I originally published this article on my LinkedIn profile.
Web Summit is one the best conferences to be in if you are scouting for startups and looking to meet innovative enterprises and VCs. Or even if you just want to be updated about recent tech-trends. This year was packed than ever – with over 70K attendees, including 2000+ startups, 1000+ investors, 300+ corporates and more than 2000 media players, all coming from 160 countries. Hard to argue with Reuters who defined it as “Europe’s biggest tech conference.”
So why were we there?
For SAP.iO, an event like Web Summit and a must be. To remind you, our mission at SAP.iO is to identify and build SAP's next generation of partners. We first work internally to identify innovative white-spaces where we need to on-board new partners, then we scout for them globally, most of them will be startups, and then we are building these partnerships in our SAP.iO Foundry accelerator programs. Our second mission is to make sure all the new partnerships we've built will reach the market and bring value to our clients, directly through our account teams or through our ecosystem and partners.
A conference like Web Summit allows us to do just that! It's a place to scout for startups, to engage with our most innovative clients, to collaborate with our strategic partners, to engage with leading ecosystem players and VCs, to attend and present in sessions and masterclasses, and of course – to support biz-dev activities of our portfolio companies (startups who graduated from the SAP.iO program).
Engage & support our clients
This year we've worked closely with Shell, an SAP client and one of the world largest oil and gas companies. We were invited by Shell to have 1:1 meetings with their portfolio startups, which for us was an opportunity to meet startups that were already "selected" by an SAP client, what makes them great candidates for the SAP.iO program. This was also an opportunity for us, as an IT vendor of Shell, to give feedback and mentorship to these startups.
We were also invited by Shell to take part in their startup competition, which I personally had the honor to judge in. 6 startups presented their solutions: Antora Energy, Clean Power, CO-Z, Geyser Batteries, Icarus RT, Inc., and the winner: Electrified Thermal Solutions, congratulations!!
The Shell booth also had its own theater that offered great sessions. Big respect to Shell that managed to keep it full and busy throughout the entire conference! SAP was invited by Shell to take part in the sessions, and we also had our own Vahid "Tiger" Khamsi participating in Shell masterclass together with T-Systems International and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Thank you Tsjalle Boersma, Abhishek Dhingra, Rishabh Chopra and the rest of the Shell team for this great collaboration!
Engage with our partners
This year we had the pleasure to collaborate with our partner Accenture, who led a series of sessions at Web Summit, and an exclusive side conference for clients that took place at the Myriad Crystal Center. SAP.iO and Accenture are sharing joint portfolio startups, which allows to present a better, more holistic value proposition for our clients (SAP + Accenture + a startup).
The SAP.iO startup Milkman Technologies presented at the Accenture invite-only event for leaders and executives. It was part of a broader discussion about the "Five Forces Shaping the Next Decade". According to Accenture, companies who wish to be leaders in the next decade must harness these five forces: Total Enterprise Reinvention, Talent, Sustainability, Metaverse and Ongoing Tech Revolution. Luca Krueger Silvestrelli, Chief Revenue Officer at Milkman, presented how they are partnering with SAP & Accenture, and had 1-hour discussion on stage with Yves Bernaert, Technology Europe Lead at Accenture and Manuela Vaz Soares, Client Group Lead Managing Director at Accenture, about the force of Total Enterprise Reinvention. You can read more in here.
The SAP.iO startup Cintoo presented together with Accenture on the SaaS Monster stage in a session titled "Gearing up for the enterprise metaverse". Cintoo's CEO Dominique POULIQUEN and Yves Bernaert, Technology Europe Lead at Accenture were interviewed on the topic by Jason Aten from Inc. Magazine. According to Accenture, 90% of executives say their organization sees growth opportunities in participating in the metaverse. As the enterprise metaverse emerges, our partnership with Accenture and startups like Cintoo will allow companies to use SAP solutions seamlessly across a whole continuum of virtual spaces and experiences. You can go here if you want to explore more the future business and technology implications of the metaverse, or download the full report by Accenture.
Engage with the ecosystem
As The The Guardian best described Web Summit – "It defines the ecosystem.” Indeed, many of the world biggest players in the startup ecosystem had some presence at Web Summit. I was specifically impressed by Intel Ignite, which is Intel Corporation acceleration program for early-stage deep tech startups launched in 2019. This was the first year Intel Ignite had a booth at Web Summit, so the excitement for them was high, and so is the level of portfolio startups they presented in their booth – BIG RESPECT!
Support our startups & partners
Last but not least, we were at Web Summit to support our portfolio companies – Startups who graduated from the SAP.iO program and are now official SAP partners. This year we had 13 SAP.iO graduates attending the event – and it was a pleasure to meet them face to face and support their biz-dev activities on site.
In the photo: Me and Philippe Souidi meeting our partners, Ophélie Thomas and Edouard Beauvois from AiVidens and Luca Krueger Silvestrelli from Milkman Technologies.
SAP.iO startups who participated Web Summit 2022:
Comments