Tech Open Air

Tech Open Air (often abbreviated as "TOA") is an annual interdisciplinary technology festival that takes place in Berlin, Germany. It started in 2012 as the very first tech festival organised through crowdfunding.[2][3][4] The festival has developed into a well-known tech conference in and out of Europe. The main concept behind Tech Open Air is to bring together the areas of technology, music, art, and science[5] by providing a platform for multi-disciplinary knowledge exchange, collaboration, and development.[6] Tech Open Air is organised every year in June or July and gathers a number of influential speakers, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, start-ups, and attendees from Germany and 55+ other countries.

Tech Open Air
StatusActive
GenreTechnology Conference
Location(s)Berlin, Germany
Inaugurated2012
Attendance15091 (2017)
Organized byNikolas Woischnik[1]
Websitetoa.berlin

2020

Since live events were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many others will be held virtually.

2017

The TOA17 Festival took place between the 11–14 July 2017, remaining for a second year at former GDR Radio Station, Funkhaus Berlin. 2017 saw the Satellites program extend even further with kick-off events (including the official Satellites launch party with Seth Troxler) taking place on the Tuesday before the Conference.

TOA Conference also expanded further with a brand new 4500qm exhibition hall "The House of Tech". This unique TOA style take on a traditional expo hosted brands such as Facebook, Google, Samsung NEXT, as well as a host of Europe's leading startups. Over 6,000 people attended the conference, where the 200+ speakers included Adam D'Angelo (Co-Founder & CEO, Quora), Richard Sharp (CTO, Shazam), Richie Hawtin, Mate Galic (CTO, Native Instruments), Erika Lust (Co-founder, Erika Lust Films), Hector Ouilhet (Head of Design, Google Search), Imogen Heap (Founder, Mycelia), and Yaël Eisenstat[7] .

2017 was also the inaugural year for TOA Music Fest which took place on the last night of the festival with over 2000 people in attendance. The night featured live performances from Machinedrum and Schwarz Don't Crack, as well as DJ sets from the likes of Blaenk Minds.

2016

Tech Open Air held its fifth edition on 13–15 July 2016,[8] with the conference taking place at a new venue, Funkhaus Nalepastraße, over the first two days. In 2016 the TOA satellite programme expanded to occur over the whole of 15 July as well as on the evenings of the conference. In total 177 satellite events took place in Berlin across three days.

The TOA conference hosted 166 speakers and included keynote talks from founders and entrepreneurs such as Yancey Strickler,[9] Luis von Ahn[10] and Cindy Gallop.[11] In addition to the talks, attendees were able to take part in a number of different formats such as Pitch-nic, Music Meets Tech, and a Reverse Pitch where investors were able to pitch their investments to promising startups.

In total, 11,221 people attended TOA from over 40 countries. Speakers included Mathias Döpfner (Axel Springer), Catherina Fake (Flickr), Luke Woods (Facebook), Dominik Richter (HelloFresh), Katie Dill (Airbnb), Daniel Barenboim (Berlin State Opera), Gabriel Flateman (Casper) and Susan Danziger (Ziggeo).

2015

Tech Open Air 2015 (#TOA15) took place July 15–17, 2015.[12][13] The "Unconference"[14][15] as well as more than 150 satellite events[16] across Berlin were the main components of the festival. The programme invited the event attendees to experience engaging talks presented by over 110 professionals,[17] as well as interactive panels, art installations, live music, and networking opportunities. Satellite events provided an opportunity for Tech Open Air attendees to fully immerse themselves in the Berlin startup culture.[18]

One additional format of the "Unconference" was a networking session called Back to the Future: Enterprise Meets Startup which inspired and encouraged cross-industry collaboration; the Pitch-Nic (a high-speed pitching session for start-ups and investors);[19] and the Hardware Pitch[20] where six hardware innovations pitched their ideas on stage.

