User:JaneKorotkih/sandbox

= EMERGE =

EMERGE is an international tech conference with a focus on emerging markets and emerging technologies, held annually since 2018. It was founded by serial entrepreneurs - Alina Bezuglova and Margo Lazarenkova.

The conference aims to bring together key innovation ecosystem players, tech talent, investors and corporates, as well as showcase the most promising startups from the New East region (countries from Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Central Asia). Key topics of the conference include the future and how technologies are shaping existing industries; building global products; marketing and business growth.

In 2018, first EMERGE gathered 1500 attendees with over 200 startups, 100 speakers and 70 investors coming in Minsk, Belarus from 22 countries to network in the atmosphere of a festival and build collaborations.

The keynote speaker of the first EMERGE conference was Natalia Vodianova, supermodel, philanthropist and angel investor. Among other speakers were representatives from Microsoft, Facebook, Dell, Warner Music, Tilda Publishing, Mail.ru Group, Flint Capital and many more. These speakers and investors could schedule 1-on-1 meetings with startups and attendees via matchmaking tool.

How did EMERGE start
EMERGE started long before its first conference in Minsk in 2018 as the result of two successful events merging together. Back in 2017 Russian Tech Day event gathered over 300 people in London who were interested in meeting Russian startups; meanwhile Create IT conference supported by EU was the first international conference in Belarus to be held in English and to bring both creative and tech communities together. Both of these events aimed to get international attention to the region, and so they teamed up to form EMERGE.

Belarus, with its booming tech scene, convenient geographic position and neutral political views, was then chosen as the conference location. Also, foreign visitors can enjoy 30-day visa-free travel to Belarus, which is a great bonus when organizing an international event.

Current mission
Today EMERGE team is thrilled to discover emerging tech hubs and emerging technologies and share them with the audience, as well as provide the platform for the new generation of global innovators from emerging markets that can compete globally.

As EMERGE founders say: “...We thrive to create the meeting point for the community, where they can pick and choose a suitable format for them - whether it’s main stage with inspiring founders or smaller 1-on-1 meetings in matchmaking area, or perhaps join the morning tech run or startup f*ckup night, or even find co-founder and team member at hackathon or HR expo. We create experiences for everyone who comes to our event.”

With so many startups branching out from Silicon Valley to new places, EMERGE is on a mission to find the new geography of innovation.

Next dates for EMERGE conference: 31 May - 1 June, 2019.