Photo above: Sime MIA host Oka Ahlvarsson at New World Center in 2014. Photo courtesy Sime MIA.

The idea of Sime MIA, a two-day conference in South Florida about technology, media, business and the arts, is simple and effective: Bring together some of the brightest minds in the digital world in a creative setting to facilitate the exchange of ideas, business deals and networking.

Not many tech business gatherings include yoga sessions, live music, deejays and bicycle tours — but there’s a message in that too. After all, showcasing the potential of Miami as a digital business hub and attracting digital innovators and entrepreneurs to share their knowledge with the local community “was the idea from the beginning,” says Demian Bellumio, co-founder of MIA Collective, one of the organizers of Sime MIA, and chief operating officer for Senzari, a Miami-based Big Data content recommendation company. “We like to put on a show that surprises people, so this year we are bringing an amazing set of speakers but we are also doing some fun audio visual performances … and city bike tours going around Wynwood to visit our galleries and startups.”

Sime MIA host Ola Ahlvarsson with Adriana Cisneros, CEO of Cisneros, a privately owned media, real estate, tourism and consumer conglomerate. Photo courtesy Sime MIA

Sime MIA, now in its third year, will take place in Miami Beach and Miami on Dec 1-2. The event¸ a joint venture between MIA Collective and Sime, a Stockholm-based organization that, since 1995, has produced digital business conferences throughout Europe. Ola Ahlvarsson, chairman and founder of Sime, is a part-time South Florida resident and the 2013 Sime MIA was his company’s first undertaking in the United States.

Knight Foundation is a founding partner of Sime MIA. Other collaborators include Miami’s tech-savvy businesses and organizations such as The LAB Miami, New World Symphony, eMerge Americas, YellowPepper, Rokk3r Labs, Wyncode Academy and Senzari, many of whom also receive Knight support.

This year’s event kicks off at the New World Center in Miami Beach with Sime MIA | Converge, a daylong conference focusing on the latest digital, media and tech trends, and featuring speakers such as Ahlvarsson, who will also host Sime MIA; Thomas Crampton, global managing director of Ogilvy & Mather; Ulf Ekberg, founder and frontman of the pop group Ace of Base; and Pete Vesterbacka, CMO and co-founder of Rovio, the company behind the video game Angry Birds. But the day also includes interludes featuring scenes from films such as “The Matrix,” “Back to the Future” and “2001: A Space Odyssey,” which serve as scene setters for the various panels.

The second day is set up as two separate halves, featuring a financial tech session in the morning, addressing matters such as cryptocurrencies and digital payments; and a meeting in the afternoon that will focus on applications of Big Data, including developments in artificial intelligence, robotic automation, machine learning, data storage and data visualization. These “summit” sessions are co-hosted, respectively, by Citi, the global bank, and arago, a German tech company specializing in automation.

A 2014 Sime MIA session at The LAB Miami in Wynwood. Photo courtesy Sime MIA.  

“As a participant, it was about learning things and we found out that Miami—especially with the positioning of the conference and the people it attracts—allows us to bridge this gap between high-tech and the established economy, which I think is super important,” said Chris Boos, founder and CEO of arago and a speaker at previous editions of Sime MIA. “That is always a challenge and Sime MIA is bridging this gap. That’s why we wanted to sponsor it: Have the experience, learn something, be part of both worlds [the high-tech and established economy], and enjoy Miami, which is very pleasant especially at that time of the year.”

A firm believer in Sime MIA, Boos says that besides having business focus as a bridge between North and South America and a laid-back feel, Miami “is much more open, peoplewise, than the [Silicon] Valley. In Miami we found people to be super open and much more pleasant to start something. It’s not such an established ecosystem where everybody knows everybody, and it’s very hard to become part of the ‘in’ crowd. It’s more about getting something off the launch pad, and people are working hard at doing just that.

“And I think it’s launched. If I think about the first conference [and compare it] to the one now, you can see how far it’s come. We are not talking about launching anymore. It’s on.”

Sime MIA takes places Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 1-2. For details and to register, visit simemia.co.

Fernando González is a Miami-based arts and culture writer. He can be reached via email at [email protected].