The 2015 edition was attended by over 5000 people[21] from various industries and nations (over 30 countries represented). Around 150 media outlets were involved in this year's event including the Wall Street Journal, BBC and TechCrunch. The list of speakers included Mike Butcher (TechCrunch), Chris Barton (Shazam), Christoph Keese (Axel Springer SE), Niklas Oestberg (Delivery Hero), Robert Gentz (Zalando),[22][23] Greg Dybec (Elite Daily), Assaf Biderman (Superpedestrian), and Dirk Ahlborn (Hyperloop).[24]

2014

The third edition of Tech Open air took place in 2014 and included more than 100 speakers and more than 2750 attendees. The programme also included the first ever Design Slam in Berlin, start-up battles, collaborative workshops and live music.[25] One of the hot topics discussed at the event was wearable technology.[26]

2013

The second edition of Tech Open Air included 85 speakers, more than 2000 attendees[5][27][28] and 50 satellite events.[29]

2012

Tech Open Air's inaugural event took place in 2012 in Berlin.[30] The first edition included nearly 60 speakers, 850 visitors and 23 satellite events.[31]

gollark: You mean stuff actually happens between those?
gollark: They might arguably be worse, though, as all other rare collectors will go there.
gollark: Muskies appear to be losing their perceived rarity. I saw one sit in the desert. It took about ten-twenty seconds after the egg drop to go.
gollark: Why did everyone just move to alpine/volcano? Weird.
gollark: It's possible that some of this perceived rarity is just a feedback loop of "hmm, people think it's rare, better try and get better offers" and "hmm, people think it's rare, better offer more".

See also

References
  1. Reprints, Adam Satariano satariano Stefan Nicola StefanNicolaBBG. "How a Berlin factory became home to dozens of tech companies".
  2. KissKissBankBank. "TOABerlin presents Tech Open Air Berlin Festival — KissKissBankBank". KissKissBankBank.
  3. "Tech Open Air Berlin confirms Kater Holzig venue, launches crowdfunding campaign". VentureVillage.
  4. ""Failure's OK in Berlin", but "Aim for a billion-dollar company" – Tech Open Air". VentureVillage.
  5. "Tech Open Air Berlin returns for two days of startups, music and art". VentureVillage.
  6. Stephen Evans. "BBC - Future - Berlin start-ups: Cool and commerce coming together?". bbc.com.
  7. "How to Tackle Political & Social Inequality - Yael Eisenstat (Former CIA Analyst)". 2017-07-27. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  8. "Tech Open Air - Bringing everyone together - Dataconomy". 2016-07-29. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  9. Tech Open (2016-07-25), TOA16: Keynote Talk with Yancey Strickler (Kickstarter CEO and Co-Founder), retrieved 2016-09-05
  10. "Hier könnt ihr das Tech Open Air in Berlin im Livestream verfolgen". 2016-07-14. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  11. "Tech Open Air returns to Berlin next month - Tech.eu". 2016-06-21. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  12. "Tech Open Air 2015: Ein Festival ohne Scheuklappen". Musikexpress.
  13. "Trying to Impress at a Berlin Tech Festival". Bloomberg.com. 17 July 2015.
  14. "Veranstaltungstipp: Tech Open Air 2015". Berliner Industrie.
  15. "Tech Open Air gilt als Europas coolste Konferenz". Gründerzeit.
  16. "Tech Open Air Berlin: So gechillt netzwerkt die Start-Up-Szene". bz-berlin.de.
  17. Lisa Roolant. "Women lead the way when it comes to health and wellness tech". The Next Web.
  18. "Berlin's 4th Tech Open Air Festival With 140 FREE and Inspiring Events - BERLIN LOVES YOU". BERLIN LOVES YOU.
  19. Jutta Meier. "Tech Open Air in Berlin: Internetszene trifft sich in der Teppichfabrik". berliner-zeitung.de.
  20. "Two Conferences. Two Experiences". Wiredcraft.
  21. "Mit WIRED könnt ihr auch vom Sofa aus beim Tech Open Air dabei sein". WIRED Germany.
  22. "Zalando @Tech Open Air Berlin". Zalando -- Corporate Blog.
  23. "Zalando Does Tech Open Air". Zalando Tech.
  24. "Tech Open Air 2015". Agentur NORDSONNE IDENTITY, Berlin.
  25. "Dritte Runde für das Tech Open Air Berlin". Gründerszene Magazin.
  26. "Wir diskutieren auf dem Berliner TechOpenAir die Zukunft von Wearable Technology". Motherboard.
  27. "Die Highlights des Tech Open Air Berlin 2013 - Gründerszene". Gründerszene Magazin.
  28. "Half festival, half conference: Tech Open Air Berlin announces speakers". VentureVillage.
  29. "Tech Open Air Festival – strictly ungooglebar". Berlin Valley.
  30. "Berlin's buzzing with tech start-ups". The Irish Times. 3 September 2012.
  31. "Berlins Aufstieg vom Abenteuerspielplatz zum europäischen Silicon Valley". der presseschauder.
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