I am a regular keynote speaker, moderator and panellist on future technology trends and have spoken at leading events on AI, technology, life sciences, education and entertainment around the world, including SXSW, TEDx (3x so far) and the Mobile World Congress (3x) or CTIA as well as corporate events from the likes of Otto Group, Arris or Blackboard (and many more who would like to stay private) and, indeed, the government of Norway (links below).
I am available to speak at your event, too. You can also get in touch via email to me [at] vhirsch [dot] com.
Past and some upcoming engagements include (please note some corporate clients do not wish to be listed):
2026
- EU Startups Summit (Malta) – Panel [“Investors on Stage”]
- Climb26 (Leeds, UK) – Keynote [“Context is All You Need. What’s Next in AI?”] & podcast
- AwakenAngels (Online) – Fireside Chat [“Inside the Investor Mind”]
- Leeds Today (Leeds, UK) Interview (video)
2025
- Digital Forge CIC (Online) – Podcast [Basically the story of my life… Warning: it runs over 2 hours!]
- Novel Innovation for Leaders Programme (Liverpool, UK) – Keynote [“Innovation Ecosystems”]
- The Bessemer Society / Yorkshire.AI (Sheffield, UK) – Panel [“Forging Innovation: Tackling Capital-Raising Challenges in the North”] (Video)
- ELSA Alumni (Online) – Keynote [“AI & The Future of Work”]
- SuperCharger Ventures (Malta) – Fireside Chat with founders
- Passagg Malta – Podcast [“Paying it forward – Get Investable]
- The Digital Forge (Sheffield, UK) – Keynote [“Next Move: Growth, Exits & Founder Clarity”] (This was a wild one as I had no idea I had to do a solo… Video)
- EU Procurement Think Tank (Gdansk, Poland) – Keynote [“AI & The Future of Work”]
2024
- CERN (Geneva, Switzerland) – Keynote [“AI & The Future of Work”]
- EIC Summit / European Innovation Council (Brussels, Belgium) – Panel [“How to Prepare for your Pitch”]
- EIC Investor Day (Brussels, Belgium) – Jury Member [AI & Connectivity]
- BrightTALK (Online) – Fireside [“AI in the Entertainment Industry: Changing the Face of Media”]
2023
- UNLEASH World (Paris, France) – Keynote [“AI & The Future of Work”]
- UK-Swiss Life Science Innovation Forum (Basel, Switzerland) – Panel [“National Innovation Hubs”]
- Analytics Summit (Dublin, Ireland) – Keynote [“AI & The Future of Work – Life in a Hyper-Connected World”]
- BioCap 2023 (Alderley Park, UK) – Talk [“Navigating Difficult Times – Fundraising in a Downturn“]
- European Innovation Council / EIC (Online) – Jury Member [Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning]
- BOLD Awards (Venice, Italy) – Judge – MedTech & Health Category
- ACCA Talking (online) – Panel [“Talking Health Sector – Pharmaceuticals Special – The funding environment for Life Sciences and the role of Venture Capital’]
- Bioinfect (Alderley Park, UK) – Panel [“The State of the AMR Nation”]
2022
- EU StartUps Summit (Barcelona, Spain) – Jury Pitch Competition and “Reverse Pitch: Investors Pitching Startups”
- AI Tech North (Leeds, UK) – Keynote [“AI & The Future of Work – Life in a Hyper-Connected World”]
- The BullRing Club (online) – Judge/critic
2021
- University of Lancaster / CyberWorks (Online) – Keynote [“AI & The Future of Work”] and Panel (Video)
- Hamburger IT-Rechtstage (Online) – Keynote [“AI & The Future of Work”] and Panel
- Beyond the Hype / Data Workout Leader Forum (Online) – Keynote [“AI & The Future of Work”] and Panel (Video)
- Tribe Connected Places (Online) – Panel [“Backing Net Zero. Redefining ROI”]
- Starburst (Online) – Various selection committees
- IECT – Summer School on Entrepreneurship (Online) – Jury
- EIC (Online) – Various selection committees
- TechNation (Online) – Jury [“Applied AI 3.0”]
2020
- Mergermarket Germany Forum (Düsseldorf, Germany) – Panel [“Disruption through acquisition”]
- EMPA Technology & Innovation Forum (Zurich, Switzerland) – Keynote [“Our Future with AI”]
- NI Cyber / TechNation (Online) – Panel [“The Impact of COVID-19 on Fundraising”] (Video)
- The Europas (Online) – Panel [“Emerging Tech (AI, Blockchain, Quantum) Deep Dive”]
- TechTuesday @ The Landing (Online) – Keynote and Q&A [“The Investment Landscape in a Pandemic”]
- Go Beyond (Online) – Panel [“AI, becoming central to every aspect of our life”]
- Digital DNA / upStart 2020 (Online): judge/critic
- The BullRing at The WMCA Creative Scale Up Programme (Online) – judge/critic
- Starburst (Online) – various selection committees
- ELSA Alumni (Podcast) – “From law school to becoming an investor“
2019
- nextM 2019 (Vienna, Austria) – Keynote [“AI and the Future of Work”]
- TechCrunch Disrupt (Berlin, Germany) – Panel [“How to Brexit as a Startup)
- 0100 Conference Vienna (Vienna, Austria) – Panel [“Nurturing Innovation – Comparing the Innovation Productivity of Companies backed by CVCs and IVCs”]
- DigitalK (Sofia, Bulgaria) – Panel [“The London VC Scene”]
- Connected Investing (Manchester, UK) – Panel [“The funding mix”]
- AI Tech North Conference (Leeds, UK) – Keynote [“Data & AI – What’s this all about?”]
