Open source, neo-geography, cartography, augmented reality – geography is most definitely more than just looking at a map. And an area which merges technology, innovation and creativity is the subject of a two-day conference – or rather, ‘unconference’ – in Berlin next month.
The second annual WhereCamp Berlin will take place on June 22 and 23, bringing together the best and brightest trendsetters, researchers and educators in location and geography.
Gaming is as hot a space for startups as it has ever been, and now German firms will have the chance to pit themselves against the best Europe has to offer in the Startup 2.0 2012 competition, entitled On Gaming. Registration has now opened for game developers, and will run to May 30.
The five finalists will have the opportunity to present their projects at Nonick, the International Internet Trends Conference in Bilbao, with an all-expenses paid trip.
This Week in Startups is back in Berlin – with, believe it or not, a twist. The event on June 8 at the Ahoy! co-working space will this time feature three German startups pitted against three in London.
A jury will choose the finalists from a pre-selected list of 15 and Jason Calacanis and his sidekick Tyler Crowley will then pick the best three overall – and you can now register you company for the chance the take part.
The Media Momentum Awards at Nhow
When you turn up at a tech conference in Berlin clad in a t-shirt only to discover everyone else is wearing a smart shirt and jacket, you’re entitled to double check which city you’re actually in. But after re:pubblica and NEXT, the GP Bullhound Summit made an interesting change of pace.
I was fortunate enough to be asked along to the invite-only event, held at the swish Nhow hotel in Friedrichshain, to watch the Media Momentum Awards. And there was good news for Germany, with Flip4New named Europe’s fastest-growing digital company based on revenue and market expansion.
Berlin Web Week may be drawing to a close, but there are a couple more cool events to look forward to – one here in the capital and one in Cologne. Urania Berlin will play host to Buzzwords Berlin, a conference for developers and users of open source projects, on June 4 and 5.
NoSQL matters 2012, meanwhile, will look at the world of databases the week before, on May 29 and 30.
The Nhow Hotel in Berlin, venue for the GP Bullhound Summit
The NEXT conference may be done and dusted, but it’s not time to put your ‘I Heart Berlin Web Week’ t-shirt away just yet – today it’s the turn of GP Bullhound to take centre stage with the Media Momentum Awards. The event strives to recognise Europe’s fastest growing digital companies, and among the ten shortlisted for the prize are Germany’s own SponsorPay and Flip4New.
They will be hoping to scoop the top prize at the Nhow music and lifestyle hotel in Friedrichshain this evening.
Berlin is an increasingly international city, and it’s also no secret that many startups struggle to find talented technical staff. But help is at hand – the Startup Berlin: Guidance for Italian Programmers event, hosted later this month by Berlin-based productivity company FC Garage aims to help Italians who want to experience the Berlin startup culture by sharing their knowledge of the city.
The workshop, which will be held entirely in Italian, is aimed at professional software engineers and developers as well as engineering and computer science students who want to move to Berlin in order to work in the tech scene.
More than a hundred developers, hackers, designers, marketing gurus and tech enthusiasts battled it out for 54 hours at the third Startup Weekend, held last weekend at Club Office.
After an inspiring welcome on Friday evening from mentors Lasse Chor and Mathis Christian, attendees were told that they should take the opportunity to fail faster and test their ideas out on customers in the real world, telling the young entrepreneurs not to be afraid to pivot their plans.
One of the world’s top early stage investment firms, Mangrove Capital Partners, who have previously invested in Skype, Brands4Friends, KupiVip, Nimbuzz, Wix and SohoOS, will be opening their doors to Berlin during this Web Week, and want to meet you.
Early-stage investor Eugene Minzin and Michael Jackson, former Skype VP and current partner at Mangrove, will be holding an Open Office Hours event this Tuesday, May 8 at Betahaus Berlin. Appointments start at 9am and are quickly filling up, so startups wanting to get on the radar of an international investment firm, or just want some questions answered are encouraged to sign up.
Berlin Web Week may finish at the end of the week but the events will keep rolling on throughout May. Alex Farcet from Startupbootcamp and Christoph Raethke from Berlin Startup Academy and Battle of the Startup Bands will be hosting the very first live Term Sheet Negotiation event incorporating a live negotiation between a real investor and a real entrepreneur.
Aiming to take the mystery out of what has mostly been a closed and poorly understood process, the live negotiation will take place between Look Mommy! co-founder Magdalena Böttger as ‘The Entrepreneur’ and a yet-to-be-named VC investor, with US securities lawyer Brad Furber as ‘The Referee’ of the event. Attendees will watch on as they act out a mock term sheet negotiation, while explaining the fundamentals of investor negotiations.