Gluco Active Team © 2020 Gluco Active
Little did the organizers of Collision know that Collision this year would look much different than in 2019; however, they pivoted quickly by announcing early that this year’s would be held online, giving them the time to get all parties (start-ups, partners, media, investors, VCs etc.) on board for a successful show considering the restrictions that the Corona Virus required in terms of meetings and travel restrictions.
The Collision from Home 2020 technology conference was held online from June 23 to 25, 2020 – it was a three-day celebration of Canadian and international innovation. There was a lot to see in three days; the 2020 themes were: Marketing and Media; Society; Developers and Data; Commerce; Business Development and Lifestyle as well as online networking which was a bit different than meeting in person.
Technology Issues:
This Conference addressed issues such as hacker breaches and privacy breaches, environmental responsibility, mental health and fake news.
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:
Polish glucose monitoring start-up GlucoActive won Collision’s annual PITCH competition. It is a non-invasive glucose monitoring laser device. Currently at seed stage, it was founded in 2016 and is at the first stage of clinical trials for the device. GlucoActive says it will help to diagnose up to 20 percent of the world’s population who currently go undiagnosed for diabetes.
“Winning at Collision means a lot to us because we are finally noticed by the international innovation community. It will allow us to attract many foreign partners and potential investors and start our foreign expansion. We are already opening a new company and office in Nashville, Tennessee in USA, and this is just the beginning of our international adventure. It will also allow for faster completion of device certification, commercialization and construction of an international distribution grid.,” says Robert Stachurski, CEO & Co-founder in an email to Toronoartsandevents. It won against 300 other start-ups.
Interesting Sessions:
Torontoartsandevents found the following sessions interesting:
Tuesday, June 23 Fundraising during a global pandemic
Re. Fundraising Investment Scaling
Two Entrepreneur founders shared their experience successfully pitching VCs during the Covid pandemic. Although challenging the two founders were able to convince VCs to backing them during lockdown.
Speakers
Dennis Steele Co-founder at Podium
Anthemos Georgiades, Co-founder & CEO at Zumper
Sophie Forest, Managing Partner at Brightspark
Stephanie Mehta, Editor-in-chief at Fast Company
Wednesday, June 24 Is big tech killing the economy?
Re. PR and communications Privacy and security Society
This panel discussed whether the growth of big tech companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft have created more inequality and what can be done about it.
Speakers Matt Stoller, Research Director at American Economic Liberties Project
Camille Dundas Co-founder & Editor-in-chief at ByBlacks.com
Ryan Heath Senior Editor at Politico
Tuesday, June 23 State of the VC nation
Keys: Fundraising Investment Scaling
In the last decade, venture-backed start-ups have almost doubled the amount raised to more than US$730 billion from the $400 billion raised in the prior decade. Silicon Valley investors who have backed the likes of FitBit and Plaid provided insight on the trends.
Speakers
Jeff Clavier, Founder & Managing Partner, Uncork Capital
Wesley Chan, Managing Director, Felicis Ventures
Caleb Silver, Editor-in-chief, Investopedia
Thursday, June 25 10:15 – 10:35 Feature film in a post-Covid world
Kristine Belson, president, Sony Picture Animations, discussed how the studio’s team is adapting to a distributed workflow while preparing for its next feature, Connected with Monica Drake, Assistant Managing Editor at The New York Times
Thursday, June 25 Do Robots Understand Pandemics?
Keys: AI and machine learning, Hardware and Robotics, Privacy and security
David Hanson, Founder at Hanson Robotics provided an entertaining demonstration of the level of progress of artificial intelligence in Sophia, the Robot and what is to come.
Speakers David Hanson Founder at Hanson Robotics, Sophia the Robot
Next Year’s Collusion:
Collision From Home 2020 was a good international conference. The Technology conference to see in Toronto! Check back here for Collision 2021 being held June 21 to 24, 2021 from Toronto; hopefully, in person.
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