Disrupt Eurpose

The Best European Events For Startups In 2014

 by Mike Butcher (@mikebutcher) TechCrunch



Back in 2012 I’d been to enough tech startup conferences in Europe over the previous few years to work out which ones appeared to be most significant. Europe being the disjointed bunch of countries that it is has too many to mention. That ended up being a post about events in 2013.

Now, with 2014 already here, I figured plenty of readers would like an update. So here it is. A huge thanks to Heisenberg Media for helping me put this together. Thanks also to Conferize for their crowd-sourced list of European Tech Events in 2014 which you can find here. That is not our list, it’s theirs, but it’s pretty good. We also recommend the listing over at Lanyrd.

But, simply being listed below does NOT imply that any of these events are endorsed by or ‘partnered’ with TechCrunch, other than TechCrunch branded ones of course. This is a purely editorial list, based on our experience in Europe, the list is designed to help the European tech scene grow and get more organised. Simple.

Why is it important to do this? In the first instance, Europe is a bit of a mess. Every single country seems to have its own major conference on tech startups. And so we need a single overview of what’s going on.

But the main reason is that it’s easier for those of us in the media (hello!) to cover your company if we get to meet you at an event. And it helps if that event does not clash with another. So if we produce a list of the bigger events, the events organisers will – like several planes emerging from above the clouds and realising they are about to crash into each other – HOPEFULLY not clash with each other. It’s also MUCH easier for investors to move between conferences where there are startups to check out and entrepreneurs to meet. It’s also easier for startups to take their show on the road and present to investors or the media if the events DON’T CLASH. See? Everyone wins!

The reason the list below also includes some major events in the US and a few outside Europe is that – especially in the US – TechCrunch Staff will not be around in Europe at those times. For instance, if you want TechCrunch staff to be more likely to turn up at a conference event, don’t schedule it during our Disrupt events in San Francisco or New York or Europe. OK? Simple.

I have not included events in Asia as this is more about U.S./European event traffic. And we HAVE included some in the Middle East and Africa, as they are “near” Europe. Almost all the events lists here are ones where English is the official language of the conference, with rare exceptions (the French ones).

In this listing you will (mostly) not find developer events or hackathons or meet ups. We’d prefer to concentrate on events where startups get pitched and where investors gather. Although all of the events are good some are genuinely ‘Recommended’, or ‘Interesting’. Some are more off the beaten track than others and deserve a mention.

Here’s the list pertaining to the 2014 dates. Some events either haven’t updated their sites yet, or there’s simply no information a 2014 event yet. As they update their information, and I get told, I will update this post.

Please leave your feedback in the comments, and we will take them into consideration. Thanks!

However, this is our (well, my) editorial pick.

JANUARY
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Week 1
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Week 2

CES, Las Vegas, Nevada, January 7-10

Week 3
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Week 4

Hyberlin, Berlin, Germany, January 18 Demo (public), January 19 founders (invite only)

SIGNIFICANT: DLD, Munich, Germany, January 19-21 – Invited / Ticketed

WEF / Davos, Switzerland, January 22-25 – Invite Only (often featuring big tech giants and startups)

FEBRUARY
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Week 6

SIGNIFICANT: MIDEM, Cannes, France, February 1-4 – Midem Lab is a track for music startups

SIGNIFICANT: Seedcamp Week London (+ Sometimes SeedSummit at the same time), London, UK, February 3, Invite only

LIFT, Geneva, Switzerland, February 5-7

Week 7

SIGNIFICANT: The Crunchies – San Francisco, California, February 10, The Annual TechCrunch Awards – Very recommended!

Finovate – London, UK, February 11-12 – Good for Financial / banking tech startups

TechChill Baltics – February 13. Good event for Baltic startups.

Netexplo.org, Paris, France, TBA

Decoded Fashion Tech, NY Fashion Week, New York, New York, TBA

Startup Turkey, Antalya, Turkey, TBA

Week 8

London Fashion Week, London, UK, February 14-18 (big for Fashion tech startups)

Social Media Week (Multiple global cities), February 17-21

Week 9

SIGNIFICANT: Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain, February 24-27

4 Years From NowFebruary 24-27, Barcelona, Spain

MARCH
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Week 9

SIGNIFICANT: London Web Summit, London, UK, TBA

Week 10

MENA ICT Forum – Dead Sea, Jordan, TBA

Week 10-11

CeBit, Hannover, Germany, March 10-14 – Trying hard to include startups more, though not a major focus and too B2B.

SIGNIFICANT: SXSW Interactive, Austin, Texas, March 7-16

Week 12

F.ounders NYC, New York, New York, TBA – Invite Only

Go Youth Conference – 16-17 March, “an event aiming to promote entrepreneurship and creativity” among young people, tech oriented

The Guardian Changing Media Summit, London, UK, March 18-19

FutureEverything Festival, Manchester, UK, March 27-April 1 – Digital culture, innovation

SIGNIFICANT: ArabNet, Beirut, Lebanon, TBA

GDC SF, San Francisco, California, March 17-21,

EU Digital Agenda Assembly, Athens, Greece, March 18-20

Scaling Startups – 26 & 27 March 2014 – London, UK

API Strategy & Practice Conference – March 26-28, Amsterdam – First ever in Europe, useful for any startup with an API.

