By Mike Robuck

4YFN Chairman calls for more start-up inclusion

While the coronavirus pandemic was a catalyst for acceleration in the world of start-ups, there’s still a lot of work to be done on the diversity front, insisted 4YFN chairman Yossie Vardi.

Speaking at the 4YFN keynote address, Vardi stated one of the key challenges the start-up sector faced was greater inclusion for young people, women and participation in underdeveloped countries, such as in Africa.

“What I hope the future will be, which is the challenge and opportunity, is the inclusion of many more people in the start-up scene,” Vardi said.

Along with inclusion, there needs to be start-up-based education across schools and college, he added.

The start-up sector accelerated by 10 years during the pandemic thanks to the rapid development across work-from-home technologies, delivery logistics and communication technologies, according to Vardi. Start-ups also saw a historical surge in the number of “unicorns” over the past two years.

Going forward, the focus will be on deep technologies such as AI, quantum computing, and image processing with a decrease in costs due to the adoption of 5G-based data communications.

Also speaking, 4YFN Event Series Director Pere Duran stated that more than 600 start-ups from across the world were on hand to showcase their projects at MWC22 Barcelona. Over the course of the next four days, 4YFN will feature 300 speakers.