- Digital DNA (Belfast, UK) – Judge & Panel
- BOLD Awards (Venice, Italy) – Advisor & Judge (AI Category)
- Funding for Deep Technology 2019 (London, UK) – Panel
- 0100 Conference Dublin (Dublin, Ireland) – Panel [“SaaS”]
- Health Tec Cluster Launch @ SciTech (Daresbury, UK) – Panel [“HealthTec Clusters – Supporting Businesses and Scaling Up”]
- Deutsche GRI 2019 (Frankfurt, Germany) – Keynote [“Technology vs Humanity – Data, AI and Us; The Case for Invisible Assets?’]
2018
- EmTech Europe 2018 / MIT Technology Review (Toulouse, France) – Keynote & Panel [“Catalysts: Upgrading Society”] (Video Keynote) (Video Panel)
- Kontaktkonferansen 2018 (Government Forum for Norwegian Universities on the University of the Future by the Ministry of Education Norway) (Oslo, Norway – Keynote [“Data-driven Societies – Implications for Higher Education”] (Video; from 183 (!) minutes in)
- Otto Group Meet2Lead 2018 (Berlin, Germany) – Keynote [“Data, AI and Us – How Data Science and AI influence our Future “] (Video)
- BlackBoard Teaching & Learning Conference (Manchester, UK) – Opening Keynote [“Data in Higher Education – How Data Science and AI can Impact its Future”] (Blog Post)
- Leadership Summit Portugal (Lisbon, Portugal) – Keynote [“Data, AI and Us – How the Future Accelerates Around Us”] (Video)
- Unbound London (London, UK) – Panel [“Unpacking The Investor’s Decision-Making Process”]
- BioCap 2018 (Alderley Park, UK) – Introductory Keynote [“What’s Hot in Digital – The Case for Data”]
- Tech North Advocates & Computer Futures Discuss Machine Learning & AI (Manchester, UK) – Keynote [“Data, AI & Us”]
- Raising a Seed Round in Manchester (Manchester, UK) – Panel [“The Investor Perspective”]
- TechStars Startup Weekend Lancaster, Powered by Google (Lancaster, UK) – Judge
2017
- TEDx Manchester (Manchester, UK) – Keynote [“AI & The Future of Work“] (Video)
- The Europas (London, UK) – Panel [“AI, Robots, the Future of Work”]
- PathFounders (London, UK) – Panel [“Investors & VCs”]
- Arris Strategic Leadership Forum 2017 (Miami, FL) – Keynote [“How the Future Accelerates Around Us”] (Report; in Spanish)
- ICE Totally Gaming (London, UK) – Keynote/Fireside Chat [“Hotseat: opportunities in social media & gaming – an industry disruptor”], Chair – Game Design & Development, Moderator – various panels
- Augmented & Virtual Reality Conference @ Manchester Metropolitan University (Manchester, UK) – Panel [“The Business of AR & VR”]
- UKBAA Northern Investment Summit (Manchester, UK) – Panel [“How can we encourage more equity investment in the North’s growth businesses?”]
