Lithuania Steps Up its Game
Finland and Estonia aren’t the only growing hotbeds for entrepreneurship in the Baltics. Since our coverage a few months ago, the Lithuanian startup community has made very significant progress placing the country on the entrepreneurial map. Here is an overview of these recent developments.
Event Roundup - Seedcamp, Barcamp And ArcticEvening Coming Up
There's couple of interesting events well worth visiting coming up.
First one, BarCamp is happening on 4th April in central Helsinki, Finland. Since it's BarCamp anything is possible. Come along, propose a session, and if there is interest from someone else, then you are up. So prepare things in advance! Un-conference does not mean un-prepared. Sessions can be any format; discussion, Presentation, demo, workshop, the limiting factor is time (and can you make it interesting!). Read more here.
Mobile Dev Camp Coming To Helsinki
Mobile Dev Camp (MDC), an informal gathering mainly for mobile developers that started after the iPhone came about, will be organized in Helsinki on 21st February, 2009.
Apple's iPhone (and Android right after it) brought a lot of new people to the mobile development world. The people are entereing the mobile remit en mass at the same pace as iPhone is conquering market share. Along with the sexiness of the new apps developed for iPhone and Android platforms, the new platforms are also a easier to develop for compared to say Symbian, which is Nokia's preferred platform.
These new people are entering the mobile world mainly from the sexy web 2.0 world bringing concepts such as BarCamps and Unconferences with them. This is also clearly seen in the one organized in Helsinki.
One of the people behind the MDC Helsinki, Peter Robinett who was also speaking at our ArcticEvening a while ago, has already orgazanized three other mobile development camps in Amsterdam: One for Android, one for iphone and one for a variety of mobile topics.
At the Finnish end, organizers include Andreas Karlsson and Mikko Hämälainen of Grey Area Labs, Kai Lemmetty of Floobs and Mike Bradshaw.
The attendance is free of charge and only thing you have to bring with you is your laptop and and open mind. And if you're not a developer? Don't worry! You can still attend as long as you can contribute. You can sign up here.
BarCamp Baltics 2009 Gathering in Latvia in February
BarCamp Baltics 2009 will be held in Riga, Latvia, between 6th and 8th of February, 2009. That's the place to be if you're interested in Baltic and Russian ideas, views, and cooperation around mobile and web projects.
BarCamp is an international network of conferences organized around different themes, based on the idea that participants will generate the presentations and discussions for and in the events themselves. BarCamp Baltics brings together social networking and new media specialists, bloggers, podcasters, developers, designers, entrepreneurs, marketers, and mobile Internet professionals and enthusiasts.
The event will feature 5 to 6 simultaneous sessions, including presentations, workshops, messages and discussions, 30 minutes long each. Between 75 to 95 presentations in total will be held during a day. Participants can choose any sessions to attend and also the topics they want to present, and there will be presentations both in English and in Russian. Around 500 to 600 participants from the Baltic States and CIS, Central and Western Europe, and Americas are expected to be present.
BarCamp Baltics aims to to stimulate the development of new IT and media projects in Baltic states and CIS, and enhance networking and provide connections for international commercial and non-commercial joint projects. BarCamp Baltics 2008 gathered together more than 500 people from 23 countries, and was supported by the biggest media in Latvia.
BarCamp's been arranged also in Helsinki, and there are a few other ones coming up: Odense in January and Århus in March, in Denmark, and in St. Petersburg, Russia, in May.
Second BarCampHelsinki This Saturday
BarCampHelsinki2 is being organised this Saturday (10AM onwards). This is the
second BarCamp in Helsinki. BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to
share and learn in an open environment. The original BarCamp concept is a spinoff from Tim O'Reilly's FooCamp, an annual invitation only event to network, discuss and demo cool new stuff. More on BarCamp in Wikipedia.
Ath the moment there are five sessions (so far):
- Where is microblogging going
- How to develop FB apps?
- Can you make money from FB apps?
- Why (user) experience is all that matters
- Beer - Why do you have to taste so good
There are already 20 participants on the list, and you can still make it if you sign up. More info on BarCampHelsinki Jaiku channel and the wiki. The event is organised in the Fjord premises at Keskuskatu 6G, Helsinki.
If you have any questions about the event, you can contact Antti Akonniemi, the organiser of the event.
BarCamp in Helsinki
BarCamp lands in Helsinki! Helsinki has seen some interesting international event concepts land in the city within a short time frame including Ignite and OpenCoffee Club. This Saturday is BarCamp's turn.
BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees. Antti Akonniemi (from the IgniteHelsinki fame) is partly responsible for bringing the event to Helsinki. Along with Antti, Mari Koistinen a prominent blogger, is part of the organizing committee. Both active Jaiku users, Antti and Mari along with a few others kick started the event organizing in the Jaiku forum.
The proposed BarCamp Helsinki sessions include the following:
- Time management
- Creative flows
- Case studies: Effects, aspects of use of Jaiku as organizing tool
- Location-based services
- Microformats for bloggers: What, why and how?
- Scred vs BillMonk (with Peter Robinett
The event takes place in the new Fjord offices on Saturday 10th May.
