(Editor’s note: The Eindhoven Business Briefing this week is dedicated to the upcoming PyData event. We cover tech because so many of our highly skilled internationals are developers and data scientists. EBB is part of our Tech Tuesdays series. Multiple contributors collaborated on this post.)
Eindhoven tech influencer Gareth Thomas is still working through the final details for the big PyData Eindhoven 2023 event scheduled for 30 November and 1 December at High Tech Campus Eindhoven’s Conference Center. But we have a lot of the details. And get this … it will include daycare for those busy parents who don’t want to leave the kids at home.
PyData is an international forum for Python developers to share ideas and new innovations in AI and data science. Gareth, who is also co-founder of VersionBay at High Tech Campus, put on a big event earlier this year, drawing an SRO crowd from around the world to the HTCE Conference Center. But this one will be different. First, it will include two parallel events – the event for Python developers and a JuliaCon event for those working in the new Julia programming language geared toward scientific computing that’s been embraced by ASML, the most valuable tech company in Europe.
For the record, this will be the first citywide JuliaCon event, Gareth said.
The PyData event will also include startups and pitching.
The first day will include parallel programming, including keynotes and technical talks. “There will be very little marketing, very little sales and not so much of an HR event,” Gareth told EBB in an interview. So, this is all about technical people talking about technical things.
And those topics fall into three categories:
• cool applications of AI or data science
• Python toolboxes
• “something cool that people need to learn or compare, new technologies or whatnot,” Gareth said. “And we’re going to have a pitching competition.”
This is a ticketed event, with the fee for corporates 120 euros; individual tickets are 80 euros, and the price is 40 euros for students.
Right now you can get Early Bird tickets at a 20-percent discount because they haven’t released the program. Also, there are speaker slots still open and an ongoing call for proposals.
You can see all the details here.
These events attract people from around the world because presenting at developers conferences is a big deal, a career builder on a resumés. Well have another post as we get closer to the event.
ASML supporting new housing
Finally.
ASML will help push forward housing projects by funding developments that might not otherwise get traction, according to Bloomberg. The key semiconductor company will invest an undisclosed amount in housing projects in the Brainport Eindhoven region of the Netherlands, i.e. Eindhoven. The projects will help middle income people (that would be us), students and elderly but will not include its own employees, according to media reports.
The Dutch media reports frame this as a delicate balancing act so ASML doesn’t disrupt the housing market. Something we think sorely NEEDS disrupting. Eindhoven is still small enough that it doesn’t get much global coverage. But from our anecdotal experience, this is probably the tightest housing market in Europe, which is affecting business, education and just day-to-day life for those of us who aren’t ASML millionaires.
What no one is saying is, for decades, Philips built robust worker housing all over the city as it recruited people from other regions, quality housing that is still sought after in 2023. If you want to grow talent, you have to first prepare the ground.
HighTechXL to put on reverse hackathon at PhotonDelta’s PIC Summit event
HighTechXL is partnering with PhotonDelta to roll out a special event at the PIC Summit. Get ready for FasTrackathon: Integrated Photonics Edition. This special reverse-hackathon will take place 8 November from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Evoluon in Eindhoven.
The FasTrackathon is an event for (future) entrepreneurs who want to start a deep-tech venture in the Integrated Photonics domain. Integrated photonics is … complicated. But it’s basically computing with light, or photons, not electrons. It’s a fast-moving sector with ever changing technology and infinite applications. Finding the right product-market fit is a challenge, especially in this field.
At the FasTrackathon, HighTechXL staffers including, photonics pioneer Boudewijn Doctor, will translate PhotonDelta’s four opportunity roadmaps – agrifood, healthcare, automotive and data and telecom – into concrete and actionable business cases.
Groups will choose an opportunity roadmap and brainstorm technologies and application areas, developing their business propositions using the Market Opportunity Navigator and pitching their case at the end of the event. They will also have some examples of technologies and potential applications within those four domains.
Anyone can attend FasTrackathon at the PIC Summit. It’s a separate event run in parallel, so you don’t need a ticket to PIC Summit to join the fun at the FasTrackathon. If you do want to join PIC Summit, use HighTechXL’s 15-percent discount and save a few euros: HighTechXL-PICSummit15.
Come if you love integrated photonics. Come if you want to be an entrepreneur for a day. Join in if you are considering becoming a co-founder of a deep-tech venture using integrated photonics technologies to solve grand societal challenges. You may just meet another adventurer who wants to partner up and take the tech to market. Anything goes at our signature FasTrackathon events!
Don’t forget to bring your bold, bodacious ideas.
ExperienceXL starts a new cycle of venture building
Speaking of FasTrackathons, ExperienceXL is in the books, and it turned out to be a big deal for Eindhoven’s big deep-tech venture builder. This multi-event day started with an introductory Info Session for prospective co-founders considering HighTechXL’s venture-building approach, which brings together talent and tech.
More than 100 people attended ExperienceXL, some experiencing all the activities of the day.
The HTXL team kicked off the day with a detailed Info Session briefing from Joris Jansen, HTXL technology scout, on the technologies and program details. Then, team members from several HighTechXL alumni, including inPhocal and Alphabeats, talked about their experiences, high points and
frustrations with startup life.
You can’t say they weren’t candid in their descriptions of startup life – demanding, with
constant decisions about the way forward.
HighTechXL founder Guus Frericks, now the CEO of DeepTechXL, talked about his own startup
journey that included a brush with near bankruptcy until he sold to a Silicon Valley tech giant.
He told prospective co-founders if they think the process is going to smooth out as the startup
mature, it doesn’t. “The bigger your company grows, the bigger your problems. You need to
adjust. You think it will get more stable. It won’t. But it’s fun.” But if you love the excitement of
startup life, “it says a lot about you,” Guus said.
After the Info Session, some of the attendees broke into groups for FasTrackathon, the reverse-
hackathon designed to guide attendees through a program, to explore four technologies and
one challenge, including:
- Radar technology
- Spectral technology
- Fiber sensor technology
- Streaming 3D video technology
- Port of Amsterdam hydrogen challenge
Boudewijn Docter, said the group he moderated in spectral technology was a diverse group. “The FasTrackathon is the perfect showcase because you can really explore the different applications,” said Boudewijn, HighTechXL’s Chief Growth Officer. Sometimes group members dived deep into their specialties. “We had one guy from the semiconductor industry who said, ‘Look, I think for the
semiconductor manufacturing equipment, this could be great technology.’”
Check out the HighTechXL website here for future opportunities to become a founder or to join a team.
Co-CEO of Dispatches Europe. A former military reporter, I'm a serial expat who has lived in France, Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands.
