Tech and innovation conference East Meets West is returning May 18-19 at Aloha Tower Marketplace.
Hosted by Hawaii-based startup accelerator Blue Startups, East Meets West brings together tech companies, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and more from Hawaii, across the country and throughout Asia. This marks the eighth event — and the first time that it is returning in-person since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Over the years we have developed quite a great community of folks that return every year — it will be nice to see everyone, reconnect, get re-energized and inspired for the next year,” Blue Startups Managing Partner Chenoa Farnsworth said in an email to Pacific Business News.
The conference kicks off on Thursday, May 18 with a summit event featuring small group activities and discussions, as well as a VIP reception. This portion of the conference is reserved primarily for leaders within the tech and innovation sector and is already sold out.
The main event runs from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, May 19. The day is filled with panels on topics including artificial intelligence, Web3, and investing in underrepresented founders, as well as discussion sessions on travel tech, the future of hybrid work and more. There also will be an opportunity to meet with VCs one-on-one, and Henk Rogers of Tetris and Khizer Khaderi from Stanford University’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence will deliver keynote addresses.
“We have some amazing speakers this year. I am really looking forward to the keynote on Artificial Intelligence from Khizer Khaderi. AI is such a relevant topic right now for every business and every person on the planet,” Farnsworth said. “I am also really looking forward to the two deep dive discussions we have with sustainability and travel technology themes. In particular, the discussions on food sustainability and regenerative tourism are very relevant to Hawaii right now, and incumbent upon us to find technology driven solutions in these areas.”
The day’s agenda also will include a pitch competition featuring eight startups, including three that are locally based: Etta, Mappy and Orda.
When asked about her goal with East Meets West, Farnsworth said, “One of the best things about the conference for our Hawaii participants is that we are bringing the world to Hawaii for this event. We don't have to get on a plane to talk to a founder from Hong Kong, a venture capitalist from New York, or a technologist from California — they are all coming to us and it is up to us to take advantage of these opportunities to connect and network both within and outside our state.
“Long-term we are building a startup ecosystem in Hawaii that is rooted here but reaches beyond our shores to serve the world with our own homegrown innovations.”
She also noted that conference registration will remain open until the event sells out — which she said is “expected to happen soon.” For more information and to register, click here.
