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The Disrupt Space Summit will bring together 50 of the most promising space startups from around the world to Berlin on March 14-15 2017 and connect them with decision makers and investors to collaboratively solve today’s problems using space.
The summit focuses on innovation, entrepreneurship and the strengthening of a sustainable and well connected community. Whether you are already working in the commercial space sector or have never heard of it, the Disrupt Space summit is the perfect environment for you to get a more thorough understanding of the potential of commercial space.
The summit begins on Tuesday morning the 14th of March with an ‘Opening Keynote’. A video message by Jan Wörner, the Director General of the European Space Agency will also be delivered to the audience.
The opening will be followed with the “Disruptor Of The Year” award and interview. Moderated by Sarah Cruddas – a well renowned space journalist and author – the ceremony aims to acknowledge successful entrepreneurs that have made the biggest impact the previous year through the use of space.
After the award ceremony, community leaders who are building space entrepreneurial ecosystems will come on stage to conduct a collective brainstorming with the audience at the ‘Space Entrepreneurial Ecosystems’ panel. An overview of the collective progress will be assessed and questions like how different regions can better coordinate efforts to help startups grow businesses will be answered.
After lunch and throughout the next two days, attending space startups will have the opportunity to showcase their products and services to decision makers and investors at dedicated demo-booths.
Simultaneously, decision makers will learn how to collaborate with space startups through specific workshops on corporate venturing and open innovation techniques.
For investors, a dedicated workshop on ‘Investing In Space Startups’ is organized by Space Angels Network. This workshop will give attending investors a crash course on the investment opportunities of space. The workshop will be led by Chad Anderson, Managing Director of Space Angels Network.
In the afternoon, there will be the ‘Europe As A Hub For Space Entrepreneurship’ panel. Leaders of government and space agencies in Europe will talk about the ecosystem for space startups from their perspective and how they see themselves contributing towards the development of the ecosystem. Among the speakers will be Brigitte Zypries, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Germany.
Afterwards the ‘Earth Observation – Images to Intelligence’ panel will host companies and organizations disrupting sectors from agriculture to finance by using space data. Benefit from an end user-centric approach to learn how space data can help your business. The line-up includes Brian Lim, Co-founder and CEO of Hypercubes, Robbie Schingler, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Planet, Steven Ramage, GEO Senior External Relations Manager and more speakers to be announced shortly.
Simultaneously with the EO panel, there will also be a workshop named ‘Why Design And Branding Are Essential To The Success Of Your Space Startup’ held by Andrew Sloan, Creative Director & Founder of Cosma Schema. The workshop aims to show that design is an integral part of any successful company and that developing a strong brand can inspire loyalty from customers and trust within your audience.
The last panel of the day ‘Connecting The World Through Space’ will focus on global connectivity through the use of satellite constellations. The panel will delve into the upcoming transformation on how we will interact with every thing in our daily life and what role space will have in it
After the panels a ‘Networking Evening’ will take place where you can relax, continue to mingle over a BBQ dinner and celebrate space entrepreneurship through drinks and storytelling. Tom Segert – Co-founder of Berlin Space Technologies will be telling stories from the space sector.
The second day starts with a keynote and a fireside chat on ‘Corporate Venturing with Space Startups’, delving into more details on how corporates can better work with space startups in the room and outside.
The fireside chat is followed by the open panel ‘Investing in Space’ where leading investors will speak about what they look for when considering investment opportunities in space startups and what space startups should consider when raising funding.
After lunch the fireside chat on ‘Launch Services’ will start with a short introduction by Melissa Wuerl, Director of Business Development at Spaceflight Industries. She will then be answering questions from the audience.
In the early afternoon, you can start exploring the future of the commercial space sector starting with the panel ‘The Business of Space Resources’. This panel will delve into hot topics such as space resource mining and space debris removal which are the business activities being pushed forward by entrepreneurs today.
The summits ends with the ‘Disrupting The Space Frontier’ panel where leading thinkers and business persons will give insights into disruptive ideas that will help turn the Solar System into our backyard. We will look into the future and try break these ideas down into commercial opportunities. Erika Ilves – Co-founder of Offworld will be among the speakers.
Side Event
For attending space startups and aspiring entrepreneurs, there will also be a ‘Startup Meet and Greet’ on the 13th of March from 19:00 to 22:00 pm. The meetup will allow fellow attendees to meet for the first time and get to know each other in a casual environment at the Rainmaking Loft, a startup hub in central Berlin.
The co-founders of Disrupt Space, who also organized the first annual summit in 2016, are Magni Jonannsson, Philippe Cyr and Izan Peris Marti. The first Disrupt Space Summit in Bremen last April connected 200 entrepreneurs and decision makers from 19 countries to collaboratively solve today’s industry and sustainability problems using space. Building on to the success of the first summit, the team expanded to Berlin to continue its mission to build a global hub for entrepreneurs to create and grow space startups, to foster international collaboration and to help break down barriers between space and other sectors.
Contact the team through [email protected] or apply/register through the website www.disruptspace.io
Original published at: http://spacewatchme.com/2017/02/disrupt-space-summit-2017/