Economist Technology Frontiers 2014 (London, UK) 27 Mar

NACUE Startup Career Launchpad – London, March 28

APRIL
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Week 14

DEMO U.S., San Francisco, California, April 3

Week 15

FailCon Europe, London, UK, April 8

MiPCube, Cannes, France, April 7-10 (part of MipTV, good for tech startups around TV/entertainment/video)

LOGIN.LT, Vilnius, Lithuania, April 10-11 – Big Baltic states Conference, in English

Webexpo.net, Prague, Czech Republic, April 11-12

Week 17

Startup Day, Stockholm, Sweden – April 26 – general startup pitches but majority tech and growing bigger each year

Railsberry, Krakow, Poland, TBA – Recommended for European Rails developers

SIGNIFICANT: The Next Web, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, April 24-25

World Economic Forum on Europe, MENA and Eurasia (Istanbul, Turkey) – 27-29 Apr

Latitude 59, Tallinn, Estonia, April 28-29 – Baltics startups pitching & speakers

SIGNIFICANT:

Disrupt NYC, New York, TBA – Very Recommended

MAY
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Week 19

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DigiTalk, Sofia, Bulgaria, May 2014

NEXT Berlin, Berlin, Germany, May 5-6 – Some startups, mostly corporates and digital marketing

Heureka, Berlin, Germany, May 6 – Startups & focused on Berlin’s ecosystem

London Big Data Week events, (crowd-sourced), London – May 5-11

Berlin Web Week, Berlin, Germany, May 6-7 – Range of events

Week 20

Engage Invest Exploit 2014, Edinburgh, Scotland, May 8

CapitalOnStage, Berlin, Germany, TBA

Decoded Fashion Tech, London, UK, May 10-14

Bacon, London, UK, May 16-17 – developer conference liked by starters.

Google Zeitgeist UK (London, UK) – 18-20 May (TBC)

Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, France, May 14-25 – Good for media startups

Week 21

Shift Split – Split, Croatia, TBA

Net Prophet, Cape Town, South Africa – TBA

Thinking Digital, Newcastle, UK, May 20-22 – Interesting

Forum SPB, St. Petersburg, Russia, May 22-24

Week 22

The D Conference, Rancho Palos Verdes, California, TBA

Digital Shoreditch – London, UK A SXSW style event, last week of May

JUNE
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Week 23

Startup Village – Created by Skolkovo, in Moscow, 2-3 Jun 2014

innotechsummit – 4-5 June, London – Tech Policy and big company focused.

Web2day – 4-6 June, Nantes, France (Largely in French)

Kinnernet Europe, Avallon, France – June 5-8 – Israelis hanging out with Euros & others.

DEMO Europe – June 4-5, Moscow, Russia,

Red Innova, Madrid, Spain, TBA – Spanish / LATAM event

Startup 2.0, Bilbao, Spain, IS THIS STILL GOING?

PivotEast, Nairobi, Kenya, TBA, East Africa’s main mobile apps / startup pitch competition for investors

Spain Startup and Investor Summit – Madrid, Spain, TBA – In English

Week 24

SIGNIFICANT: Le Web London, London, UK, June 9-10

>Midnight Pitch Fest, Oulu, Finland, June 12-13

FoundersForum.eu, TBA – Invite Only

Startup Island, Hvar, Croatia, TBA

EU Commission Digital Agenda Assembly – TBA

Week 25

Significant: Cannes Lions 15-21 June 2014, Cannes, France – Relevant for tech companies driven by advertising, big players attend

SparkMe – June 19-20 2014. Budva, Montenegro

Startup Summit, Prague – TBA (21 June in 2013)

SIGNIFICANT: Bitspiration, Krakow, Poland, TBA

WPP Stream, Cannes, France, June 17 – Invite only

Cannes Lions, Cannes, June 15-21 – Good for media/advertising startups

ICT Spring Europe, Luxembourg, TBA

Week 26

MLove Berlin, Berlin, Germany (closer to Halle, Germany), June 25-27 – Interesting

Founders Forum Menorca Tech Talk, Menorca, Spain, TBA

D-Conf, Milan, Italy, TBA

NOAH, San Francisco, California, TBA – Interesting for late-stage startups

JULY
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Week 27

Tech Open Air Berlin – Berlin, Germany, July 4-5

Week 28

DLD Women, Munich, Germany, TBA

Tech4Africa Nairobi – Nairobi, Kenya, TBA

RockPaperStartups.me – July TBA 2014, Croatia

AUGUST
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Week 32

Young Rewired State, UK, August 4-10

Week 33

GDC Europe, Cologne, Germany, August 11 – 13 – Useful for social games developers/startups

Week 34

Rock, Paper, Startups – Rijeka, Croatia – TBA (18-19 July in 2013)

MediaEvolution.se, Malmo, Sweden, TBA – Media/Tech overlap conf.

