ZK Accelerate: RECAP & Link Hub

Elan Neiger
3 min readDec 5, 2023

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Written for Ingonyama

In November 2023 during Devconnect and Protocol Labs’ Labweek23 in Istanbul, Ingonyama hosted ZK Accelerate, a technical conference-cum-celebration of ZK engineering innovation, collaboration, and the blazingly bright future of Zero-Knowledge technology.

Our motivations for hosting ZK Accelerate were threefold:

  1. Filling a Gap: There is a low number of technical-focused ZK events, despite the many innovations taking place in the space.
  2. Building a Community Atmosphere: The event was both educational and a welcoming space for builders and enthusiasts to connect and share ideas.
  3. Cultivating Partnerships and Growth: ZK Accelerate was the first ever participation in a ZK event by AMD and AWS, two of the largest technology infrastructure companies on Earth. Our mission was to create a unique and educational space for meaningful connections, partnerships, and encourage growth in the ZK ecosystem.
ZK Killer Apps panel

ZKA consisted of talks, demos, and panels, interspersed.

18 Technical Talks & Demos

4 Illuminating Panels

Trailblazers with differing viewpoints engaged in fiery debates, shared insights, disagreements, and thought-provoking discussions.

  1. New Frontiers in ZK research
  • ​Moderated by Lance Davis | Giza Tech
  • Mamy Ratsimbazafy | Taiko
  • Andrija Novakovic | Geometry
  • Misha Komarov | Nil foundation
  • Diego Kingston | Lambdaclass

2. ZK Hardware

  • ​Moderated by Hamid Salehi | AMD
  • Evan Marshall | Demox Labs
  • Rahul Maganti | Wormhole

3. ZK Killer Apps & Survival of ZK in the Future

  • ​Moderated by Gökhan Er | IOSG Ventures
  • Manasi Vora | Risc0
  • Joanna Zeng | Aleo
  • Garvit Goel | Electron Labs
  • Carter Jack Feldman | QED

4. Virtual Fireside Chat

  • Juan Benet CEO of Protocol Labs
  • Omer Shlomovits CEO of Ingonyama
Cost Optmizing your ZKPs on AWS, with Emile Baizel

ZK Accelerate by the Numbers

  • Total Sign-Ups: 1,609
  • Estimated Peak Attendance: Over 450
  • Estimated Total Attendance: Over 900
  • Total Event Duration: 10 Hours & 30 Minutes
  • Total Stage Time: 8 Hours & 25 Minutes

Breakdown of Sessions

  • Total Talks Time: 6 Hours & 25 Minutes
  • Number of Presenters: 18
  • 20-Minute Talks: 16
  • 30-Minute Demos: 2
  • Total Panel Time: 1 Hour & 30 Minutes
  • Number of Panelists & Panel Hosts: 14
  • Number of Panels: 4
Virtual fireside chat with Juan Benet, CEO of Protocol Labs and Omer Shlomovits, CEO of Ingonyama

Conclusion

The success of ZK Accelerate was testament to the growing interest and development in the ZK space. As a hardware company, Ingonyama strives to set new benchmarks for the Zero-Knowledge community, and ZK Accelerate was no exception! See you at the next one 😉

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Elan Neiger

A crypto and blockchain addict and nearly full time podcast listener