Tech Trailblazers Awards opens global call for sponsors

Enterprise tech “ones to watch” award for startups announces sponsorship program and invites the tech crème de la crème to join the pioneering initiative

London, UK – April 3 2013 – The global Tech Trailblazers Awards for enterprise information technology startups today announced a call for sponsors for this year’s awards, which will identify the hottest new technologies blazing a trail to commercial success in 2014 and beyond.

Now in their second year, the independent Tech Trailblazers Awards celebrate technological innovation by actively helping startups grow their businesses with a prize fund for all eligible entrants worth an estimated value of US $1 million in products and services.

Joe Baguley, Chief Technologist for EMEA at returning awards sponsor VMware, said, “Sponsoring the Tech Trailblazers Awards has been a great experience for us. The awards provide tremendous value, raising our awareness of startups across the globe and enhancing relationships with the pioneers of the world’s most promising new technologies. It is a real win-win for the technology industry: The entrepreneurs and their teams get access to the connections and resources they need to succeed.”

Launched last year, the Tech Trailblazers Awards are unique in the enterprise IT awards space.  Unlike other enterprise IT awards, all eligible entrants to the Tech Trailblazers Awards receive prizes from the sponsors to help grow their businesses. Winners and runners-up receive additional prizes, including access to expert advice and mentoring from venture capitalists (VCs) and chief technology officers (CTOs) that sponsor the awards. The independence of the Tech Trailblazers Awards means there are no barriers to entry and sponsorship; everyone can get involved.

Winners of the inaugural Tech Trailblazers Awards included startups breaking new ground in the areas of Big Data, Cloud, Mobile, Networking, Security, Sustainable IT, Storage and Virtualization and those in the Emerging Markets regions, such as BRICS.

Vendors, venture capitalists, publications, events, analyst firms, consultancies, IT services providers, and marketing, PR and sales service and solution providers are invited to email the Tech Trailblazers team at: innovate@techtrailblazers.com for more information about sponsoring the Tech Trailblazers awards and the details of early bird sponsorship pricing that is available until April 30th.

Why sponsor the Tech Trailblazers Awards?

There are many unique benefits in sponsoring the Tech Trailblazers Awards.

·  Prove you’re a thought leader: Where appropriate, sponsors can submit an expert judge to the extensive judging panel, which also includes eminent analysts, journalists, consultants, bloggers and other respected ICT thought leaders from around the world

·  Take advantage of investment opportunities: Meet exciting startups identified by independent industry experts as blazing a trail in your technology area so you will be poised to start investment or acquisition discussions

·  Excellent PR, marketing and publicity opportunities: All sponsors are promoted extensively on social media and in marketing and press materials, as well as in communications with entrants

·  Great element to add to other campaigns: Sponsor the Tech Trailblazers Awards and run the campaign alongside other marketing and public relations initiatives to boost your marketing buzz, social media influence and PR credentials

·  Prove your dedication to innovation and the tech startup community: Sponsoring the Tech Trailblazers Awards shows that your organization is forward-thinking, innovative and dedicated to fostering startup success

·  Boost brand awareness with target customers at an early stage in their growth, when they are making decisions about solutions and services they are likely to continue using for years

·  Meet potential business partners: Explore partnerships with the hottest new startups in your technology area

·  Join the networking party online: Get to know the dozens of thought leaders on the judging panel, plus the other sponsors, media partners and entrants. Follow @techtrailblaze on Twitter to join the conversation

·  Lead generation made easy: Get in touch with hundreds of potential customers from all over the world. Contribute to the prize fund for eligible entrants and start qualified conversations that could lead to future sales

Altogether, the Tech Trailblazers Awards present an incredibly unique and innovative sponsorship opportunity.

The 2012 prize fund was supported by sponsors and industry supporters including: Amoo Venture Capital Advisory, beSUCCESS, the Cloud Security Alliance, Computing, The Data Chain, ExecEvent, The Green Grid, Launchpad Europe, Lissted, MIT/Stanford Venture Lab, Mynewsdesk, The Next Silicon Valley, Outsource, Prezi, RealWire, StarTau, Startup America, the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA),  TechBritannia, TruthinIT, TiE Silicon Valley, VMware and Wazoku.