From 30-31 October, the Pioneers Festival will bring together well-known national and international entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalists, tech-enthusiasts, media representatives, and pioneers in a variety of fields to celebrate a new age of pioneering in Austria’s capital city. The event gathers more than 2,500 participants, focuses on entrepreneurship and innovative future technologies, and provides an event location that has housed some of the most powerful people not only in Austrian, but also in European history – the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna.

The program for the Pioneers Festival is drawing nearer to being finalized. This week, Pioneers Festival would like to announce more speakers and a sneak peek of this year’s highlights.

Operations in Space – Private vs. Governmental
When the first man landed on the moon, it was the government who put him there, not a private shuttle or his own funding. Until now, aerospace operations have been primarily restricted to governmental institutions, but over the last few years we have seen more and more private initiatives in this field. Director of NASA Ames Research Center General Pete Worden and NanoSatisfi Founder Peter Platzer (named a “Champion of Change” by President Barack Obama) will take the stage to discuss the future of operations in space. With WIRED magazine’s very own Olivia Solon moderating, an in-depth discussion about aerospace is guaranteed.

MYO’s European Premiere
Thalmic Labs CEO Stephen Lake and his two co-founders will showcase MYO, an incredibly powerful Gesture Control Consumer technology, live on stage and for the first time in Europe. What is gesture control? Just imagine playing an instrument without it physically in front of you, or simply swiping your hand through the air to move to the next slide in your presentation. Five months ago, the Canadian startup launched a trailer that spread rapidly around the globe; today the video has more than three million Youtube views. Thalmic Labs then participated in the most recent YCombinator batch, after which MYO raised $14.5 million, aiding them in bringing their product to the market.

Bird’s Eye View on the State of Entrepreneurship – What’s going on?
When it comes to entrepreneurship, this will be the mother of all discussions at the Pioneers

Festival. Critical, provocative and honest, topics like the power of the individual, Lean Startup and the purpose of entrepreneurship are planned. Kickstarter Co-Founder Charles Adler and Tom Hulme, Design Director at IDEO London and Founder of OpenIDEO, will join together on stage to state their views on what they see as the status quo of entrepreneurship. This discussion will be one of the highlights of the Festival, delving into entrepreneurship and its implications for society.

Many wonderful speakers from last year’s festival will be joining again. Co-Founder of Siri Adam Cheyer is included, and said of the event, “I came to inspire, but came away inspired. Amazing presentations, parties, and most of all people – unforgettable!”

Participants also have the unique opportunity to join Evernote’s CEO on stage in our Meet & Greet with Phil Libin. Those interested can apply here by posing the three top questions they’d like to ask Phil live on stage.

About Pioneers Festival:
Pioneers Festival brings together national and international founders, startups, pioneers, investors, tech enthusiasts and media representatives once per year in Vienna to celebrate entrepreneurship and future technologies, to inspire and to educate. During the two-day festival in the Vienna Hofburg, quality content by renowned speakers is discussed, the winners of the Pioneers Challenge are crowned, and a framework for a positive festival atmosphere is provided. Pioneers Festival was founded in the year 2012, making 30-31 October 2013 the second event. Andreas Tschas and Jürgen Furian, the organizers of Pioneers, have been actively involved in the European startup scene in previous years.