In partnership with the EU Commission, the country Styria, WKO Steiermark, the city of Graz will be the second hosting city to gather THE European Crowd experts. All driven by a common goal: enabling the crowd for a greater good. Stakeholder from all 28 European member states represented by dedicated Country Patrons will gather to discuss diverse scenarios of crowd-disruption from the fields of practitioners, academia and politics.
Our goal is to bring together bright minds to give inspiring 15-minute talks that are idea-focused, and on a wide range of subjects that reflect crowd-based disruption, to foster learning, inspiration and wonder – and provoke conversations that matter. Here is our line-up of speakers and experts for a day that follows an intriguing and energetic flow of inspiration.
HYVE Innovation
Dr. Giordano Koch is CEO at HYVE Innovation Community. In the course of his career at HYVE he initiated and developed the business sectors “Open Government” and “Open Innovation Consulting”. He studied in Passau, Cleveland, at the Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen and graduated at the WHU Vienna and University of Hamburg. He is lecturer at the University of Linz and often booked as speaker, referring to various best practices and combining them with scientific findings. Innovation is everywhere: in Open Innovation, Crowdsourcing and Co-Creation. Please expect incredible stories, broad expertise and different perspectives from industry, politics and science.
Founder European Crowdfunding Network
European Crowdfunding Network, Brussels, Executive Director and Founder | Lendery, London, Co-founder | Slingshot Return, Hamburg, Co-Founder | European Crowdfunding Stakeholder Forum at the European Commission, Brussels, Member | Förderkreis Gründungs-Forschung e.V. (FGF), Advisory Board Member | FutureMediaLab, Brussels, Advisor | InnoHub, Hamburg, Mentor
CEO Anirot Development Organisation
Irene is the CEO of Anirot Development Organisation, active in the fields of business development and research, funding, PR and marketing. She has gained extensive experience in European strategy and policy, national policy and initiative promotion, entrepreneurship and innovation. She is a trainer and mentor for start-ups and new businesses, aiding businesses to prepare for funding rounds and an experienced EU project manager, both in previous FP7 and Leonardo da Vinci projects and currently for Horizon and Erasmus+. She is also the Founder of Crowdfunding Cyprus, an organisation advocating crowd-related activities, aiming to establish Cyprus as a crowdfunding hub for the wider region. Irene advocates female entrepreneurship and regularly speaks on topics of policy change, crowdsourcing, stakeholder engagement in social projects and the gender gap.
Crowd Mentor Network
Driven by innovation, Michael´s focus is to understand the risks and chances of crowd-based phenomenas like CrowdSourcing, CrowdInnovation and Crowdfunding. Michael is head of the board at the CrowdSourcing Association and the German CrowdFounding Network. He serves as adviser for the EU Commission in the CrowdFunding Stakeholder Group in Brussels and a nominated member of the TAB Begleitkreis „Digitale Arbeit“ for the Deutschen Bundestag.
Head of Business Development Leybold
With 10+ years professional experience, I am a self-motivated and resourceful executive with a proven ability to build, develop and lead global teams and processes to maximize profitability, efficiency and ultimately shareholder value.
Change excites me, new challenges spur me. High-pressure and high-stakes environments are the right places for me. I am a problem solver, able to develop and execute strategy programs in global organizations.
Speaking 5+ languages and having lived more than 14+ years in foreign countries across 3 continents, I possess excellent communication and intercultural skills and am able to establish sustainable and profitable relationships with customers and suppliers, team members and executives as well as stake- and shareholders alike.
CEO of ISN – Innovation Service Network
Since 2001 he is founder and CEO of isn-innovation service network, Austrian's leading innovation company. As entrepreneur and founder of five further startups he supervises the innovation management processes of several leading Austrian companies.
2007 he started Austrian's 1. Crowdsourcing platform www.neurovation.net. In 2012 he established Austria’s first crowdinvesting platform 1000x1000.at. Reinhard Willfort is co-founder of the European Crowdfunding Network and Secretary of the Board of Directors.
CEO & Founding Partner of Better Ventures
Shelley’s arch-enemy is the status quo and she will do anything to defeat it. A highly successful entrepreneur with her eye perpetually to the horizons of innovation, marketing, crowdsourcing and venture capital, Shelley is driven to create net-new enterprise business models focused around participation with her global clients and global team. She co-founded Better Ventures in 2015 after previously founding Chaordix, Stormworks and Adventure Capital. Shelley might just spend more time up in the air than George Clooney and breaks from flying and entrepreneurship only long enough for the odd glass of cider and weekend away at her place on Salt Spring Island. Shelley lives in London, UK and right at this minute is probably thinking of ways to realize the possibilities she can see in her mind’s eye.
