Scandinavia's biggest startup summit TechBBQ is going to China

On November 14th, TechBBQ, Scandinavia’s largest startup event, is bringing their flagship event to Shenzhen, to showcase the Scandinavian startup ecosystem in China and promote Sino-Nordic startup collaboration. The initiative has been spearheaded by Innovation Lab Asia.

Shenzhen is the undisputed hub for manufacturing and production, yet many early stage startups find it hard to access the ecosystem and have little knowledge of reliable local partners. By launching a TechBBQ event in Shenzhen, Innovation Lab Asia hopes to make this journey easier. The event - the first of its kind outside Denmark - will provide a unique opportunity for Nordic companies with hardware components to showcase their technologies in a more intimate, focused gathering, and meet the hardware focused startup ecosystem in Shenzhen, including investors and partners interested in scaling their products into the Chinese market.

TechBBQ Shenzhen will be hosted by Trouble Maker, a partly-Nordic owned makerspace located smack in the middle of Huaqiangbei, the world's largest market for electronics and electronic components. HQB, covering 20 malls and 70 million square meters of business area, is the hardware epicenter of Shenzhen, which - hands down - is the largest hardware hub in the world (see also our initial blog on Shenzhen). The event - on the evening of November 14th - is neatly tucked in between two other major events with a Nordic twist: UNLEASH in Shenzhen (9-13 November), bringing key stakeholders from the Nordics to Shenzhen, and the China High Tech Fair (13-17 November), which is one of the largest technology shows in the world, with over 500,000 visitors and 3,000 exhibitors. Here, 20 Nordic startups will be showcasing their solutions to potential local partners and investors. The showcasing companies are especially from the Nordic strength sectors of Greentech and Healthtech. Alongside the showcasing companies, Nordic ecosystem players such as Swedish Incubators & Science Parks (SISP), StartupLab Oslo, and Business Tampere will be joining to learn about opportunities for Nordic startups in China.

The TechBBQ Shenzhen event will include three stages and a rooftop BBQ, and we expect an audience of 300-500 people, from both Europe and China. The event will especially focus on themes related to “the Nordic Way”. Keynote speeches will focus on the Nordic startup ecosystem, Nordic management culture, Nordic design, and startup community building in the Nordics. The event is geared towards sparking a discussion about the different ways of building successful companies and show a path towards success that is very different than the “9-9-6” philosophy favored in China. The Nordics have the highest percentage of unicorns per capita, and also maintain the highest work-life balance of anywhere in the world. The focus on the “Nordic Way” is engaged in sharing these ecosystem practices abroad. Alongside the talks, there will be workshops for the hardware-oriented crowd, making use of Trouble Maker’s ample hardware expertise. The workshops give attendees new to the China Bay Area the opportunity to experience steps in the prototyping process in a hand’s on way, and engage with partners who can help them iterate and develop products so they are ready for manufacturing.

For more information on speakers and signup, check out our event landing page or contact Peter Johansen, Project Manager of Innovation Lab Asia. (0045 2987 8887, pj@asia-house.dk)