Why disruptive innovation? And why startups?

The Disruptive Innovation Festival (DIF) was developed and is run to showcase and develop new thinking, new business models and new design. It supports the principle that a thriving global economy relies upon cycles of disruption and innovation. The DIF has been created in an economic period where the combination of rapidly digital technologies and new thinking appears to be ushering in an unprecedented period of disruption, combined with a period where access to tech is enabling "mass innovation".

DIF will provide numerous examples of where disruptive innovation is happening in governments and where it is being led by big business. However, it is startups, entrepreneurs, individual innovators, who are best placed to take advantage of new opportunities, they're better able to adopt, test and refine new ideas and technology.

Is there a 'recipe' for success?

It's the title of an event on November 16 and a question that runs through the core of DIF 2015. What are the key elements that trigger startup success? Are there any rules that innovators or entrepreneurs should follow? What are the optimal conditions for fostering innovation?

"Startups: Is There a Recipe for Success?" will feature three businesses that have taken advantage of emerging technology to craft out a place in the market. 

ParkFlyRent is a car rental company that operates without cars, RePack offers a delivery package return and reuse system to online retailers, and Vandebron facilitates the selling of electricity directly from independent producers. Join the eventto find out how they did it.

On the topic of success, there are few better examples of rapid growth than in web-based companies like Vimeo, Soundcloud and Dropbox. DIF attendees will have an opportunity to get a unique insight into the development and rise of those businesses and more with a 72-hour period of access to the award-winning film, "The Startup Kids". Directed and filmed by Icelandic entrepreneurs ValaHalldorsdottir and SesseljaVilhjalmsdottir, the documentary is designed to provide motivation for young people entering the startup space. It becomes available for free via the DIF site on November 4at 17:00 GMT, but you have only 72 hours to watch it, so don't miss out!

So "What Kind of Entrepreneur Are You?"

You could find out from OmriLachman, CEO at Humavox Wireless Charging. His webinar will discuss how entrepreneurs must be able to analyse their own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, before creating their business plan. He'll put forward the idea that there are three kinds of entrepreneur and will suggest how the characteristics of those archetypes might impact the best way in which innovators should go about running their business. It's time to find out... What kind of entrepreneur are you?

Recommended events

See a full list of events related to entrepreneurialism and startups here. Below are just a few of our top picks:

Headline Acts

The Sharing Economy Redefined

Join this session to hear Michael Bauwens from P2P Foundation, Shareable co-founder Neal Gorenflo, and sharing economy expert April Rinne, discuss the wide spectrum of the sharing economy movement, the new opportunities it creates and disruption it causes.

How Life-changing Is AI? 

Hear Jeremy Howard, founder and CEO and co-founder of Enlitic, and Rand Hindi, founder and CEO of Snips, discuss the developments and challenges posted by Artificial Intelligence.
Plus three more...

• Regenerative Business: Learn from Etsy.org
• Designing a Business, Fibre by Fibre
• Why You Should Be Interested in the Digitisation of Finance