is compatible with green thinking, how to
balance your digital habits while simultaneously maintaining a healthy personal
life. We’d also like to emphasise the contribution of women in the tech world,
therefore we aim for 50% of our speakers to be women.”
Opportunity for startups to enter an acceleration programme in Silicon Valley
The Digital Freedom Festival invites seed
stage startups to participate in a top-grade pitching competition in
cooperation with the world’s largest startup accelerator 500 Startups. The 10-15 best startups will be invited to
participate in the individual workshop with 500
Startups mentors on November 26, and the best 3-5 will pitch their ideas on
the main stage at the Digital Freedom
Festival on November 28. The winner will receive an invitation to Silicon
Valley to participate in an acceleration program.
“A startup
founder has to be like a long distance runner - you need patience and
endurance,” says last year’s winner, Funderful
founder Raimonds Kulbergs. “However,
participating in 500 Startup’s
accelerator program is like running at twice the pace. It’s an unique
experience to learn from top tier experts, to receive advice from people worth
billions of dollars, and to bulk up for future challenges.”
Startup founders
will be given the opportunity to participate in masterclasses, several pitch
competitions, present their ideas at the EXPO, and meet up with heads of
corporations and journalists. Investors are invited to meet the most promising
tech talents and companies in the Baltic region, as well as Russia, Ukraine,
Belarus and other nations.
The conference
is brought to you by DFF community, non-governmental organisation DFF, as well
as reputation management agency Lejina
& Sleiers.