O2 and WIRED Announce 3-Year Innovation Partnership

O2 and Wired today announced a strategic tie-up that will see O2 becoming the anchor partner for WIRED 2011, the major innovation event taking place in London this autumn. O2 will also be contributing to the debate on the future of communication and showcasing new innovations in a series of interactive experiential activities over the two-day event.

This three-year partnership with WIRED is the latest in a long list of successful interactive alliances for O2, which has outstanding relationships with a wide range of blue chip organisations including AEG, LiveNation, Apple Inc, Tesco and sporting sponsorships such as the English and Irish rugby teams.

O2 is a UK leader in mobile communications and is part of Telefonica ‘ the world’s fourth largest telecoms company and an acknowledged global leader in innovation.

Matthew Key, CEO of O2’s parent, Telefonica Europe, said: ‘WIRED 2011 represents a world-class gathering of thought leaders and innovation pacesetters and will give a fascinating insight into the way communications and connectivity is transforming the way we live and work. The event also provides an exceptional platform to demonstrate O2’s leadership as an aggregator of 2.0 services and experiences.’

Rupert Turnbull, Publisher of WIRED, said: ‘We’re thrilled to have O2 as the anchor partner. O2 brings a wealth of expertise in terms of innovative insights which will play a crucial role in enhancing all aspects of the delegate experience at the event.’

WIRED 2011, a two-day conference being held at St Pancras Renaissance Hotel on the 13th and 14th October, is the next step in WIRED’s mission to celebrate the ideas, innovations and people shaping our world, and will be a haven for disruptive thinking and radical opinion.

Speakers at ‘WIRED 2011 Together with O2’ confirmed so far include Joanna Shields, Vice President of Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Facebook, who was ranked #1 in the WIRED 100 2011, Britain’s digital power list; Richard Seymour, co-Founder of SeymourPowell; Bjarke Ingels, founding Partner of the Bjarke Ingels Group; Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chef of WIRED US and best-selling author; Stanley Yang, Chief Executive Officer of NeuroSky, Inc.; and Werner Vogels, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Amazon.com.

There are a limited number of tickets available for WIRED 2011, at a price of £1495*. Speakers will be announced in the coming weeks. For further information, or for registration, go to www.wiredevent.co.uk . Twitter: #wired11.

*A 10% discount is available to ‘early-birds’ until 31st July. WIRED subscribers have access to a 15% discount.