Australia’s 29th Prime Minister, The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull will be the keynote speaker at StartCon, Australia’s leading technology, startup, corporate innovation & growth conference to be held at Royal Randwick Racecourse on Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd November 2019. 

At StartCon, Turnbull will discuss innovation, the problems facing Australia’s technology industry and what Australia needs to be the number one startup capital of the world. 

He will join over 55 global leaders in technology including experts from NASA, eBay, Airbnb, Airwallex, Uber, The Iconic, and more, during the two day event. With over 55 speakers from around the world including Silicon Valley, 4000+ attendees, 160 exhibitors and hundreds of startups in attendance.

Talking about his involvement in the conference, Turnbull says, “Change, unprecedented in scale and pace, is the tenor of our times. This offers enormous opportunities, and Australia has never been better situated to take advantage of them. At the heart of all of this is innovation, the key driver of productivity, which is vital if we are to remain a prosperous first world economy with a generous social welfare net.”

“Australia’s startup ecosystem has advanced enormously since we started OzEmail twenty five years ago. In those days there was hardly any money for technology startups. Today, especially since the launch of the National Innovation and Science Agenda, and opportunities for investment like the Pitch for a Million competition here at StartCon, there are billions available.” 

“My feeling is that there is now more support in the community for innovation and science, although the rising tide of authoritarian populism with its “anti-globalist” and protectionist agenda represents a real threat. So we cannot take our gains for granted, there will always be voices to oppose innovation, frightened of the new, anxious to hide under the doona in the hope that the 21st century will prove to be a terrible dream.”  

StartCon Pitch for $1 Million, one of the world’s largest startup pitch competitions where entrepreneurs battle it out for a total of US$1m in venture financing from trailblazing US investors, EDGE196™. 

Matt Barrie, Chief Executive and Founder of Freelancer.com says, “Malcolm Turnbull was undoubtedly the most technology focused Prime Minister that Australia has ever had. During his term, innovation through technology was at the forefront of government policy for driving forward the Australian economy. Since that time, however, innovation has dropped off the national agenda. I look forward to discussing with Malcolm at StartCon what needs to happen to bring innovation back on the national agenda, and what we need to do as a country to transform the economy into one that guarantees prosperity for all Australians into the 21st century.”

StartCon brings together the world’s best experts to provide actionable insights into how to start and growing world class technology driven businesses. Whether you are an entrepreneur, corporate innovator, working at a startup or are thinking about starting a business- if there is one event you attend this year- it’s StartCon. 

StartCon 2019 will feature expert workshops, a tech expo, hackathon, masterclasses, a FinTech stage, a Disruption stage, VIP lounge and an artificial intelligence (AI) stage. Guests can also attend networking events, experience live gaming and visit a startup alley that includes some of the most innovative businesses in the local market and across Asia. 

Joining the Honorable Malcolm Turnbull at StartCon 2019 on November 22-23 will be speakers including:

International Speakers

• Petra Hoffer, Technology Leadership Advisor, Consulting @ eBay

• Jenny Arden, Director of Design @ Airbnb

• Joe Fahed, Global Products Operations Manager @ Uber

• Tony Aug, CTO & VP, Technology & Strategy, Digital @ Arrow

• Dan Lok, Founder, Influencer @ Closers.com

• Eric Siu, Owner and CEO @ Single Grain

• Alberto Antinucci, Digital Innovation Strategist & China Expert @ Antinucci Consulting

• Katie Burke, Chief People Officer @ Hubspot

• Amy Peck, Senior Director of Enterprise Content @ Vive Studios

• and more!

Local Speakers include

• Fred Schebesta, CEO & Co-founder @ Finder

• Ashik Ahmed, CEO, CTO & Co-founder @ Deputy

• Vivek Bharadwaj, Marketing Science @ THE ICONIC

• Dr Jemma Green, Executive Chairman & Co-founder @ Power Ledger

• Chris Smith, Founder & Director @ BIG Esports

• Craig Rees, VP & Head of Engineering @ AirWallex

• Taryn Williams, CEO & Founder @ theright.fit

• James Spencely, VC Investor & Mentor @ Jamesspencely.com

• Greg Cross, Serial Entrepreneur @ Soul Machines

• Alex Moss, CEO & Head Designer @ Canaria

• Daniel Wearne, Head of Design @ Up Banking

• Alex McCauley, CEO @ StartupAus

• Sarah Tang, VP, Enterprise @ Freelancer.com

• Helen Souness, CEO @ RMIT Online

• Randall Noble, COO @ Hive Gaming

• Dr Michelle Perugini, CEO & Co-founder @ Presagen

• Simon Banks, Managing Director & SVP @ HyperWallet

•  Ali Anderson, Manager of Outreach Programs @ Australian Institute for Machine Learning

• and more!

More StartCon 2019 speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

StartCon 2019 features multiple tracks for startups, marketing and growth professionals, designers, engineers, tech experts and corporate innovators and is jam-packed with:

• Expert workshops

• Tech expo

• Hackathon

• Masterclasses

• FinTech stage 

• Disruption stage 

• Artificial intelligence stage

• VIP lounge 

• Multiple networking events

• Live gaming 

• Kids coding camp

• Startup alley that includes some of the most innovative businesses across Asia

StartCon (formerly SydStart) is the largest Australian startup and growth conference, expo and entrepreneur community, established in 2009. Thousands of technology startup professionals, investors and ecosystem participants have already experienced StartCon events. This year’s conference will be held on November 22nd & 23rd at Royal Randwick Racecourse, with world-class international speakers in entrepreneurship and growth marketing, high quality workshops and an expo showcasing the biggest tech names and high-growth startups in Asia Pacific. http://www.startcon.com

Submissions for Pitch for $1 Million - Submissions can be made online with entries encouraged from startups in all sectors including, but not limited to, Advanced Manufacturing, Robotics, Blockchain, AI, Big Data, Adtech, Digital Media, Edtech and more.