- Startup World Cup & Summit (Prague) – Panel & Judge
- Digital DNA (Belfast, UK) – Keynote [“Barrels & Pipelines – On The Value Chains of Data”]
- Smarter Business Tech Live (Manchester, UK) – Keynote [“AI & the Future of Work – How Data Propels us Forward”] (video)
- ALPSP Conference (Noordwijk, Netherlands) – Artificial Intelligence Keynote & Panel [“The Rise of the Machines – Understanding How Data Accelerates AI“] (Video; from 39:32)
- Performance 18 (Brighton, UK) – Keynote [“With the speed of light: How AI changes media & advertising”]
- Manchester Futurists Meetup (Manchester, UK) – Keynote [“Basic Income & the Rise of the Robots”] (partial Facebook video)
- ReThink Healthcare (Manchester, UK) – Keynote [“Rethink Healthcare – Data, the Hidden Superpower”]
- Weave Network (Macclesfield, UK) – Chair [“Tech Spaces”] (Video)
2016
- Smartcon (Istanbul, Turkey) – Keynote [“Designing Smart Cities“]
- Business Rocks (Manchester, UK) – Panels [“Startup Investments: UK vs Germany”, “Tech North Advocates” and “The Big Brexit Debate”]
- PathFounders (London, UK) – Investor Panel
- 4YFN @ Mobile World Congress (Barcelona, Spain) – Keynote [“Change the World – One Trillion Dollar Market at a Time“]
- MMIX @ Mobile World Congress (Barcelona, Spain) – Panel (Moderator) [“Games: the New Home of Entertainment Brands”]
- Industrial IoT (London, UK) – Keynote [“Smart Citizens”]
- IoT World Europe (Dublin, Ireland) – Panel [“Does Urban IoT Create More Smog Than Vision?”] & Start-Up clinics
- Barclays Rise (Manchester, UK) PechaKucha-style Talk [“Smart Citizens – Populating Smart Cities”] (video here)
- DigitalK (Sofia, Bulgaria) – Panel (Moderator) [“The VC landscape – what’s hot, what’s not”]
- Association for Business Psychology (London, UK)– Keynote [“AI & the Future of Work – Life and Work in the Age of Robots“] (video here)
- Mobile Games Forum (London, UK) – Panel (Moderator) [“The Changing Investment Landscape of Mobile”]
- PocketGamer Connects (London, UK) – PechaKucha (“Start Making Sense” – on games for good, specifically for education)
- ICE Totally Gaming (London, UK) – Keynote [“The Evolution of Gameplay – From Commodity to Experience”]
- World Gaming Executive Summit (Barcelona, Spain) – Chair Mobile Track
- IFB16 – International Festival of Business (Liverpool, UK) – Panel [“What makes a city smart?”]
- In the City (Manchester, UK) – Keynote [“Mobile Learning”]
2015
- TEDx Barcelona Education (Barcelona, Spain) – Keynote [“Learning for the Unknown”] (Video here)
- PocketGamer Connects (London, UK – PechaKucha [“How F2P Brings Out The Best In Boredom”]
- ICE Totally Gaming (London, UK) – Panel [“From casual freemium to loyal and monetised: can real money gambling and social gaming converge to work together as one”]
- 4YFN (4 Years From Now) @ Mobile World Congress (Barcelona, Spain) – Keynote [“Mobile Learning – Done Right”]
- Business Rocks (Manchester, UK) – Panel [“The Tech World According to Jeff’s & Friends – Outspoken Tech Q&A”]
- HR Vision (Amsterdam, Netherlands) – Keynote [“What Have You Done Tomorrow?“]
- NASPL (Seattle, WA) – Keynote [“The Evolution of Gameplay – From Commodity to Experience”]
- IoT Shifts Conference (Barcelona, Spain) – Keynote [“Smart Citizens – Populating Smart Cities“]
- IoT World Europe (Berlin, Germany) – Panels [“Accelerating Innovation & Investment in Industrial IoT” and “How will the Wearables Market continue to change and evolve”]
2014
- Exec I/O – European Pirate Summit (Cologne, Germany) – Keynote [“Mobile Learning“]
