Showcase of Asia's Best Innovations Set for February 2012
SINGAPORE, Dec. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Sphere Exhibits Pte Ltd and IDG Enterprise, the US-based technology, media, events and research company, have agreed to move DEMO Asia to February 2012 from November 2011 based on the interest and increased enquiries received from potential participants, exhibitors and sponsors over the last few months. This extension gives promising start-ups, entrepreneurs and innovators more time to gear up and prepare for Asia's premier launch pad for new and emerging technologies.
DEMO Asia will now be held on February 29 to March 2, 2012 at Matrix@Biopolis in Singapore. It will offer Asia's brightest innovators and budding entrepreneurs the unique opportunity to debut, pitch and showcase breakthrough ideas and products to corporate acquirers, media, venture capitalists, angel investors and strategic partners.
Launched in 1991, DEMO is the global launch pad for emerging technologies and is held twice a year in the United States. It comprises conferences, pitches and networking sessions for a specially invited group of companies to launch their products for the first time to an audience made up of angel investors, venture capitalists, corporate developers and acquirers, government agencies, universities and research institutes.
Singapore is the second country in Asia to host a DEMO event after China. Sphere Exhibits will produce DEMO Asia with DEMO's existing co-producers - IDG Enterprise and strategic partner VentureBeat, a portal that reports the latest news, trends and developments on innovation and technology.
This event is supported by IDA, MDA, A*STAR, SPRING Singapore, Singapore Venture Capital Association and Business Angel Network South East Asia.
As the latest addition to the highly successful DEMO conference in the United States, the DEMO Asia event promises an exciting event line-up that will showcase Asian innovation and entrepreneurship at its finest. These include --
DEMO Asia Conference
Hand-picked and specially selected companies will deliver their six-minute pitches to potential investors and buyers to garner their buy-in and interest. There will also be presentations and panel discussions from leading industry players and experts on cloud, social media, consumer, and enterprise technologies made during the conference.
One-on-One Discussion Panel
During the one-on-one discussions, the movers and shakers from successful start-ups and past DEMO alumni members will be present to offer their insights and success stories. Jeff Clavier, the Founder and Managing Partner of SoftTech VC, one of the most active seed stage investors in Web 2.0 start-ups, will share his thoughts on the growing angel investing environment in Silicon Valley today.
Showcase Your Best Startups -- Country Pavilions
Asian countries will be invited to showcase their homegrown fast-rising companies as part of the DEMO Asia Startup Expo. The Startup Expo is the ideal platform that brings together companies in web, mobile, cloud, enterprise, social media and consumer technologies from across the region, where participants can network and form strategic partnerships. It will also feature several DEMO alumni companies from the United States.
Mr Chua Wee Phong, Executive Director of Sphere Exhibits, said: "We are committed to the success of the first-ever DEMO Asia in Singapore. Hence, we made sure that it imbibed DEMO's signature features while catering to Asian entrepreneurs and innovators. By expanding and beefing up the programme, we are providing promising start ups and entrepreneurs more avenues to tap into the resources, expertise and network to enable them to showcase their innovative ideas to a global audience."
"With Asia's business resilience driving global growth in the next few decades, we are excited to be an active proponent in driving innovation and growth in the region with the DEMO Asia platform," he added.
DEMO Asia will also be introducing the DEMO Asia Scholarship Program which offers partial scholarship for bootstrapped companies, angel-funded companies and full scholarships targeted at universities and research institutions. Upon selection, deserving companies will be awarded scholarships to launch their products.
Registration for DEMO Asia is now open for startups keen to launch their products and participate in the conference. For more information, they can visit the DEMO Asia website at
www.DEMO.asia.
About DEMO
Produced by IDG Enterprise in conjunction with VentureBeat, the DEMO conferences in the United States and China focus on emerging technologies and new product innovations, which are hand selected from across the spectrum of the technology marketplace. The DEMO conferences have earned their reputation for consistently identifying tomorrow's cutting-edge technologies, and have served as launchpad events for companies such as Palm, E*Trade, Salesforce, Webex, Tivo and VMware, helping them to secure venture funding, establish critical business relationships, and influence early adopters. The DEMO Scholarship Partner Program, subsidised by corporate sponsorships, offers multiple scholarship opportunities to ensure that deserving entrepreneurs receive the opportunity to introduce cutting edge technology products at DEMO that might have otherwise gone undiscovered.
For more information on the DEMO conferences, visit http://www.demo.com.
About Sphere Exhibits Pte Ltd
A wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), Sphere Exhibits, which stands for "SPH Events, Roadshows and Exhibitions", aims to be the leading events company catering to a diverse mix of trade and consumer clientele.
Backed by a committed and experienced team of professionals and SPH's comprehensive range of media platforms, Sphere Exhibits' shows, events and exhibitions centre on unique concepts that attract local audiences and regional participants. Among the 20 Sphere Exhibits' events are The IT Show, COMEX, Licence2Play, Asian Masters and Kidz Academy.
Leveraging on its expertise in event conceptualisation, planning and execution, Sphere Exhibits delivers memorable and quality events that meet the objectives of its clientele and partners.
About IDG Enterprise
IDG Enterprise, an International Data Group (IDG) company, brings together unique editorial brands (CFOworld, CIO, CIO Executive Council, Computerworld, CSO, DEMO, InfoWorld, ITworld and Network World) to serve the information needs of our technology, security and financial-focused audiences. As a digital-centric media company we serve our reader and advertiser audiences with award-winning content and community, driving conversation and conversion, across our entire portfolio of awarding-winning, websites, events, magazines, products and services. In addition, the CIO Executive Council, a peer advisory service, brings together the nation's top CIOs, as well as provides community and leadership development tools for their staffs.
For more information, please visit www.idgenterprise.com. Additional information about IDG, a privately held company, is available at http://www.idg.com.
About VentureBeat
VentureBeat( http://www.venturebeat.com )'s mission is to provide news about innovation for forward-thinking executives. The New York Times called VentureBeat one of the "best blogs on the Web," and now syndicates VentureBeat's articles. Reuters and many other publishers also run VentureBeat articles.
For more information, please visit http://venturebeat.com/about.
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SOURCE:Sphere Exhibits Pte Ltd