Idea Challenge is back for 2015 – but startups need to get their skates on if they want to win a prize package with up to €40K in cash and access to one of Europe’s biggest innovation networks, as 6 July is the deadline for entries (Update – August 2023: The website seems to be out of use, and we therefore deactivated the original link).
This year, the competition, which is organised by EIT Digital (previously EIT ICT Labs), is focused on ‘scale-up’ companies rather than ultra-early-stage startups. It will once again take place across eight categories: Health and Wellbeing, Smart Spaces, Cyber-Physical Systems, Future Cloud, Cyber Security and Privacy, Internet of Things, Urban Life and Mobility, and Smart Energy Systems.
Each category will produce three winners, with first place receiving €40K, second place receiving €25K, and €15K being the prize for third place – a total commitment from EIT Digital of €640K. Additionally, all 24 winners will be given free co-working space, business acceleration in Europe and beyond, and access to an ecosystem of over 130 partner organisations across Europe. They will also be able to work with a team of business developers active in nine European countries as well as in Silicon Valley.
To be eligible to enter, a startup must be a maximum of five years old and have received less than €1 million in external funding. Additionally, the startup must be incorporated in one of the 28 European Union member countries and have existing customers or a public beta with revenue of at least €12K or seed investment of at least €100K.
Willem Jonker, CEO of EIT Digital, explained the thinking behind focusing on scale-up startups in this year’s Idea Challenge: “The strength of EIT Digital lies in our pan-European ecosystem. We support fast-growing startups that are typically already being noticed in their home country; we help them scale up their business quickly across Europe and beyond.”
Last year’s competition, which was launched in March 2014 at the CeBit technology exhibition and conference, produced an array of impressive early-stage startups and projects, with winners including Tinnitracks, an innovative platform for combating tinnitus which won in the Health and Wellbeing category, and social activity booking platform GuideMeRight, which emerged from the Urban Life and Mobility field to claim first prize.
The winner in the Cyber-Security and Privacy category was CHINO, which helps developers of health-related apps keep the sensitive data they collect secure.
Jovan Steovic is one of the co-founders of CHINO, and – speaking some months after the final in Trento, Italy – was quick to enthuse about the positive impact of Idea Challenge. He said: “It is easy to apply [to Idea Challenge] and gives the chance to get support from both a business and resource point of view; it is an efficient way to start a company – this is a seed money investment without giving up any equity. There is no better way to start.”
Sounds interesting? You can find out more information about this year’s Idea Challenge here – and be sure to apply here by July 6! (Update – July 2023: The website seems to be out of use, and we therefore deactivated the original link).
Is there a match & partner-finding database where we can publish to join us in setting up an eu #olpc = one laptopschool per child entity so that EU ICT Innovators have access to a large implementor of laptopschools in which they and their financiers can get an agreement for their first large order to have their ict innovation implemented in. More: https://sites.google.com/site/leadershipinstitutedementorat/olpc-community-one-laptopschool-per-child