West Tech Fest showcases WA’s wide range of talent, ideas and successes in an increasingly competitive market.
All things technology and innovation take centre stage in Perth’s week-long festival in early December, which attracts global interest in its workshops, presentations and pitching opportunities for early-stage startups.
Billed as the biggest week of tech in Western Australia, West Tech Fest celebrates innovation, investment and entrepreneurship over 17 events.
The festival, which has been running since 2012 and is backed by Curtin University, was co-founded by Paula Taylor, Larry Lopez, Rohan McDougall and US venture capitalist Bill Tai.
West Tech Fest represents a stimulating showcase of the innovation ecosystem in WA.
If you’re curious about technology, entrepreneurship, investment or just enjoy learning about what’s coming next, there’s a smorgasbord of thought-provoking topics and inspiration to get you looking forward to 2020.
The calendar is packed with everything from blockchain, to medtech, resources, and plenty of chances to wind down with the who’s who of innovation.
The schedule includes:
Monday, December 2
The festival gets under way with AgriStart’s Regional Innovation Showcase at Perth Town Hall.
It includes 20-plus local startup exhibits and investment pitches from companies such as Atom Earth (mobile agricultural testing), Rok Kombucha (a Margaret River-based probiotic drink brewer) and superfood startup, Sage Plantations.
In the evening, check out Torsten Hoffman’s documentary, Cryptopia, focusing on bitcoin, blockchain and the future of the internet. The screening starts at 6:30pm at Cinema Paradiso, Northbridge.
Tuesday, December 3
Following on the blockchain theme is the Crypto Sydney (meetup) Roadshow, held at Power Ledger.
It’s a chance to discuss trading, regulation, Facebook’s Libra coin and Australian cryptocurrency projects.
The Growing your Business and Finding Investment in Asia panel is a discussion over breakfast, looking at the ways to approach expansion into the sought-after region.
Panellists include Perth-based Michael Momsen, CEO of customer experience company RateIt, which successfully raised $5 million out of Singapore.
MTPConnect is an Australian not-for-profit group, which concentrates on growing medical technologies, biotechnologies and pharmaceuticals. It runs a program called Biomedical Translation Bridge (BTB) as part of the federal government’s Medical Research Future Fund, providing up to $1 million in matched funding to further new therapies, technologies and medical devices. The information session for the next round of BTB will be held at The Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research.
Wednesday, December 4
This year’s West Tech Fest has moved to the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia for an all-day innovation program, concluding with a networking event at 5pm.
The line-up of speakers includes Jodie Auster (general manager, Australia and New Zealand, Uber Eats), Craig Davis (co-founder Sendle, Advisor KPMG High Growth Ventures and Teacher at Google’s SIY), Balder Tol (general manager Australia, WeWork), and Rachael Neumann (head of startups, Australia and New Zealand, Amazon Web Services).
Thursday, December 5
In the morning, Innovation Central Perth explores conservation, health, education, entertainment, the universe and other big topics at the West Tech Fest Future Forum.
Freo Startup Fest premiers in 2019, with great speakers, a pitch competition, hosted by Innovation Bay, and a social sundowner at Little Creatures in Fremantle. Innovation Bay has helped Australian companies raise more than $35 million in funding.
While the Freo Pitch Fest does not include prize money, it presents as an opportunity for startups to connect with investors and advisers.
Startup News is also awarding the annual startup awards for most admired startup, most admired startup person and most admired startup supporter of the year. The public are able to vote at: surveymonkey.com/r/P25VFNX.
Friday, December 6
For hands-on demonstrations from innovators in the resources and energy space, CORE Exchange is a great opportunity to get immersed in cutting edge technologies. Drawing in innovators, collaborators and investors, the event begins at 3pm.
The inaugural Rotto Tech Fest has sold out again. The day on the island consists of talks around the environment and oceans and two hours of startups’ pitching for the US Future Leaders Mentoring Program, sponsored by the US State Department and the US Consulate General Perth.
Previously, startup competition OzAPPs was central to West Tech Fest, but was dropped from the calendar in recent years.
This new program is designed to ignite social impact technologies and assist with investment for global challenges.
The pitching teams for the US Future Leaders Mentoring Program include Alexander Karan and Vanessa Rauland from Climate Clever (an initiative to help schools reduce their carbon footprint), Haweya Ismail from Mud & Musk (ethically created face masks, based on traditional Somali practices), and Josephine Muir of Noisy Guts (a smart belt that non-invasively listens and analyses gut health).
Running concurrently on December 6 is the opening of Techstar’s Startup Weekend, in partnership with Google for Startups – a global 54-hour hackathon that’s open to anyone.
The fast-paced three days involves people pitching their ideas, forming teams with strangers and knuckling down to form a functional business (and ideally achieve legitimate sales) within the short space of time.
