South by Southwest Interactive Festival | Texas 2018

The U.S. Embassy in Athens and The Hellenic Initiative are partnering for the fourth year to bring a delegation of Greek startups to the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive festival in Austin, Texas.

More info about SXSW event

SXSW is a global event that attracts over 400,000 people from all over the world, and has transformed Austin into a hub for innovation.

It is three festivals in one:

• the Interactive focused mostly on technology entrepreneurship
• the Music festival focused on music production as well as new technologies for digital distribution of musical content
• the Film festival which focuses on the cinema industry as well as television and online content platforms.

There are many expos during the festival, including a major startup Trade Show, a medical technologies expo, a gaming expo and several others.

SXSW statistics

• In more detail, the SXSW Interactive Festival, features more than 1,500 keynote speeches, lectures, workshops, panel discussions and networking events focusing on new technologies and innovations in almost all fields.
• The Interactive Festival attracts approximately 70,000 participants including entrepreneurs, business executives, innovators, scientists, artists, designers, media and entertainment experts, and technology specialists from the world’s top companies – like Google, YouTube, Samsung, and Sony.
• Over 15 trade shows and exhibitions, including the Main Trade Show with international pavilions; the SX Health & MedTech Expo; the SX Create featuring maker spaces and hacking activities; SXSW Gaming Expo; the SXSW Job Market and others.
• The main Trade Show of the SXSW Interactive Festival is a great opportunity for companies to pitch their projects and products to some of the 100,000 people that walk through the almost 500 exhibitors.

U.S. Embassy, Athens in collaboration with The Hellenic Initiative

For the last three years, the U.S. Embassy in Athens in collaboration with The Hellenic Initiative has supported the participation of Greek professionals from startups and the creative industries to SXSW. They have collaborated with the Austin-based International Accelerator to fund and organize the Greek participation. They have supported approximately 26 creative professionals and 55 startups.

Links for more information

Here are the links to the videos we have produced in the last few years covering the Greek participation:

• Τα Ελληνικά Start Ups στο SXSW 2017 – popaganda.gr
• «Νιώθοντας Δημιουργικός» στην Τοποθεσία SXSW 2017 – popaganda.gr
• South by Southwest – Αφιέρωμα – popaganda.gr
• Περάσαμε 9 μέρες με 10 δημιουργικούς Έλληνες – huffingtonpost.gr
• 21 ελληνικές startups «κυνήγησαν» την τύχη τους στο Τέξας – huffingtonpost.gr

 

SXSW 2018

For the SXSW 2018, taking place March 9-13, it is planned from the U.S. Embassy in Athens to support the participation of 15-20 Greek startups to the Festival, covering the participation fee, the Trade Show booth, and preparation costs (details to be determined based on the final number of Greek participants).  The International Accelerator will be also partner, responsible for preparing the participating startups for their SXSW experience, creating networking opportunities there and also assisting with the presence of the Greek startups at the SXSW Trade Show.

If  you are interested and think that you could  benefit from your participation in SXSW, you can contact with U.S. Embassy in Athens.  They will be making their selection by December 28.

Contact details

U.S. Embassy Athens
91 Vas. Sophias Avenue
101 60 Athens
Tel: 210 720 2359