Scaleup Impact Summit 2021: Key Highlights

SIS21 Scaleup Impact Summit was held on 25th and 26th May 2021. It was a global conference for futurists around the world, providing deep insights, powerful networks, and a hybrid experience for the best interactions for all involved. We were welcomed by thousands of entrepreneurs, change-makers, business leaders, and investors across the two eventful days.

100 best Scaleups, 100+ countries, 1000 investors, 100+ speakers, 36 hours, 500+ partners, 7 tracks

Day 1: Main Stage

We’ve had an eventful Day 1, with 40+ speakers from Societe Generale, Sensetime, Bloomberg, Animoca Brands, YG Entertainment, Tatler, and more.

With topics ranging from Responsible AI, 5G, FinTech, NFTs, Decentralize or Die, Sustainable Futures, and much more, we were proud to showcase the startup ecosystem in our first-ever hybrid conference. 

The conference opened with a unique fireside chat at the Government House between the Honourable Chief Executive of the HK S.A.R. Mrs. Carrie Lam and co-founder of WHub and AngelHub Karena Belin. 

“To Those founders who have been selected by Scaleup Impact Summit as one of the 100 scaleups, I wanted to congratulate you for your success. Apart from congratulating you, I want you to grow bigger and more powerful, and Hong Kong is the place to be if you have this ambition, because we have all the necessary ingredients for scaleups. Although we are a very small place, we already have 9 unicorns in recent years, the latest addition only happened within days, so that I hope gives you a taste of what you could achieve in this city of Hong Kong.”

- Honourable CE Carrie Lam

Responsible AI Leadership

“At the end of the day, there always needs to be a purpose for what we are doing. Fundamentally, AI is actually understanding data and how it can be applied with a use case. Ultimately, that is the building block of what AI is.”

- Jessica Lam

How to fully leverage 5G and why look for 6G?

“5G is going to pave the way for a super connected world, it is going to overhaul economic practices and it is going to underpin every facet of society. 6G is going to tackle speed and spectrum issues, solving limitations of today and it is going to usher in the post-smartphone world where everything is intelligent”

- Han Feung

Decentralize or Die - The new area of "Internet of Value

“Blockchain came out of the emergency of the low level of trust and the fact that the world needed to go to a new form of trust, this is where decentralization comes in.”

- Yat Siu

The Collectors Dilemma: Owning the most valuable NFTs

“So much exciting building happening in the crypto winter, we had decentral and, crypto voxel, these art marketplaces, which attracted not mainstream attention, but lots of these creators effectively segued from crypto being financial instrument space to an area of creator economy”

- Twobadour

Day 2: Main Stage & Venture Stage

Our Day 2 of SIS was full of exciting conversations with 50+ speakers about NFT Art, Innovation in GBA, Corporate Innovation, and much more. We also hosted 6 workshops engaging with participants to give them more knowledge on ESG, Fundraising, Tokenization, UX, Prototyping, and Growth Hacking.

What's next for the GBA and how will MegaCity Clusters thrive in the future 

“How do you turn research and ideas into commercial products? Commercialization is an area where the Hong Kong government wants to focus all its efforts on and collaborate with the business sector. It is about... where can you find investors? Traditionally, local investors looked for outside Hong Kong. We [government] now are coming up with policies to encourage them to invest in our local start-ups and local new initiatives.”

- David Bernard

How COVID has shaped consumer needs and behaviours and how technology shapes new solutions

“ The pandemic has revealed the huge existing gaps between the demand and offer in healthcare products and services. Innovative solutions are required to fulfill these gaps, so the health sector is luring huge investment which brings more opportunities for start-ups “

- Vikram Gupta

Local and international Ecosystem showcase: Germany and opportunities for cross-border collaboration with GBA

“Last Friday, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) issued the consultation conclusions for the digital assets, anybody buying and selling on behalf of clients, #DigitalAssets will be registered with the SFC. This demonstrates that digital assets are finally becoming an #InvestableAsset and real asset.” 

- Angelina Kwan

Ex SFC and leading Blockchain company CEO in talks with leading law firm partner

“As we have been on this journey, we have a clear ambition to utilize the #technology to create, not only to enhance functionality, but also to streamline a lot of the processes whether that is the administration of these assets, or the corporate action, the distribution capital, and the voting right.”

- Scott Thiel

A fireside chat between people, world's most famous digital artist and producer of the 4th highest priced art produced by a living artist and his advisor in Blockchain Technology Jehan

“I think you will really see a big merge between the traditional art and digital art world. There is a lot of resistance on both sides right now. I think the two are just gonna meet in the middle and you are gonna see this amazing renaissance from both sides of just an explosion of creativity and I think we are very much at the beginning of that”

- Beeple

Leading innovation from ex-Google X founder and Rapid Prototyping expert Tom Chi

“Is there something that reframes the way you look at the world that motivates you, drives you to apply your consciousness in a different way and that to you can be a type of invention catalyst that all of us can have a direct access to”

- Tom Chi

Case studies from most active global VC SOSV and its empire of accelerators (HAX, MOX, ChinaAccelerator, etc)

“ For us its all about having those 100 happy customers that really love the product that are spreading the word adn you dont have to advertise it cause it is such a great product and if you have a 100 happy customers then you can have a 100,000 happy customer. Nail it first, really solve the customer problem first and then the infinite reward of being able to make it a 1000 time bigger will come your way. So nail it before you scale it”

- Sean O’Sullivan

Techstars Launches Next Sustainability Challenge to Progress Net Zero Goals

“What needs to change is when we pull ourselves out of the matrix and pull ourselves out of the screen and look outside and see wildfires, droughts or plastic pollution.This is a world that really is not normal to the natural world. So, how do we create the future of the physical world so as to change this”

- Cody Simms

 Many startups of all stages leverage equity crowdfunding to bring their business to the next level; understand why it makes sense beyond just access to capital

“ When Occulus Rift came out, the first believers in the company were actually the crowd, buying the product and taking all the risk. A few years later, Oculus Rift was acquired by Facebook for US$ 2Billion. So was it fair for all the first believers of this company only to be left with the product and that is I think actually kind of the beginning of equity crowdfunding which is you believe in a company, you invest into it, you take the risk in it and you get rewarded? The story is always the first thing that is really important.”

- Karen Contet & Karena Belin

We truly thank you all for your unwavering support and we look forward to seeing you next year!  To sign up for SIS2022 click here!