The keynote speaker of this year’s SWCSummit, which takes place in Prague on October 5th and 6th, is computer engineering legend Steve Wozniak. Forty-five years ago, he stood side by side with Steve Jobs at the beginning of the Apple brand. Later, his groundbreaking desktop computer changed the development of the IT industry forever. Visitors to the event will not only see him live but will even have the opportunity to ask him a question. Tickets are available at swcsummit.com. However, due to the pandemic, SWCSummit’s capacity will be limited to a few hundred people, so early purchase is quite recommended.
In addition to Woz’s performance, the program’s highlight will also be the traditional continental finals of the Startup World Cup. The victory awaits a startup that will rise from the pool of past regional rounds or associated startup competitions. The winner will be rewarded with an investment of $500,000 and the title “European startup champion.”
“This year, we are upgrading the prestige of the European finales to an even higher level than before as we broaden our portfolio and we also patronize various other competitions such as the Czech Startup Challenge, Creative Business Cup, PowerMOTION, and others. SWCSummit thus becomes something of a Champions League of startup competitions,” explains the founder of the Summit Václav Pavlečka, CEO of the Air Ventures fund.
We caught Woz on beer.
How does the participation of a personality like Steve Wozniak even get arranged? It takes a ton of luck, even more patience, and above all, a positive attitude towards beer. “It all started two years ago in Vienna. There I met a man who knew someone whose friend was on Wozniak’s team. He agreed to introduce us in exchange for a beer – and, surprisingly, he kept his promise. Hoping and determined, we had to fight our way through to his personal assistant. It didn’t work out last year. This year it has, ” smiles the SWCS director Tomáš Cironis.
In addition to Steve Wozniak, other business celebrities will speak at SWCSummit. “I cannot be specific at the moment, but we have a couple of exciting irons in the fire. We are communicating with several personalities from Silicon Valley. I could probably reveal that one of them is a woman who fundamentally influenced this Mecca of startups, ” suggests Cironis.
More about Startup World Cup & Summit
The Startup World Cup & Summit (SWCSummit) is one of the most significant & prestigious startup events in Europe. It takes place every year in Prague. It combines two events into one: the Summit, where startups, investors, and corporate representatives from all over Europe meet, as well as the European continental finals of the global World Cup competition, which was founded in Silicon Valley to boost global innovation, connect the startup ecosystem, open the door to talented entrepreneurs and to find the best startups in the world. The Prague organizers have gained the privilege of holding the European finals repeatedly. Previous years were attended by an average of over 1,500 visitors. They featured speakers such as Tosca Musk, Passionflix CEO and Elon Musk’s sister, NASA’s Tom Cwik, Alzheimer’s drug developer Martin Tolar, Marvin Liao from the 500Startups incubator, Vince Steckler – CEO of Czech AVAST, Dave Evans from Stanford or visionary Karel Janeček. The Startup World Cup & Summit is regularly organized by Air Ventures and UP21 investment funds. For more information, visit www.swcsummit.com.
