Highlights from Collision Conference 2022
North America's "Fastest Growing Tech Conference" highlighted startups and offered networking opportunities at this year's Collision Conference.
Last week Toronto hosted a three-day Collision conference with attendees including startup founders, business leaders, investors, and scientists. It is North America’s fastest-growing tech conference also known as the “Olympics of tech.”
Despite Downturn, Startups Stay Strong
Despite the overshadowing reality of an economic downturn resulting in layoffs within startups like the healthcare unicorn Ro, the vigour for passion for engagement and optimism set the energy for the conference.
The conference had more than 1,557 startups in attendance, featuring industry tech from Al learning, crypto, renewable energy, cloud computing and data security, and health to music.
Lessons from the Masters
Master Classes were being offered for attendees. For example, you could attend a Master Class with Neil Patel, New York Times Bestselling author, marketer, and entrepreneur.
Guest entrepreneurs also shared their expertise. Jordan Fisher, the CEO of Standard AI, spoke at the conference. His company allows consumers to skip the checkout line, helps retailers increase traffic, predicts consumer demand, and tracks inventory while maintaining the privacy of retailers and their shoppers.
Fisher discussed the importance for tech companies to build trust with the public so technological advances will be embraced.
Other speakers like Jan Kimpen, Chief Medical Officer and SVP at Philips, discussed how the pandemic has exacerbated burnout in doctors and nurses, leading to staff shortages and increasing the need to embrace technology to ease the burden on healthcare providers and the healthcare system.
Conversations around the importance of responsible data use, privacy protection, and concerns about authoritative technology governing our choices, were hot topics.
Showing Off Startups
The event created a place for startups to exhibit their business to network with potential partners, consumers, tech experts and investors.
Fifty-six startup companies competed in the PITCH startup battle, going head-to-head with live pitches onstage. Yishel Khan from Ottawa was this year’s winner. Khan is the founder and CEO of Dot Mind Unlocked which uses a headset that reads brainwaves and uses AI technology to diagnose mental health and personalizes therapy courses for children with special needs, like ADHD. Dot’s mission hits close to home for me, as I have family members and friends of parents of children with special needs. The technology’s potential is exciting and a great win for our Canadian tech industry.
Upcoming Conferences
Overall, the first in-person conference since the pandemic was a successful event.
Montreal will be hosting Startups Fest from July 13-15, 2022. The theme of this year will be less content and more engagement. Event organizers want attendees to have the opportunity to make connections for sharing ideas, meeting potential partners, making pitches, securing funds, and receiving business coaching. I urge startups and entrepreneurs to check out Startups Fest.
There is also a group on WhatsApp that you can join to get information on the different events taking place during Startups Fest.
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