- Mobile Games Forum (London, UK) – Conference Chairman
- Pocket Gamer Connects (London, UK) – Panel [“Getting Conceptual – The Future”]
- ICE Mobile Gaming (London, UK) – Moderator [“Completing the customer experience with seamless billing and payments”]
- 4 Years From Now @ Mobile World Congress (Barcelona, Spain) – Keynote [“Finding Money“] (Video here)
- Free to Play Summit 2014 (London, UK) – Keynote [“Gamifying Games”]
- Quo Vadis (Berlin, Germany) – Keynote [“Games & Gamification“]
- NASPL iGaming Seminar (Cleveland, OH) – Keynote [“Success & Failure in the Age of the App”]
- Israel Mobile Summit 2014 (Tel Aviv, Israel) – Keynote [“Capturing Users“]
2013
- Mobile Games Forum (London, UK) – Keynote & Panel
- Casual Connect Europe (Hamburg, Germany) – Keynote [“BlackBerry 10 Rising“] (video here)
- The Digital Marketing Forum (Oxford, UK) – Keynote (w/ Jeff Coghlan of Matmi)
- Game Monetisation Europe (London, UK) – Panel
- Mobile Fringe Festival @ Mobile World Congress (Barcelona, Spain) – Panel [“Can Pac-Man Teach Maths?“] (Podcast here)
- LBS Tech & Media Summit (London Business School, London, UK) – Panel [“Show me the Money – Making Money from Content”]
- GameLab (Barcelona, Spain) – Panel [“Providing Wow Through Innovation & Disruption”]
- ICT Spring (Luxembourg) – Panel [“Gamification Now: How Games are Impacting the Global Social and Business Landscapes”]
- Silicon Skills / Digital Summer Camp (London, UK) – Workshops (on entrepreneurship)
- Mobile Gaming Europe (London, UK) – Panel [“Games & Social Networking: Socially Interesting?”]
- Creativity & Game Design (Barcelona, Spain) – Keynote [“Building Developer Ecosystems”], Panel & Workshop
- Mobile & Tablet Gambling Summit (London, UK) – Keynote [“Game Changer“]
- StartUP Next 2013 (Sofia, Bulgaria) – Keynote [“Capturing Users“] (video here)
2012
- Mobile Games Forum (London, UK) – Panel [“How to encourage cross-promotion for social game discovery”]
- Game Horizon (Newcastle, UK) – Keynote [“BlackBerry 10 Gaming“]
- REMIX Global Summit (London, UK) – Panel [“Building Big Ideas”]
- Mobile Gaming Conference @ ICE (London, UK) – panel [“Incorporate social & mobile for the ultimate modern gaming experience”] and moderator [“Social in the online and mobile product roadmap”]
- Casual Connect Europe (Hamburg, Germany) – Keynote [“The New BlackBerry: We Play”] (video)
- BlackBerry DevCon Europe (Amsterdam, Netherlands) – Session [“The Power of Social: Harnessing Game Design for Compelling Interaction with Scoreloop”)
- GDC 2012 (San Francisco, CA) – Keynote [“Social Gaming with Scoreloop and BBM“] and Keynote [“Making Money on BlackBerry”]
- TIGA’s 2nd Smartphone and Tablet Conference 2012 (London, UK) – Keynote
- Social Media World Forum (London, UK) – Keynote [“Social Gaming”] and Panel [“Mobile Advertising Opportunities for Brand Marketers”]
- GDC Europe (Cologne, Germany) Keynote [“Mobile + Social: Why BlackBerry is Perfect“]
- Leeds TIGA Game Dev Night (Leeds, UK) – Keynote [“Myths & Reality“]
- Universal Mobile Apps (London, UK) – Keynote
- Member of the judging panel for the TIGA Gaming Industry Awards 2012
- Game Connection (Paris, France) – Keynote [“BlackBerry 10: We Got Game”]
2011
- SXSW Interactive (Austin, TX) – Talk [“Mobile Social Gaming: The Next Frontier“] (audio here)
- Connected Creativity @ MIP TV (Cannes, France) – Talk & Panel [“Entertainment Gamification“] (video here)
- Mobile World Congress – IMGA Summit @ App Planet (Barcelona, Spain) – Panel [“Does Innovation Sell?”]
