Successful collaborations can unearth incredible two-sided benefits, but the path to making it there is not without its challenges, reveals a study by Startupbootcamp, the renowned Dutch accelerator. As Aleš Pustovrh, partner in Fil Rouge Capital, emphasizes, established companies have already started looking at startups as one of the possibilities for transformation – often called a digital transformation – and developed a serious interest for them. That is because they realize the truth behind Henry Chesbrough’s statement that "not all smart people work for you". 

 

What can you expect from collaborating with startups and scaleups?

• Improving basic business operations by reducing costs, increasing value added, and strengthening your market share by marketing improved existing and new products. 
• Introducing new, faster, and more cost-effective approaches to developing existing and new products.
• Taking advantage of new technologies, improving existing business models, and increasing entrepreneurial culture, which is already built into the startup DNA.

In dialogue with startups and scaleups, you will definitely get fresh views on business, and your team will undoubtedly be overcome by a new startup mentality.

Here, you can read more about how partnerships between corporations and startups can guarantee success.

Because they are aware of the big potential behind the collaboration between corporations and startups, which helps corporations to stay competitive and startups to grow and develop, the PODIM Conference team is establishing conditions for strengthening such collaborations. In this, they are working with the best partners from the field of innovation, including the Vienna-based WhatAVenture, which advises companies such as DHL, A1, Kapsch, Deutsche Post, Salzburg AG, Wien Energie, ÖAMTC, ÖBB, Österreichische Lotterien …
 
The PODIM team also actively advises corporations and connects them with startups through various programmes. The result of such connections is, for example, the collaboration between Zavarovalnica Sava and startup Movalyse, which started a year and a half ago in Maribor at their innovation weekend. These days, however, the partners already presented Vigo, innovative insurance for motorcycle theft.
 

 

 

The only way to real results is the right approach

In order to succeed by innovating in collaboration with startups, the key things are committed top management and excellently implemented programmes dedicated to innovation. That is why the PODIM team put their full efforts towards preparing an excellent programme of lectures and workshops, and selecting 155 best startups and scaleups (from 700 that applied) from 33 countries, offering answers and solutions to these challenges. And why are they so confident?

 

Half of the 155 chosen startups are already marketing their products 

At PODIM, not only early-stage startups participate, but mostly experienced startups and scaleups, as half of them are already successfully marketing functional products and have obtained 45 million euros of investments so far. 
 
The companies come from 33 countries, with a bit less than a quarter of the 155 originating from Slovenia, which is important for learning about foreign markets, taking a broader perspective on business, and finding collaboration ideas.
 

 

Two thirds of startups with innovative B2B solutions

More than two thirds of solutions by participating startups & scaleups are meant for the B2B segment, mostly companies from trade, financial and insurance sector, energy, IT, microelectronics, manufacture, construction, logistics, engineering, food … 

Solutions of participating startups are based on innovative use of state-of-the-art technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, blockchain, voice technologies …
 
Their solutions can help you decrease the costs of business, automatize and optimize processes, raise product quality, improve the competitive position of your product on the market, reach higher prices, save time, and other beneficial effects.

 
Examples of participating startups by industry
 
Business and Productivity (56 startups from 20 countries):

• Dynamitick from Italy is a leading company that’s developing a system for dynamically adapting ticket prices based on algorithms. Ticket sales have risen by 16 percent with the use of their system. They are in the growth stage and have received more than 300,000 EUR of capital. 
• Blocknify from the Czech Republic is developing a solution for formally signing documents and managing authorization processes remotely. They have received seed capital and are in the stage of acquiring the first customers.

Life sciences and Agriculture (10 startups from 7 countries):

• Agremo from Serbia is an online platform for drone operators, which uses AI to give farmers more detailed insight and analyses about the state of field crops and better products. They have received more than 500,000 EUR of investments and are creating revenue on the market. 
• IchoriLabs from Slovenia is a biotech company whose patented technology is focused on improving existing non-invasive tests for early discovery of cancer, pregnancy diagnostics and contagious diseases. They are in the seed stage.

