Global heavyweights confirmed for Tech Beach Retreat
FOLLOWING ON the success of the 2016 staging, Tech Beach Retreat will again be hosted this year in Montego Bay, St James, on November 30, 2017. The conceptualisers are following on their goal to elevate Jamaica’s tech scene on the global stage and help drive a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation throughout the region.
Tech Beach is a product of Destination Experience, which successfully expanded to Barbados this October with plans for stagings in other markets in 2018.
Tech Beach Retreat will be hosted at the Iberostar Grand Resort as the event aims to connect wealth with ideas and opportunity. In 2016, Tech Beach gathered 200 tech entrepreneurs, investors and innovators from North America, Africa, Europe, and the wider Caribbean.
INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPANTS
More than 50 per cent of the participants were international and over 60 per cent reported doing business with another Tech Beach participant within six months after the event. Participants represented companies including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Linkedin, and Paypal.
“We are working to spark an entrepreneurship and innovation revolution in the Caribbean. Our goal is to connect the best in the Caribbean with the best in the world, driving a paradigm shift in the economic outlook of the Caribbean” said Kirk-Anthony Hamilton, co-founder and curator of Tech Beach Retreat.
Since inception, the event has evolved into an innovative platform, connecting people, ideas and opportunities with the ultimate goal – through entrepreneurship and engagement – to unlock the full economic potential of the Caribbean region. The hope is to inspire a culture that embraces innovative new ideas, spurring disruptive start-ups into large enterprise.
The 2017 theme is 10X S.C.A.L.E. – Building the next Billion-Dollar Enterprise. Focus areas include fin tech (financial technology), health tech, and consumer tech, with special attention being paid to emerging technologies, including blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, digital payments, artificial intelligence, robotics and automation, cybersecurity, and big data.
“These are some of the areas which we believe are ripe for disruption in our market, and they present the opportunity for the Caribbean to ride waves of new innovation. It’s very difficult for us to jump on the bandwagon of far advanced technologies, but these emerging areas have massive wealth-creation potential for the region,”said co-founder Kyle Maloney. INTERACTIVE RETREAT
Tech Beach Retreat is interactive and like no other, offering participants an allinclusive non-hierarchical experience. The organisers have created an experience specifically targeted for the global community of entrepreneurs, investors and influencers to engage and build relationships with the local and regional captains of industry and the most promising start-ups.
The forum is designed for relationship building, communication, and organic business development. It is a catalyst for change, which exposes business leaders to the challenges and opportunities presented in our increasingly complex technology-driven, multidimensional global economic environment.
Tech Beach Retreat is presented in partnership with the Iberostar Resort, the National Commercial Bank, Development Bank of Jamaica, the Jamaica Tourist Board, JAMPRO, Kuelap, and Connxus. For more information visit www.techbeach.net.