- Casual Connect (Seattle, WA) – Panel [“Battle of the Mobile Social Platforms”] (video here)
- CTIA Wireless – Mobile Web and Apps World Forum (Orlando, FL) [SuperSession: Development, Marketing and Monetization of Mobile Web and Apps]
- Mobile Games Forum (London, UK) – Panel [“Spotlight on Social Tools in Gaming”]
- Mobile 2.0 Europe – Open Ideas (Barcelona, Spain) – Panel [“OPENIdeas on Entertainment”]
- Games for Brands (London, UK) – Keynote [“The Power of Games – How Games can harness Brands“]
- Mindshare Media Summit (Dubai, UAE) – Keynote [“Brands + Social: The Client Viewpoint”]
- NY Games Conference (New York, NY) – Panel [“Smartphone and Handhelds – The Latest in Games for Portable Devices”]
- DIG 2011 (London, ON, Canada) – Dinner Keynote
- Mobile Gaming Conference @ ICE (London, UK) – Keynote [“Finding the User: Mobile Social Gaming“] & Panel [“How to Attract Players to your Mobile Gaming Offering”]
- 3rd Annual Funding & Investment Summit (London, UK) – Panel [“Financing Growth, Improving Revenues, Increasing Valuations: The Successful Entrepreneur & IP Owner Perspective]
2010
- TEDx Youth @ Manchester (Macclesfield, UK) – Co-Organiser & Talk [“The Dangling Carrot“] (video here)
- Droidcon (London, UK) – Keynote [“In the Wilderness: Making Money on Android“]
- Mobile Apps and Technologies Conference (University of Oxford, UK) – Keynote [“The Economics of Apps“]
- Social Gaming Summit (London, UK) – Keynote [“Conquering new Spaces: Bringing Social to Mobile“]
- Uplinq [f/k/a BREW Conference] (San Diego, CA) – Panel on Mobile Social Media
- Mobile 2.0 (Berlin, Germany) – Panel [“Overcoming the challenges of working in a mobile multi-platform world”]
- Smartphone Game Summit (San Francisco, CA) – Panel [“The Changing Face of Distribution – Living with Apple”]
- OSiM World – Open Source in Mobile (London, UK) – Moderator [“How will web service innovation affect and impact operator strategy and mobile device services?”]
- Games Convention Online (Leipzig, Germany) – Keynote [“Gaming with the World“]
- Virtual Goods Forum 2010 (London, UK) – Keynote [“Mobile + Social: Show us the Money“]
- Mobile 2.0 Europe (Barcelona, Spain) – Moderator & Keynote [“The Economics of Apps“]. Here’s a video of the talk.
- 1. Apps Summit (Wiesbaden, Germany) – Keynote [“Brands on Mobile“]
- Social Media World Forum Europe (London, UK) – Keynote [“Mobile + Social: The Case for Games“]
- Casual Connect Europe (Hamburg, Germany) – Keynote & Panel [“Mobile + Social: Show Me the Money”; “iPhone Marketing”]; slides with audio here.
- M-Football (London, UK) – Fireside Chat & Business Roundtable [“How to Reach the (Mobile) Mass Market”]
- momit10 (Hamburg, Germany) – Keynote [“Mobile Apps”]
- Monetising Mobile (London, UK) – Keynote [“How to Monetise Mobile Games”]
2009
- TEDx Youth @ Manchester – Co-Organiser (this was the first TEDx youth event in the world) (Macclesfield, UK)
- Mobile World Congress (Barcelona, Spain) – Panel [“The Future of Mobile Games”]
- 4G Symposium @ CTIA Wireless (Las Vegas, NV) – Panel [“Mobile Media in 4G”]
- Casual Connect Europe (Hamburg, Germany) – Keynote (with Rob Unsworth, Digital Chocolate) [“Mobile and Social Converge”] (link provides slides and audio)
- European Mobile Media Conference (Prague, Czech Republic) – Keynote [“Social Mobile Convergence in Gaming”] & MC
- 2nd Annual Funding Summit (London, UK) – Panel [“Funding in the Games Space from an Entrepreneur’s Point of View”]
- Droidcon (Berlin, Germany) – Keynote & Panel [“Brands & Open Source”; “Android Outlook”]
- Mobile 2.0 (Berlin, Germany) – Multiple panels [“App Stores”; “Innovation in Mobile”]
2008
- Games Convention (Leipzig, Germany) – Panel [“Mobile Gaming Outlook: an Analysts’ View”]
2007
- PICNIC 2007 (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) – Keynote @ Games meet TV [“WPT Mobile: how to Engage with Users”]
2006
- New Media Licensing 2006 (London, UK) – Keynote [“Brands & Mobile Games”]
2005
- MEM 2005 (London, UK) – Panel [“Handset Fragmentation & Quality Content”]
- Popkomm 2005 (Berlin, Germany) – Product Presentation [“Billboard Mobile”]
- Brand Licensing (London, UK) – Keynote [“Brand Owners and Mobile”]
- Mobile Gambling Summit (London, UK) – Panel [“The future of Mobile Gambling”]
2004
- Ericsson Mobility World 2004 (Zurich, Switzerland) – Keynote [“Mobile Games”]