The inaugural Collision 2019 technology conference was recently held in Toronto – it was a four-day celebration of Canadian and international innovation. Web Summit previously held Collision in New Orleans and Las Vegas, but took over the Enercare Centre in the CNE in Toronto for four days. It featured a wide range of speakers, from politicians including PM Justice Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford, actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen to the executives of major companies such as Hootsuite, Shopify, IBM, Twitter as well as investors and start-ups looking to be matched with investors.
Opening Night
“Toronto has firmly arrived on the world’s tech scene,” conference founder Paddy Cosgrave said during Monday night’s opening event.
Prime Minister Justine Trudeau, in prime election mode, sat down with Shahrzad Rafati , CEO Broadbent TV, to discuss Canada’s plan to promote entrepreneurship & technology. The PM was asked why technology cannot get the same level of support in terms of subsidies and tax reductions that other industries such as oil get; he only replied that his party does a lot for technologies. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promoted Canada’s advantages in immigration for technical works, its diversity and its educational system as a competitive advantage
Too Big to See in Three Days
Web Summit held its Collision 2019 on May 20 to 23, 2019 at the Enercare Centre on the grounds of the C.N.E. in Toronto, Canada. This centre is Canada’s largest convention facility with over one million square feet of exhibition space. Collision is a massive international conference with 1,100 start-ups and 850 investors and media from around the world in attendance. One needed about ten days to visit all the booths and attend all the sessions. The four day international conference had fifteen conferences streams which take place over fifteen stages, with sectors including AI, automated and connected vehicles, data, security, design, investment, software development, marketing, music and sustainability. According to organizers, 850 investors attended, 730 speakers, 100 trade delegations from more than 55 countries and 1,100 start-ups from 60 countries. There were more than 25,000+ participants from 125 countries.
Technology Issues:
This Conference addressed issues such as hacker breaches and privacy breaches, environmental responsibility, mental health, fake news. One of the tracks was planet: teck where the use of technology was sought to solve environmental problems.
Conference for both Large Corporations and Start-ups
Collision had speakers, exhibitors from the world’s largest companies who are partnering and investing in start-ups. Large technology companies are needed to grow Canada’s technology space and sessions addressed the advantages of the large companies as well how start-ups can scale up to become larger
Pitch Winner:
LOLIWARE was the Pitch Winner among 60 start-ups that were invited to pitch from the 1,100 that attended Collision. According to Loliware, it has pioneered seaweed technology to replace single use plastics – it is made from 100% food great materials & is designed to compost naturally.
Interesting Sessions:
Torontoartsandevents found the following sessions interesting:
Building and funding your first idea – Venture Stream on Tuesday May 2)
This panel of venture capitalist discussed the pathway for start-ups to obtain financing and grain traction.
Panel Members:
Host: Michael Bancroft, Executive Producer & Co-host, Globalive Media’s “Beyond Innovation”, Bloomberg TelevisionCollision 2020
Conrad Burke, Vice President, New Ventures, ISF Incubator (Intellectual Ventures)
Stephanie Palmeri, Partner, Uncork Capital
Jens Lapinski, CEO, Angel Invest Ventures
Graham Brown, Partner, Lerer Hippeau
Perfecting your pitch: The secrets of wooing VCs – Start-up University Stream Thursday May 23
This panel provided start-ups with useful tips on how to make their pitches successful and what investors are looking for.
Panel Members:
Jager McConnell, CEO, Crunchbase
Janet Bannister, Partner, Real Ventures
Oisin Hanrahan, Co-founder, Handy
Jordan French, Executive Editor, Grit Daily
Next Year’s Collusion:
Collision 2019 was stunning international conference that put Toronto on the map. The Technology conference to see in Toronto! Check back here for Collision 2020.
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