NEXT14: The Stage for the Next Big Start-up Idea

Today’s innovative idea could turn out to be tomorrow’s next big thing. At NEXT14, the premier conference for the digital economy, taking place on 5-6 May in Berlin, start-ups from across Europe will have the opportunity to present their innovations live on stage at the Berlin Congress Center (bbc). The organisers of the conference are the digital agency Sinnerschrader and the dfv Media Group.

Applications for the international pitch commence today at nextberlin.eu/startups and end on 26 March 2014. People can vote online to take their favourite applicants through to the next round. Voting takes place from 26 March and runs until 13 April. From the top candidates, the finalists will be selected by an expert jury composed of renowned entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and representatives from the media, among them Max Claussen (Earlybird) Philipp Möhring (AngelList), Matt Cooper (oDesk), Shira Abel (Hunter & Bard), Alex Farcet (Start-up Bootcamp), Ayelet Noff (Blonde 2.0) and Alex Hofmann (Gründerszene).

The finalists have the opportunity to put forward their visions and business models live at the NEXT Start-Up Pitch. „For us, taking part in the event was victory in itself,“ according to last year‘s winner Wolfgang Hafenscher of LineMetrics, after winning the Pitch in 2013. „We were impressed most of all by the highly qualified speakers. The feedback we received from them was very inspiring.“

Alongside considerable international attention, this year‘s winner will again take home an attractive prize package. Among the media partners at NEXT14 are HORIZONT (dfv Media Group), t3n, Wired UK, The Next Web, Venture Village, Gründerszene, rudebaguette and foundum.

In addition, NEXT Berlin is partnering with the Heureka start-up conference, which also takes place as part of Berlin Web Week. Two pre-finalists from the NEXT Start-Up Pitch will receive wild cards from the jury for Heureka's Investor Speed Pitching event.

Participants should be in beta phase and should not have been in receipt of Series A funding yet. Applications are encouraged in particular from areas such as the Internet of Things/hardware, Big Data, new interfaces/wearables and money. However, start-ups from outside these areas may of course participate. The NEXT Berlin team is calling expressly on female entrepreneurs to take part in the Start-Up Pitch.

Information on NEXT14, as well as discounted tickets for start-ups, is available at www.nextberlin.eu.