TOA Europe’s Leading Technology Festival Runs for 8th Time on the 2nd of July

With Sabine Petzsch, Project & Content Manager

When and where is it on?

TOA is on in Funkhaus, Berlin, 2-5 July 2019

How many years has it been going?

This is the eighth edition, the TOA was founded in 2012.

What was the inspiration to start it?

We wanted to create a new kind of festival where bridges would be built between tech, music, art and science. From the onset, we wished for it to become a collaborative effort by the community. The first editions were crafted in conjunction with the community via open town hall meetups, the logo was crowdsourced and TOA became the world’s first crowdfunded festival. Rather than moulding people and ideas into one format, we seek to provide a platform for others to build upon.

What exciting things can people look forward to?

The great thing about TOA is that you can come for one thing in your sector and leave completely inspired by what someone else with a completely different background is doing. So attendees can look forward to speakers in our five pillars New Communities, Emotional Innovation, Pioneering Business, Deep Tech, and Zukunftsmusik & Kunst, as well as browsing through the House of Tech to see what our exhibitors are up to. There is also a TOA Pitch for startups to showcase their ideas. TOA x Night is the place if you’re keen to dance it out after a day of conversations and insights. And who can forget the 120 Satellite Events that are being hosted by our partners and will take place all across the city?

What opportunities are on offer for those attending?

The main attractions are the talks, fireside chats and keynotes in Saal 1 and Saal 2. This is your chance to hear from, interact with and learn from the thought leaders who are engineering the future of tech, work and life. Then you can head outside and sit by the Spree for a moment, catching some sun and enjoying a drink and conversation. The House of Tech is your chance to connect directly with exhibitors and partners, talk to them and test their products and services, with some of them also having installations and opportunities outside. Naturally, we also have a section for coworking, in case you need a moment to fire out some emails. And let’s not forget the Satellite Events – for those who can’t spend all day with us, these are great for after-work learning and networking in specific niches, whether this is a talk on productivity or a showcase for a new band.

Who will be speaking?

Some of the confirmed speakers are:

• Claire Hughes Johnson, COO of Stripe),
• Bruce Linton, Founder & CEO at Canopy Growth
• Michal Braverman-Blumenstyk, CTO, Cloud and AI Security Division at Microsoft
• Danny Lange, VP of Artificial Intelligence at Unity Technologies
• Amber Vez Box, Founder and President of rewardStyle

What tips would you give to people attending to get the most out of it?

Don’t overthink it. Sure, look at the speakers and check out what pillars you are most interested in, and definitely, head to those. But also get a little lost: stay seated for a speaker you might never have heard of before, or walk around the House of Tech and try out new products that seemed futuristic a few years ago. TOA is a place of learning, but also a place of fun and interaction: don’t be afraid to talk to people and connect over innovative ideas.

How can people book tickets / when does it usually sell out?

Tickets can be booked online, with the first round of Early Bird Tickets already being sold out.

Anything else you’d like to add / we should have asked?

There’s a wonderful team behind TOA who do their best to consider which speakers to put on the stage, what to add to the goodie bags, and what the impact of the festival is. We only came this far thanks to the energy of our speakers, artists, satellite event organisers, supporters, volunteers and attendees. It really means the world to us that people from across different disciplines have invested so much time to pass on their knowledge and passion to others.

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