More than 20 speakers, 13 presentations, Sofia-based organisations and municipal programmes in support of the local business, as well as success stories of entrepreneurs and foreign partners from Vienna, Göteborg and Amsterdam will be part of the two-day agenda in SOFIA’s PLACE tent – the exhibition space of Sofia at Webit.Festival Europe on May 14-15, 2019.
This year, hosts in the SOFIA’s PLACE tent are Sofia Municipality, Sofia Investment Agency, Sofia Development Association, Sofia Tourism Administration, Green Sofia, Sofia Municipal Guarantee Fund for SMEs and Sofia Urban Mobility Centre. We are all united by the mission to develop the potential of our city to the full extent.
The two-day programme will be in English, and will include interesting projects and presentations, under two main topics. The presentations during day one will focus on Urban Development and International Partnerships. Keynote speakers from Vienna Business Agency, Business Region Göteborg and The Next Web (TNW X) Amsterdam will join us at SOFIA’s PLACE. Our guests will present different activities and initiatives for encouraging entrepreneurship, as well as business opportunities for Sofia-based companies. The programme will also include presentations by the Sustainable Cities Fund and the European Investment Fund.
The guests of SOFIA’s PLACE will get acquainted with some of the smart city projects that are being implemented in Sofia, and learn about two interesting initiatives, supported by Sofia Municipality: they will be able to test some of the computer games, developed during the first edition of the Hack&Design Challenge, and meet the winners of the 2019 Datathon (Data Science Hackathon), dedicated to the modelling of the static air polluting factors in Sofia.
During the two-day programme, the Urban Mobility Centre will introduce the urban transport developments in Sofia, demonstrate a new working electronic bus stop sign and give international and local guests the opportunity to activate and (re)load electronic transport cards, valid for Sofia’s transportation network.
Educational centre Technokrati will demonstrate a small clean energy hydrogen fuel cell car, explain the mechanism behind the fuel cells and harvest hydrogen in real time.
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The second day will be dedicated to the programmes and instruments for support and encouragement of startups and small and medium-sized companies in Sofia. Municipal startup funding and acceleration programmes supporting the development of Sofia-based companies, as well as success stories supported by Sofia Municipality will be presented at SOFIA’s PLACE. The programme will also include presentations by representatives of the growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in Sofia, and a one-hour crash accelerator programme for startups.
Our teams invite entrepreneurs, politicians, city administrators and business representatives to visit our SOFIA’s PLACE tent at Webit.Festival Europe 2019.
SOFIA’s PLACE is in the very heart of the festival, in the left lobby, right after the main entrance of the National Palace of Culture. Join our stand at Webit.Festival with your questions, ideas or businesses projects that you want to start, develop and grow in Sofia.