Malta’s booming start-up economy was at the focus of the Startup Festival organised by Malta Enterprise. Spread over three days and with the theme of Innovation, Digitalisation and Sustainability the festival was packed with live entertainment, networking opportunities, and panels by high flyers from Malta’s startup community, and beyond.
The Startup Festival was held in the Kordin Business Incubation Centre better known as KBIC, which was also celebrating it’s 20th Anniversary. KBIC Night served as the opening act, where several up-and-coming KBIC-based startups were highlighted by a series of celebratory video clips, and a number of former KBIC tenants received stylised Start in Malta tokens, in recognition of their achievements.
KBIC night also served as the ideal platform to launch Shark Tank Malta, an international program which will now be providing new investment opportunities to Malta based entrepreneurs. With the announcement of a new KBIC, and the improvement of the portal startinmalta.com, which now includes an interactive map where entrepreneurs can see what resources are available to them across the island, this festival could not have come at a better time. Startups can also register themselves on this platform.
The Startup Festival is the natural successor to the Startup Café, which has a successful track record, and has built up enough momentum over the years to merit its own full-scale event, the Startup Festival.
The remaining time at the Festival was spent on workshops which where run by and participated in by experts in their field. These workshops centred on contemporary topics beneficial to any modern undertaking, such as Al, digital healthcare, drones, deep tech, the Blue Economy, sustainable practices and more. Government representatives were also at hand to answer questions from aspiring entrepreneurs, as were strategic stakeholders, providing for the holistic enablement of startups. This convergence of state and commercial entities is a sure sign of Malta’s focus on startups, and bodes well for the country’s continued startup success.