Top 8 trends to watch for at the Seedstars Summit
According to the World Bank, developing economies are forecast to expand by 4.8 percent in 2016. What are the major implications of it? What’s the impact of technology innovation and diffusion? What are the hot topics on entrepreneurship and emerging markets? Those questions and many more will be addressed during Seedstars Summit, taking place in Lausanne on Thursday 3rd March. Here are the top trends that you’ll be hearing about:
1. Internet of Everywhere
The race is on to connect the two-thirds of the planet — 4.8 billion people — without internet access. In this new race to Space, Inmarsat, the mobile satellite company, in collaboration with AP-Swiss, is making access to their satellites easier. In doing so, they unlock unlimited potential for commercial and scientific applications. We will sit down to discuss how Space will shape the future of the internet, and what the internet of everywhere means for entrepreneurs during the session: Countdown to Launch: The Internet of Everywhere
2. Fintech Innovation
Mobile payments and Blockchain technology — which enables people to transact securely without the need for a trusted third party — are just two of many revolutionary technologies that promised to disrupt banking. By Goldman Sachs’s estimates, the current leaders in financial services stand to lose $4.7 trillion in annual revenue, and 470$ billion in profits to new fintech innovations. How are incumbents adapting to new disruptions? And is there room for new fintech startups and current leaders to work together? This and more during the session: Fintech 2.0: After the hype — can fintechs really disrupt banking?
3. Mobile impact
Mobile phones have radically impacted people’s lives all across the globe. Since 2005, mobile penetration has more than doubled in the whole world. According to GSMA, over half of the world’s population uses a mobile service. In fact, the wider network coverage, along with the improvement of the quality of service has contributed to a higher mobile use, which has eventually impacted economic growth in both developed and emerging countries. Check more in: The Role of Mobile in Economic Growth
4. Regional collaboration
Public and private initiatives to foster robust startup ecosystems are emerging everywhere. Many programs have had success at the local level. Yet there remains very few programs that run on a region-wide scale. What characteristics make the best programs? In the workshop Fostering regional collaboration: the Latin American example, we take a look at different ways of supporting startups and regional companies, and we tackle the challenge of how to best foster collaboration and expansion on a regional scale in Latin America.
5. Travel innovation
Travel startups have been making headlines with the wild success of unicorns like Uber and Airbnb. Meanwhile, lastminute.com Group, one of the largest OTAs in the world, is looking to impact every part of the traveler journey. The group has been actively acquiring and investing in new technologies that they see as the future of travel. So what does that future look like for a world full of digital nomads? And how does a travel sector leader maintain its advantage today in the face of rising unicorns? Come to Takeoff: Exploring the next generation of Travel innovation to find out more.
6. Government’s role in the ecosystem
Governments around the world are getting more involved in supporting private sector innovation. Whereas investors care more about value creation, governments concern themselves with job creation, growing local industries, and increasing incoming knowledge transfer. We’ve seen many successful models like Startup Chile get started. So what do the best government programs look like? And how can more governments foster innovation at home? Find out in Fostering Innovation: How Governments can kickstart an ecosystem
7. New media
Since 2013, global online ad revenues have surpassed those of broadcast television, as younger audiences shift their attention online. In Africa alone, video is the fastest-growing medium for online content. In response, traditional media giants are investing in building and acquiring new digital media. Meanwhile, emerging markets offer significant revenue growth opportunities for media companies in the coming decade according to EY. So what opportunities in emerging markets have media corporations been exploring? And what are the biggest trends and success stories of new media in recent years? Analysis on The Scramble For New Media
8. Emerging Markets trends
What are the best startup scenes and regional megatrends in the world? How are unique challenges on emerging markets leading to one of a kind innovations? Discover Africa, Asia, and MENA-CEE from our perspective, as Seedstars World’s own regional managers share their unique experience after traveling for 6 months around each region in The World As We See It
Do you wanna know more from the experts such as lastminute.com group, Inmarsat and AP-Swiss and through multiple workshops and master classes about these top trends? Come and join us at Seedstars Summit!