Lifestyle and Entertainment (33 startups from 14 countries):

• CodeBerry from Hungary is offering an online platform for learning programming, also without any prior knowledge. It enables users to learn with the speed adapted to an individual, and to learn remotely. They have received more than 300,000 EUR of investment and are creating more than 10,000 EUR of revenue on the market every month.
• Bergaffe from Austria is developing a brand of high-isolation clothing that uses molecular technology to drain water molecules from textile in the form of steam. They are in the growth stage, have already received an investment, and are making more than 10,000 in revenue a month. 

Materials and Manufacturing (9 startups from 6 countries): 

• EcoPack from Kazakhstan is developing biodegradable composite material from starch, which can replace polyethylene, is harmless and even edible. And the best thing? It is supposed to cost only 3 EUR per kilogram. The company has already obtained some capital and is a member of StartUpBootCamp Foodtech in Rome, and Global Ventures Alliance in the US.
• Microbium from Slovenia is answering the problem of microbiological contaminations with the development and sale of quick testers, which count bacteria in drinkable and technological waters and various industrial samples in only a couple of minutes. The company received more than 200,000 EUR of investment and is creating approximately 10,000 EUR of revenue a month. 

Financial Services (13 startups from 10 countries):

• Y7 from France is offering a payment system of POS terminals of the next generation, which enables a safe, simple, efficient, affordable and open system, allowing customers to also pay with Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay, WeChat Pay … and is useful in stores, restaurants, pharmacies, doctor’s office … The company has already received more than 5 million EUR of investment and is creating revenue on the market. 
• SplittyPay from Italy is offering a payment system that enables simple, quick and safe sharing of an account by several payers or several payment methods of an individual customer, which also make service providers moer interesting for the customers. The service is free for the final user.

Mobility and Transportation (15 startups from 9 countries):

• ARTI from Austria is developing AI for robots, enabling robots to become "smarter", learn from experience and share knowledge, which increases their effectiveness and use. The company, which is a member of Science Park Graz, has already received seed capital.
• Dylyver from Hungary is using breakthrough mobile technologies to develop innovative transport and logistic platforms. A sharing platform for transport connects drivers and passengers, while a delivery platform connects senders, couriers and recipients. The platform is based on blockchain and augmented reality. They have received more than 200,000 EUR of capital and are members of Faster Capital.

Energy and Utilities (11 startups from 8 countries): 

• Sharpsense from Italy is developing an AI-based system that helps supervising engineers by extracting the key information detected by sensors, making sure that no critical piece of information remains hidden. The system enables quick and simple evaluation and treatment of complicated data. The company has received seed capital and is creating market revenue. 
• Nordril Development from Austria is creating a system that helps find hidden measures, tactics and scenarios for saving energy for big electricity consumers. The system offers a cost-effective solution with minimal adjustments. The company has already received a seed investment. 

At this link, you can see presentations of these companies from this year’s PODIM Catalogue of startups & scaleups. The entire PODIM Catalogue will be made available to conference attendees.
 

Experiences from Lyft, Uber, AVL, DHL, Google, Allianz, Audi and others, all in one place  

The fact that more than 60 experienced foreign entrepreneurs, investors, innovation consultants and other experts are coming to Slovenia is a big value added for attendees, but what counts even more is their knowledge, experiences and inspiration as well as the possibility to meet all of them personally.
 

Who are some of the speakers who will be on the PODIM stage? 
 
Who can teach you more about the laws of e-stores than Stephan Schambach, a pioneer of e-commerce who sold his company to Salesforce for 2.8 billion dollars?!
 
Who can teach you more about corporate culture than Danyelle Pollock, who led the corporate culture board for Lift in a time when the company was growing from 60 to 3000 employees, and recently carried out an IPO on the American stock market? 
 
Who can teach you more about augmented reality than David Rose, who’s leading the development of an AR tool for the online store of the biggest American optics store Warby Parker and is also a MIT Media Lab smart cities colleague? 
 
Who can teach you more about the valuable experiences of entrepreneurship than Marco Trombetti, founder of Translated, one of the first online providers of translator services and one of the fastest growing European tech companies, and an investor who has more than 40 investments in Europe and the US in his pocket?
 
Who can teach you more about the importance of good leadership than Mela Chu, innovation evangelist collaborating with Audi, ARAG, Sparkasse, Handelsblatt …?
 
And who knows more about angel investments than Ivo Remmelg, who has rich management and investment experience in successful startups, mergers, acquisitions and exits, and is also the president of the Estonian business angels network?
 
