March is a red-letter month on the creative and interactive industry calendar, as the South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, runs until March 20. SXSW brings together festivals, conferences, and trade exhibitions in the fields of film, music, and interactive media.
For Bavarian companies and startups, the event is mandatory, as it brings together creative idea generators and developers with decision-makers, experts, and investors. After the digital economy celebrated its first successful trip to Austin , SXSW is now becoming a regular event. With 700 delegates, including representatives from 50 Bavarian companies, Germany has the third-largest delegation to the conference after Canada and Great Britain. And the delegate program is diverse: Especially at SXSW Interactive, topics such as smart cities, virtual reality, and tech to go are big hits among the 30,000 participants. But "traditional" topics are also definitely not neglected in the more than 1,000 specialist presentations and panel discussions on e-commerce, web development, social media, and interface design.
Munich Startup editor-in-chief Gabriele Böhmer is at SXSW 2016. Here are some impressions:
German innovations in the German House
In the German House German companies will showcase their technological innovations. The state of Bavaria and, for the first time, the city of Munich are participating in the Austin presence as Platinum and Gold Partners, respectively, bringing together creative minds. In addition to practical examples, networking plays an important role in the diverse program. Workshops and panel discussions will provide startups and experts with the opportunity to exchange ideas on current industry topics and developments.
Munich's second Mayor Josef Schmid emphasizes how important the appearance is for Bavaria and the state capital:
„Munich plays in the Champions League of European creative locationsTo make this economic importance even more visible and to effectively support companies, Munich's participation in SXSW is an important milestone and a real highlight."
Bavarian startups on the big stage
Highlights also include the supported Bavarian startups that are participating in SXSW. Datalion, which presents its dashboard solution for data visualization in the pitch, are Cat Production with their presentation techniques, the ad-tech provider KontextR, the 3D design experts from Construct3 and the social entrepreneurs of nate among this year's breakthrough artists.
