Like everyone, we were presented with big challenges in 2020, and it tested our strength as a community. Through all the difficult decisions and many moments of uncertainty however, we’re coming out of it feeling more sure than ever of its commitment, resilience and most importantly its power. Our core belief in the potential of emerging technologies to improve the world has remained, in an unprecedented year of collaboration in science and technology.
Let’s look over our biggest moments together, and start looking forward to brighter days ahead!
Our first fully virtual Global Summit
We went into 2020 in full preparation mode for the 6th edition of our Global Summit. Following months of hard work we were excited to see it come together. Like all event organisers however, our world turned upside down in March, and digitization became the only viable option to gather our community. We’re extremely proud to have pivoted to an online format in less than 6 months, and to have welcomed thousands of attendees to the very first virtual epicentre of deep tech!
“This year the Global Summit is in an online format, but the Hello Tomorrow founding spirit has remained unchanged. It combines a deep respect for the power of rigorous science with the fearlessness of entrepreneurship, and the imperative that we bring these twin engines together to solve the world’s most pressing problems.” Hemai Parthasarathy, CSO & Partner Breakout Ventures.
The launch of the Deep Tech Pioneers Community
We also launched our very first membership community this year, the Deep Tech Pioneers. Made up of the best deep tech startups from around the globe that are solving industrial, societal and environmental challenges. Building on the success of our Global Challenge, this community enables us to amplify our efforts to deliver even more valuable opportunities to startups, including exclusive access to our events and startup competitions, visibility among our global network of investors and industry partners, business opportunities, personalized investor & corporate introductions, masterclasses and more.
For those investing in deep tech, we launched a dedicated newsletter to give you monthly updates on our most promising Deep Tech Pioneers that are currently raising funds.
As well as that, we are proud to have launched the Hello Tomorrow Deep Tech Investors Mapping for our community: a comprehensive list of over 1000 VCs, CVCs and more, filtered by category, geographical focus and preferred stage to invest.
Fostering successful collaborations between deep tech startups and large corporations
Our global network of deep tech startups have mobilised to do incredible things this year, and our Startup-Corporate Challenges have taken off with huge force. We have worked with world-leading companies like ArianeGroup, Airbus, Orano, Accelair, Bayer Crop Science, Bayer Pharma and Korian to help them identify the startups and their solutions that can help them shape the future of their industry.
We released 3 new reports analysing the deep tech ecosystem
- How to boost the growth of the French deep tech startup ecosystem [in French]
- Four challenges that innovation teams need to tackle to thrive right now
- Corporate-deep tech startup collaborations in Digital Healthcare, Decarbonization and Agriculture: a pathway to competitiveness [in French]
We go into 2021 feeling positive for the future
As CEO Arnaud told our Global SUmmit audience in November:
“The race between the crisis we are facing and the solutions we are developing is getting fiercer every day. To win this race, we need to change our behaviors, but we also need new technologies to change the way our industry sustains a growing humanity. This is this fundamental belief which gives all of us the strength to move forward when everything seems lost. That there are always solutions to be found, and we always find them when we work together.”
14 groundbreaking deep tech startups were crowned winners of their categories in this year’s Global Challenge, with Agora Energy Technologies announced as our Grand Winner, developing a carbon dioxide redox flow battery to combat climate change on multiple fronts.
We could not be more grateful to our partners for their loyalty, to the startups that applied to our Global Challenge and their undying motivation to change the world, and to every other member of our community that is helping build a better future.
Thank you, and let’s carry on building the future together in 2021!