And who can teach you more about corporate innovation and culture than Anuj Adhiya, top marketing expert, cocreator of Growthacking.com …?
 
And who can be a better source of advice from the field of insurance than an experienced consultant with the quick ability of analyzing and implementing strategies, dr. Ulrich Kleipaß from consulting company Roland Berger?
 
And who knows more about open innovation than dr. Stefan Perkmann Berger, founder of WhatAVenture, who has a lot of research experience from the field of open innovation and has led many initiatives on the startup scene? 
 

 

 

Three hours of co-creating disruptive solutions in elite company  

PODIM Genesis is an innovative format, namely a three-hour workshop following the design sprint principle. It includes industry experts, company representatives and startups who will discuss the key topics that are tailoring today’s economy.
 
PODIM Genesis enables a structured and result-oriented debate between attendees, domain experts and startup representatives.

You will have the opportunity to work with TOP experts from the whole world.

[Fintech] Sheel Mohnot, USA, is leading 500 Startups, a fintech fund and accelerator. He has founded and exited several companies. 
[Insurtech] Dr. Ulrich Kleipaß, Germany, from Roland Berger, has a decade of experience in transforming fintech and insurtech companies. 
[Culture, technology & business] Tristan Pollock, USA, serial entrepreneur, 500 Startups partner, working on products that combine art, business and culture. 
[Smart cities] David Rose, USA, award-winning product designer, entrepreneur and MIT Media Lab lecturer, and vice president of vision technologies at Warby Parker.
[Agriculture] Andrej Mertelj, founder and CEO of Datalab, developing the Pantheon Farming project for digitalizing agriculture. Žiga Drev, cofounder of Origintrail, developing and providing a blockchain-based protocol that enables reliable exchange of information to global supply chains.
[Foodtech] Rune Theill, cofounder and CEO of Rockstart, and Toni Balažič, main executive director of Panvita.
[Smart workspace] Joshua Reola, heading the Cisco Webex innovation platform, Norway, and Henry Hwong, Cunningham Collective, USA.
[Cleantech] Jes Nordentoft, investment manager at Accelerace Management, Denmark.
 

 

365 days of meetings in only two days!

With the goal of raising the quality of networking and meetings on a new level, PODIM organizers entered a partnership with the Finnish company Deal Room Events, which collaborated with the world marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk to develop a digital platform for organizing and implementing 1:1 meetings. 
 
Start planning your innovation by choosing the first 40 startups & scaleups at PODIM 2019! Click on the link and download the list. 
 
A list of all 155 startups & scaleups is available when you register for the PODIM Conference.
 
Read all about the opportunities for established companies here.
 

What did previous attendees say about the PODIM Conference?

"PODIM is an excellent entrepreneurship hub, connecting us corporations that wish to have a fast digital transformation with the startup world, which can help us a lot. But PODIM especially offers a quality connection with people and companies." Mateja Panjan, Danfoss Trata, Slovenia
 
"Congratulations to the entire PODIM team, for a resounding and well-organized event, for a rich and varied programme, good lecturers and content, even more startups than in the previous years, an increasingly better corporate programme, and excellent media coverage!" Roman Kužnar, Iskratel, Slovenia
 
"I judge a startup event on three criteria:
A - the quality of the startups attending.
B - the quality of the peers or speakers I can network with.
C - the quality of the organization of the event.
I can honestly say that PODIM 2017 scored at the absolute TOP of all three criteria!"
Nicolaj Højer Nielsen, angel investor, Denmark 
 
"The innovative energy at the event is simply incredible and I can’t wait to return next year. And I am bringing my PwC Legal Switzerland team with me." Dr. Guenther Dobrauz Saldapenna, PwC Legal, Switzerland
 
"One of the best-organized startup conferences I’ve ever been to!" Rune Theill, Rockstart, The Netherlands 
 
"A very impressive meetup of startups from the region!" Alex Iskold, Techstars, USA


PODIM is the most influential startup & tech event in the Alps-Adriatic and Western Balkans regions, taking place in Slovenia. It is a window from the region and into the region, dedicated to effective networking, entering business collaborations, and exchanging experiences. 
 
PODIM is a proud partner of the global network Startup Sesame, an elite club of tech events. According to EU-Startups, the leading publication for startups, PODIM is amongst TOP 30 tech & startup events.