Traditionally held in November,  _SOUTHSTART has grown from a single-day event in 2013 to a three-day technology, impact and innovation festival in recent years.

However, a snap SA lockdown in November 2020 knocked it off its spring axis, prompting organisers to rethink the format and hold the 2021 event in May.

_SOUTHSTART co-directors Craig Swann and Danielle Seymour have been curating the event since taking ownership in 2018, making the 2022 edition their fifth collaboration.

“We’ve experienced a number of date shifts and model changes over the past two years throughout the pandemic but we’ve been able to hold an event each year,” Seymour said.

“Last year we had massive interstate attendance as it fell in that window before things started going a bit south.

“One thing we’ve learned through all of this is that people need and want to be together in a human capacity face-to-face to talk about the challenges and opportunities that we’re all going through.”

This year’s event will be held from March 9 -11 and include about 10 events including masterclass sessions, Founders & Funders gatherings, a social capital breakfast, the Bright Ideas youth summit and a ‘State of the Startup’ presentation.

_SOUTHSTART’S Bright ideas youth summit is expected to again prove popular this year.

Venues include Lot Fourteen, the National Wine Centre and the Barossa Valley.

Swann said about 30-40 per cent of attendees typically travelled to the event from interstate so holding it in March was an opportunity to showcase Adelaide at its liveliest.

“Our core audience sits within that investor and founder category so they can connect with a number of industries during that time that are normally a bit disjointed,” he said.

“The event is about that cross-pollination piece in bringing those disparate sectors and people together so this is a really wonderful exercise for us to attempt to tie the macro of the city, also having that cross-pollination aspect in March.

“A lot of other similar events have fallen down in Australia in the last few years and we’ve managed to grow what was a very localised event when we took it over into what’s now a national event around innovation and startups.”

The theme for this year’s event is ‘Revival’, which aims to celebrate the challenges and opportunities created by the coronavirus pandemic.

“The current situation has led to a number of challenges but it’s also led to a number of businesses really doubling down on their efforts to grow internally and they really are now in a position to be looking for investors and for customers,” Seymour said.

“Being able to present that revival concept to them and being able to bring the investors to them to facilitate those conversations really fits well with Mad March because there’s already a sense of that in the air, so we’ve got a chance to double down on that energy.”

Swann said this year’s _SOUTHSTART would also have an increased focus on developers, who were the engine that turned innovative ideas into tangible products and services.

“A lot of the time we focus on the people around startups and business but not the keyboard warriors who are punching out people’s bold vision so we’re really focused on that opportunity,” he said.

“With a lot of startups here the scale up stage is becoming more and more difficult because there is a shortage of talent so we want to try to encourage a lot more opportunities for technical talent software developers and engineers and that’s a big new edition this year.”