Kish Island in the Persian Gulf will host a startup conference named Silk Road which aims to connect a select group of Iranian startups with foreign investors.
The Silk Road Startup Conference will be held at the Kish International Conference Center on April 18 and 19, reported Webna.
Preparations for the event began when invitations were announced in September and 400 startups applied. After a series of competitions in seven major cities in Iran in October, 16 firms were selected to participate in the meeting. The list of the participants has not been published yet.
Participants will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas and attract foreign investment.
The event will be a mix of speeches by key international figures in the startup business, a competition, panels and workshops. Conference registration fees range from 750,000 rials ($15) to 7.9 million rials ($158).
Among the key speakers are Marvin Liao, Silicon Valley ex-employee and a partner in 500 Startups, Jurgen Furian, co-founder of pioneers.io headquartered in Austria, and Maral Kalajian, head of marketing and communications at Watty.
The event is supported by several organizations including Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology, Innovation Acceleration Center (affiliated to Pardis Technology Park), DMOND Innovation Group, Khorasan Science and Technology Park and Tehran Chamber of Commerce.