Turing Tech Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland, TBA – Interesting

Week 35 – 36

Burning Man, Black Rock, Nevada, August 25 – Sep 1 – Lots of tech entrepreneurs now attend

SEPTEMBER
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Week 36

Hack Cyprus/ – Cyprus, TBA

DConstruct, Brighton, UK, TBA – “technology and culture”

Significant: IFA, Berlin, Germany, September 5 – 10 – Europe’s main consumer tech/gadget show

SIGNIFICANT: CTIA, Las Vegas, Nevada, September 9-11

Digital Derry, Northern Ireland, TBA

Week 37

SIGNIFICANT: TechCrunch Disrupt SF, San Francisco, California, TBA – Very Recommended (September 7-11, 2013)

Pirate Summit, Cologne, Germany, TBA (1st or 2nd week of September most likely) – Fun, startup event, junkyard atmosphere, good vibe

Campus Party London, London, UK, TBA – Big huge Hackathon and speakers

Startup Lisboa Demo day, Lisboa, Portugal, TBA

Week 38

Fast FWD Conference – tech and startup festival in Belgium – TBA

Kinnernet, Israel – Invite only, mainly Israeli in focus, with some outside guests

DM Ex Co, Cologne, Germany, September 10-11 – Advertising startups / Germany

TechCrunch Italy, Rome, Italy, TBA

“Investor Harvest” – Sep 18-19 Odessa, Ukraine (by by Europe Venture Summit, invitation for European angels and LPs)

Investors AllStars, London, UK, TBA. Not a conference but an interesting gathering of European VCs and founders.

Overtheair.org, London, UK, TBA – Interesting for mobile startups

Week 39

MindTheProduct, London, UK, TBA

TechBBQ.dk, Copenhagen, Denmark, TBA

SIGNIFICANT: Webrazzi Summit, Istanbul, Turkey, TBA. September 25th – Recommended to download Turkey

OCTOBER
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Week 40

The Next Web New York, New York, New York, TBA

TED Global, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 5-10

SIGNIFICANT: White Bull Summit, Barcelona, Spain, TBA – Oct. 6th-8th (2014) – Recommended, esp. for growth or mid-stage firms

Decoded Fashion Tech – Milan Oct 22 2014

MindTrek, Tampere, Finland, TBA

Spain Startup And Investor Summit – Madrid, Spain, TBA

Tech4Africa – Johannesburg, South Africa, TBA

Week 41

Ennovation, Poznan, Poland, TBA

WHU’s Idea-lab.org, Vallendar, Germany, campus of WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, Germany,TBA

Week 42

IDCEE (Investor Day CEE), Kiev, Ukraine, October 16-17

Wired UK 14, London, UK, October 16-17

GigaOM Structure:Europe, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, TBA

Week 43

DLD Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel, TBA – Recommended

Venturecamp.mindthebridge.org, Milan, Italy, TBA

Week 44

TECHCRUNCH DISRUPT EUROPE AND HACKATHON TBA DATE OR WEEK NOT YET SET

SIGNIFICANT: Pioneers Festival, Vienna, Austria, 29 & 30 October – Recommended as a broad conference on science, tech and innovation

SIGNIFICANT: Dublin Web Summit and F.ounders, Dublin, Ireland, TBA

Stream Global 2014 (Marathon, Greece) 23-26 Oct

NOVEMBER
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Week 44

HowToWeb, Bucharest, Romania, TBA – Recommended to download Eastern Europe

Week 45

zz9

Explorers Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, TBA

Webit, Istanbul, Turkey, TBA – Recommend, Large trade show and exhibition featuring broadly on digital marketing, commerce and startups, in Turkey and Southern and Central Europe

Silicon Valley Comes to the UK – Nov 6-8 featuring veterans from the Valley touring London and Cambridge

Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford – Featuring veterans from the Valley at the Said Business School – (24-25 November in 2013)

Codebits – Portugal, TBA, Large hackathon style conference, not startup oriented but a pool for talent

Week 46

Noah Conference, London, UK, November 12-13 – Recommended for later stage startups, broadly European but heavily German and Israeli

Apps World, London, UK November 12-13

Global Entrepreneurship Week in Belarus – (Nov 18-21 in 2013) – Minsk, Belarus – Features startups

Slovakia Startup Awards – (22 Nov 2013)

Rise Up Summit – Cairo, Egypt – Recommended a as a major event for tech in the Middle East (Was 24-25 Nov 2013)

Global Entrepreneurship Week (various global events like Internet Week Europe)

SIME, Stockholm, Sweden, TBA

Monaco Media Forum, Monaco, TBA

SVC2UK, London, UK, TBA – Recommended

Slush, Helsinki, Finland, TBA – Recommended as the main Nordics/Scandinavia event

Startup Conference Next – Sofia, Bulgaria (November 30th 2013)

DECEMBER
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Week 49

RECOMMENDED – Startup AddVenture – Kiev, Ukraine, Dec 3-4 (by Europe Venture Summit)

SIME Miami – 3-4 December

Stretch, Budapest – December 5-6 – leadership and management conference for tech comps

TechCrunch Moscow 2014, Moscow, Russia, TBA

LeWeb, Paris, France, TBA – Recommended, big tech event in Europe for some time

API Days, Paris, France, TBA

Week 50
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