From these numbers Italy starts again, looking to the future by combining innovation, tradition and culture. In fact, the ninth edition of WMF, the Festival dedicated to digital and social innovation, which took place at the Palacongressi in Rimini from 15 to 17 July, has come to an end.
Three days for one of the first events of this magnitude to return with part of the public in attendance, in compliance with the numbers allowed by the structure and safety regulations. Also for this reason, as already happened for the two events held in 2020, the WMF2021 was characterized by a hybrid format.
Organized and created by Search On Media Group, WMF confirmed its role as an accelerator of ideas and solutions, acting as a model for the entire exhibition sector in Italy and abroad thanks to the management of more than 3,000 live participants for every day and integration with the hybrid.io online platform, through which more than 24 thousand people followed all the events and interventions on the agenda in connection.
“Italy represents a propulsion center that combines innovation, tradition and culture: we have demonstrated this, together with thousands of people, this year too” declared Cosmano Lombardo, creator of the WMF and Founder and CEO of Search On Media Group. “WMF2021 was the Festival not only of restart, but above all of courage. Courage to feel the duty to build, to commit oneself to a future that is really and concretely better. The credit goes to all the people who believed in this enterprise: participants, speakers, moderators, sponsors and companies who believe and experience work as a form of building society ”.
In fact, “We Make Future” is the slogan with which the Festival explained its mission: to build the future starting from the 360-degree exploration of the world of innovation.
In the 60 thematic rooms and with the over 100 scheduled events, topics were discussed on professional training between web marketing and entrepreneurship, on current events, culture and investigating the main technological innovations and their social potential in Italy and abroad.
Among the speakers and institutional guests of the parterre, the ministers Patrizio Bianchi, Enrico Giovannini, Luigi Di Maio, the Undersecretary to MiSe Anna Ascani and the vice president of the Emilia-Romagna Region Elly Schlein, as well as mayors and councilors, intervened. from all over Italy. Through their testimonies, meetings and panels dedicated to the analysis of the various missions of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) were organized on the WMF Mainstage.
In fact, issues such as the ecological and energy transition, the future of the school and the enhancement of the Italian cultural / territorial heritage were addressed with the UNESCO creative cities and with the participation of the MiC. Ample space also reserved for technology, robotics and scientific research. In this regard, authoritative voices from the scientific world intervened, including Maria Fossati and Manuel Catalano of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT); the aerospace engineer Chiara Cocchiara; Giuseppe Borghi of ESA (European Space Agency). And again: Anna Grassellino (FermiLab), Philip Kotler and the inventor and physicist Federico Faggin, as well as special guests such as Alessandro Borghi, Gino Strada, The Jackal, the Sansoni, the journalist and activist Siyabulela Mandela, Roy Paci and Diletta Leotta, in the role of co-host.
WMF2021: some guests of the Mainstage
Among the novelties of the 2021 edition, the WMF inaugurated the World Startup Fest, an event dedicated to startups and scaleups from all over the world
Among the novelties of the 2021 edition, the WMF inaugurated the World Startup Fest, an event dedicated to startups and scaleups from all over the world. Specifically, within Scaleup for Future six scaleups (Bidroom, SumUp, foodpanda, Revolut, ContentSquare and PatchAI) presented pitches, perspectives and case studies in a round table open to the public, also online.
The world of startups and the entrepreneurship of the new generations were staged in the Startup District of the WMF, a real vertical event dedicated to growth opportunities and the comparison between more than 50 startups present with their own stand to promote their idea of business.
In the same direction also the final of the Startup Competition of the Festival, now in its 9th edition: after the selection of the 500 Italian and international candidates and the challenge between the 6 finalist startups on the WMF Mainstage, Recornea and MyLeg have thus won the prize respectively. assigned by the jury and that of the public of the biggest startup challenge in Italy.
The World Startup Fest: a district dedicated to international startups and scaleups (photo gallery)
WMF2021: World Startup Fest
A more than positive outcome for the WMF, which for the next edition (already confirmed from 16 to 18 June 2022) will move to the Rimini Fair, thus taking on an even more fair scope and further expanding its gaze on the future and on the world of innovation: “it is together with all the people who supported us today in the realization of this ninth edition that in June 2022 we will move to the Rimini Fair, with a format that will be further innovated and to experience an event that I would define increased “anticipated Cosmano Lombardo from Mainstage, launching the one that it will be the 10th edition of WMF – We Make Future.