Philippine Startup Week is here, and it’s completely free and purely digital

It’s an exciting time for all dreamers, thinkers, change-makers, innovators and entrepreneurs as Philippine Startup Week has (virtually) kicked off for it’s 5-day, jam-packed event that will be held purely online from November 23 up the 27th. As one of the country’s largest startup conferences, Philippine Startup Week aims to highlight the entrepreneurial spirit in this new normal, with the goal of celebrating significant strides in the startup scene. Spearheaded by QBO Innovation Hub, the country’s first public-private initiative for startups, this year’s theme is “Filipino Startups Powering Up the New Normal”.

The event is completely free for everyone; all you need to do is to register on their site. There is an expected 5000+ attendees, 100+ startups, 60+ ecosystem enablers, 80+ speakers and 60 hours of insightful conversations and community events, as this virtual experience is to enable attendees to learn, interact, network and collaborate.

The main topics to be tackled will generally revolve around technology business innovators breaking out, startups bouncing back amidst the pandemic and collaboration opportunities amidst the adversity, all to be discussed by seasoned entrepreneurs, key players and industry experts.

These topics are to be explored through 5 unique tracks that cater to founders at any stage of their startup journey:

1. Discover

• To inspire, create awareness, promote startups and technopreneurship to the community, youth and potential startup founders to increase the pipeline of ventures in the country.

2. Develop

• To provide startups with resources, information and expertise while developing the entrepreneurial talent pool and building successful startups through learning sessions that accelerate growth.

3. Collaborate

• To bring together corporates, government, academe and other ecosystem stakeholders through awareness and education initiatives, while seeking to explore synergies between ecosystems stakeholders and startups.

4. Invest

• To create an avenue for startups to access capital and engage with investors and prospective partners to increase potential deal flow.

5. Showcase

• To feature high potential, fast-growing startups to showcase innovation and foster partnerships as well as to boost deal flow.

Along with QBO Innovation Hub, this event is also made possible by the extensive support of various government bodies such as the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), as well as other private agencies AWS, Investing in Women, Microsoft, Paymongo, Youth Business International and google.org, among others. DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez mentioned that their goal is to support startups during and beyond this crisis to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), all while creating more job opportunities in the process. By being committed to empowering startups that foster digitalization of MSMEs, enhance productivity and promote resilience, they hope to ultimately globalize the Philippine startup ecosystem. Furthermore, they not only aim to celebrate entrepreneurship, but to increase access to it by fostering an engaged community by providing opportunities to push the boundaries of innovation and technology.

As previously mentioned, this is a 5-day event with a jam-packed schedule all week. Highlights of the event include: a “Startup Pinay” talk by none other than Vice President Leni Robredo, who will facilitate a presentation on innovation, startups and women entrepreneurs, to be held on Thursday, November 26 from 10:30am to 12 noon; QBO’s “Top 100” that will showcase the country’s high potential startups, held every 1pm to 3pm on each day of the event; “Southeast Asia Trends in the Post-Covid World”, a panel that features Southeast Asian investors from Draper Startup House Ventures who review the main opportunities they foresee post-pandemic; EmergeX Regional Pitching Competition hosted by Microsoft; the Launch of the Philippine Venture Capital Report; and the Seedstars Manila Competition. All of these, however, are just some of the many exciting things in store for all attendees on all 5 days.

Not only is it an exciting time to be a dreamer, thinker, change-maker, innovator or entrepreneur in this week-long event, but it’s an exciting time to be a Filipino given how much involvement, passion and positivity is put in by the various parties. With the many organizations involved, there will be nothing short of bright minds coming together to make positive change moving forward. What makes it all the more exciting is that there are multiple government bodies that are not only merely involved, but are completely and wholeheartedly supportive of this event and the goals it has set out to further position the Philippines as an innovation powerhouse that will define the technology and innovation future in Southeast Asia.

So, what are you waiting for? This event is free and is purely online, making it all the more enticing. Register now at: https://attendify.co/BWfmNiS