Gartner is looking for African startups to showcase at its Symposium/ ITxpo 2015

The tech research firm, Gartner, is organising its Symposium/ITxpo Africa 2015 in South Africa and is inviting African tech startups to take part. The event will be held on the 28-30 September 2015 at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town.

Gartner will host its Symposium/ ITxpo 2015 in other places too, including in Dubai, Orlando, Brazil, Australia, Tokyo, Japan, India and Brcelona over the course of this year.

The aim of the programme, says Rene Jacobs, managing director of Gartner Africa is to support African tech startups while giving Gartner’s clients access to innovative local technology solutions. “Gartner analysts follow technology and help customers find and apply it, no matter where it comes from,” says Jacobs.

Jeffrey Mann, Gartner Research Vice President and chair of the event, says: “This year we’re calling on African tech startup companies who have something unique to offer our enterprise clients, to enter the Aspiring Innovators programme.”

Read more: GIST Tech-I Competition seeking top innovators as deadline approaches

Spanning over three days, the event will host more than 1 000 CIOs and senior IT executives. Attendees are encouraged to engage with peers, Gartner analysts and industry leaders on how to seize digital opportunities; take them from theory to practice and become indispensable IT leaders in the new, digital world of business.

African startups interested in applying must be early-stage startups and must meet the following criteria as laid out by Gartner:

● Your product or solution supports B2B or corporate B2C use cases (we are not looking for purely consumer products)

● Your product or solution is in production or beta, with at least two customers

● Your company has fewer than 50 employees

● Your company is based in Africa

All startups that meet the criteria must apply before 24 March 2015. Applying includes sending a company CV and a short description of why your product is innovative to the Aspiring Innovator’s official address here.

Successful applicants will be selected by Gartner research analysts and will be granted the opportunity to showcase their business in front of an engaged audience of senior IT decision makers. In addition to this, the startups will receive space in a shared sponsored ITxpo stand where delegates can come and meet them.