Chief Product Officer at Crowdio.com
Diyan and his team at Crowdio.com are creating the first platform for a crowdsourced, on-demand sales force. What started as a simple irritation with unavailable online sales support outside of working hours is now a global way to tap into the world’s sales talent, and to create a new economy for hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Building on his research-led experiences, Diyan has worked on the digital transformations of some of the biggest companies in Europe, including Coloplast, Telecom Austria, Technopolis, and LVMH.
Recently Diyan has been involved in the non-profit sector as an ambassador, trainer, and adviser on global trends such as the sharing economy, crowdsourcing, and crowd-based community building.
Head of Risk, e-Residency
Founder of CrowdfundingHub
Ronald is a former IT entrepreneur and has an extensive track record in crowdfunding. Four years ago he co-founded the European Crowdfunding Network. As a crowdfunding strategist he is frequently asked to advise the European Commission. He very recently was ranked no. 3 on the Alternative Finance Power List, a list with the most influential people in P2P lending and crowdfunding on social media.
EU Commissioner Digital Economy & Society
Günther Oettinger´s responsibilities include reparing ambitious legislative steps towards a connected Digital Single Market by breaking down national silos in telecoms regulation, in copyright and data protection legislation, in the management of radio waves and in the application of competition law.
National Bank of Greece
Spyros Arsenis coordinates act4Greece crowdfunding program (www.act4Greece.gr), NBG Business Seeds program (www.nbg.gr/nbgseeds) and the NBG Innovation & Technology Competition. He studied electrical engineering and holds a PhD in Information Technology and Networks. He started his career in international IT projects as Project Manager and Senior Consultant for important organizations. He is the author of eight books on ICT, sales and marketing.
CEO Blockchain HUB
Thomas passionately optimizes processes and products and is fascinated about digital enabled improvements and innovations. Beside his consulting company (OPTINNA) focused on Lean Management, he runs his own incubator and coworking space (lab10) and mentors startups in line with the Lean Startup Method. He has now declared full focus on blockchain technology by founding the BlockchainHub Graz where startups will get mentoring as well as connections to advisors, industry partners and investors.
Head of Crowdfunding at Downing LLP
A pioneer of digital businesses since founding ba.com in 1994, I have spent the last 20 years working on disruptive customer-led propositions across online retail, renewable energy and financial services market spaces.
Most recently I developed the crowdfunding platform Trillion Fund, co-founded the UK Crowdfunding Association and am now a Partner with the Downing Crowd.
Meet all relevant thought leaders from more than 28 countries at one day in one place.
Get inspired and learn how to leverage the crowd to help your business grow smarter and prosper faster.
Uncover cross-border crowdsourcing, innovation and funding scenarios and proven concepts from practice, academia and political impact.
Open your eyes and network with people as committed as you, as passionate, as driven, but in fields that you’ve had little exposure to.
Learn how a Crowd disrupts with an impact that is intoxicating. Join us for a day full of ideas and great minds.
Unleash how the crowd can speed-up the innovation process for an competitive business future.
Launch of the first Global Book on Crowdfunding
A pivotal source to enhance opportunities and benefits from the use of crowdfunding in modern society.
An ambitious project which involved prestigious worldwide experts.
The power of the Crowd is immense and it is of upmost importance that there is an established dialogue between all parties on all aspects of impact. We are happy to support Crowd Dialog as a unique setup to strengthen the European single market approach.
We were honored and excited to host Crowd Dialog and the knowledgeable experts from more than 28 countries of a agile and fairly new phenomena like crowd-based disruption in our city. What an inspiring day for the region!
It is great to see that Crowd Dialog is a truly European conference where CrowdFunding, CrowdSourcing and all aspects of crowd-related business models find a in-depth pool of experts and knowledge.
The 15 minute inspiring talks format is designed as a showcase for experts presenting great, well-formed ideas. Thoughts and Insights that are new and surprising and show the meaning and process behind what those how create and are defined as a vital part of the European Crowd-X movement.
A world-class experience gathering of the European Crowd-X ecosystem experts and innovators, Crowd Dialog Europe is more than just an event. It’s a catalyst for the growth and development of disruptive and agile crowd-based ecosystem.
We want to make sure you will enjoy trip to Crowd Dialog Europe
Lufthansa Group Partner Airlines offer a comprehensive global route network linking major cities around the world. We offer special prices and conditions to participants, visitors, exhibitors, invited guests as well as employees of the Contracting partner and their travel companions.
To make a reservation, please click here and enter the access code DEZZWPX in the "Access to Your Special Lufthansa Offer" area. This will automatically calculate the discount offered or provide you with an even better offer if another promotional fare is available.
Graz Tourism and Graz Convention Bureau has blocked a great selection of Hotel rooms in Graz. You may choose from a wide range of categories and amenities. Please use the special booking page to secure your accommodation ahead of time.