Partnering with the future: TOA’s Haus of Tech is built to make business happen
- TOA provides businesses with innovative, interdisciplinary opportunities to connect, explore and pioneer new projects.
- “We give Partners and visitors so much more: there are multiple ways to interact — and that’s how really interesting collaborations happen!”
- Make unique connections with massive corporates and innovative startups alike — join us in Berlin in July!
TOA approaches the organisation of our flagship festival event holistically. We all work together to make the TOA experience one that excites and enlightens visitors, whether we’re booking the thought-leader speakers or installing the cool outdoor decor.
The Partnerships team is no exception. TOA loves business and the liberating effect it has on innovation and learning when combined with art, technology and creativity.
So the Partnerships team are TOA curators in the same way as the Content team and Satellites team are — they build experiences that nourish and fuel visitors’ imaginations. And they’ve created a brand new experience for TOA 2017: the Haus of Tech.
It’s a space created to deliberately nurture fundamental and novel two-way relationships between businesses and visitors. We caught up with Gary Abela, TOA’s Head of Partnerships, and TOA Partnerships Manager Lindsey Lawrence — and they explained how the Haus Of Tech is just as uniquely “TOA” as it is a uniquely “Berlin”…
The Haus of Tech is where TOA’s unique shoulder-rubbing magic happens for business.
Gary can describe his aims very simply: “The Haus of Tech has a focus on opportunities for connection, so more business can happen right here at TOA. We’ve built a space that has mini-business-ecosystems within it, which are then organised into carefully-curated verticals.”
Gary continues: “For instance — we have corporates that are leading the discussion in their particular space, and we help connect them to the startup community. This vertical arrangement is really important: if you’re interested in mobility, for instance, you can easily seek everyone out — and once you’re there, opportunities for collaboration are hard-wired into the space”
Lindsey is as excited as much by the scope of the Haus as she is by the size of it:
“It’s a really comprehensive, but manageable space: 3000 square metres. The Haus verticals are split into Energy/Clean Tech, Life Sciences/Social Impact, Data Infrastructure, Fintech, AR/VR Entertainment, and Mobility.
“These are 2017’s most exciting business areas, and we’re really enjoying creating an environment where their innovative ideas can collide, and industries can work together and be inspired by one another. It’s totally in line with TOA’s interdisciplinary ethos, and everyone in the Haus will discover opportunities they never expected!”
“At TOA, the traditional trade-show booth is just an anchor — we give Partners and visitors so much more. There are multiple ways to interact, depending on the Partner’s narrative and the visitor’s interest — and that’s how really interesting collaborations happen!”
And this is where TOA’s Partnerships team work differently to those at other festivals. Their job is not just to bring partners on board and behind a stand, but to create the dedicated matchmaking moments, micro-events, and showcase opportunities to bring collaboration to life.
Gary explains a bit more: “It’s about bringing in true partners, and working closely with them to build their experience. Each vertical has “tracks” on the Innovation Stage — scheduled times when a business’ product or service can connect to other startups and attendees in a useful, targeted way.
“We really want this interaction to mean that there is something useful happening right there, on the ground, at TOA.”
So by working incredibly closely with TOA’s partners — whether they’re huge multinationals like Axel Springer or Amazon Web Services, or successful young businesses like Casper and Grover — the team creates richly collaborative opportunities right under their noses, at TOA.
And with it being in Berlin, there’s something a bit different and special going on.
Lindsey thinks the connection to Berlin’s ecosystem is essential to the Haus of Tech: “TOA has close, deep ties to the Berlin startup world — we want the festival to represent the ecosystem and how it’s developed over time.
“We also want to connect them with forward-thinking corporate partners. Berlin’s startup scene has grown so rapidly and is attracting huge international attention — so it’s important that other big partners from outside Berlin are here too, so they can evolve together.”
As always at TOA, it’s about more than just being there — it’s what you can do with the opportunity. Gary has the final word on what this means for TOA’s Partners:
“At TOA, the traditional trade-show booth is just an anchor — we give Partners and visitors so much more. There are multiple ways to interact, depending on the Partner’s narrative and the visitor’s interest — and that’s how really interesting collaborations happen!”
You can’t afford to miss out — join us in Berlin in July!
Satellites of love: putting Berlin’s community at the heart of TOA: TOA’s Satellite unique events mean that there is the perfect event for everyone, everywhere in Berlin during TOA.
At TOA, we book speakers who believe that their ideas will change the world: TOA’s hard-working knowledge-junkies — AKA the Content Team — explain why the book the speakers they do.
Originally published at blog.toa.berlin on May 9, 2017.
