The future of tech is rising in the east, certainly as far as the organisers of Bitspiration are concerned. Taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday, the conference will showcase the burgeoning Polish startup scene in one of Europe’s most promising tech hubs, Krakow.
And there will certainly be plenty of interest directed from Berlin towards the event, with the German capital benefitting from an influx of talent from Eastern Europe.
Bitspiration promises to be an open conference with a focus on connecting with others in the industry. Organisers Krzystof Kowalczyk and Andrzej Targosz have put together a schedule of speakers including experts in PR, media, new technology and venture capital, as well as hackers and entrepreneurs.
Krakow is one of Europe’s historical centres of trade and commerce, and Kowalczyk and Targosz want to re-establish the city as a centre of creativity, ideas and thinking. It is already becoming a tech hub with huge growth in startups, and Google, Motorola and IBM all have offices in the city.
And in a nod to the traditional forums of writers, philosophers and artists, Bitspiration will hold workshops and talks in cafes and pubs.
Bitspiration will also act as a showcase for Polish startups including online fashion marketplace SHOWROOM, which will launch an English version, allowing people from all over Europe to buy from Polish designers.
A couple of Polish gaming startups will debut games as well. Ganymede will launch a matching puzzle game called Last Temple, and Cube Your Mind will launch Hacienda HD, an iPad version of the board game Hacienda.
Berlin will be well represented during Bitspiration, with Christoph Raethke of Berlin Startup Academy and Markus Schultz of Changers.com both giving talks. Other speakers include Don Dodge of Google, Jawed Karim of YouTube fame, and legendary phone hacker John Draper, aka Capt’n Crunch.