DIF 2017 to support digital transformation

ARTEMIS-IA and ITEA have invited the global software innovation community to join DIF 2017 to define the emerging challenges towards a vision for and built by industry.

ARTEMIS Industry Association and the EUREKA Cluster ITEA are to host the Digital Innovation Forum (DIF) from 10-11 May, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where Pan European Networks will be acting as media partner.

DIF 2017 it set to focus on digital transformation, which advocates an accelerating transformation of business activities, processes, competencies and models to fully leverage the changes and opportunities of digital technologies.

The programme elements of DIF 2017 include Keynote speeches on global topics of digital transformation by Henk van Houten, chief technology officer (CTO) at Royal Philips, and Jasper Wesseling, director of innovation and knowledge, Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs; interactive themed workshops; exhibition – research and innovation (R&I) results and progress; and innovation Market and sessions – supporting innovative SMEs or start-ups, to access key industry representatives and venture capitalists (VC).

During DIF 2017 four themed workshops will address smart energy, smart health, smart manufacturing and smart mobility. Each workshop is set up as a panel with key players in the domain discussing main innovation trends in the specific challenge.

The DIF 2017 innovation market and sessions will explicitly focus on supporting innovative SMEs or Start-ups, to access key industry representatives and Venture Capitalists.

The innovation market and sessions provide innovative SMEs and Start-ups the opportunity to:

• Pitch their ideas to a high-ranking jury composed of industry top executives, VCs and entrepreneurs.
• Showcase their innovation to the global software innovation community in a 2-day innovation market.
• Network with industry top executives and potential business partners, customers and investors from around the globe.

Currently, DIF already has a great set of confirmed jury names including:

• the CEO of STMicroelectronics Italia
• the CEO of Swiss Life Health & protection
• the General Director for Industry and Energy at Indra
• the Director of Technologies at ENGIE
• the Director of Business Creation at Philips Research
• the VP Ecosystems, Market Enablers & Customer Innovation Centers at Nokia
• Venture Capitalists from e.g. Isource Venture Capital, Sofimac Partners, ACT Venture partners and Hi Inov.

The VCs and CEOs taking part in the jury will deliver a session report including unique quotes for each partaking SME/start-up. The DIF organisers will widely promote these jury reports highlighting the market value of the participating SMEs and start-ups.

Benefit from the Early Bird fee and register before 1 March.

For more detailed information about the event, please visit the DIF website.