Idea Challenge contest calls for digital startups
Successful applicants win up to 40,000 Euro and benefit from the pan-European Business Development Accelerator of EIT ICT Labs to become European success stories.
Startups can submit their application in one of the eight topics detailed below. In each topic, finalists will compete for significant benefits: prize money of up to 40,000 Euro; free co-working space; business acceleration in Europe and beyond; and access to an ecosystem of over 130 excellent partner organisations across Europe. With a dedicated team of business developers active in nine European countries as well as in Silicon Valley, EIT ICT Labs will actively support the winners to boost their business internationally.
Prize money in each of the eight topics is: 40,000 Euro for the winner, 25,000 Euro for second place and 15,000 Euro for third place. This yields a significant global financial support of 640,000 Euro by EIT ICT Labs.
From startups to scale-ups
While last year’s edition of the contest focused on early-stage startups, this year EIT ICT Labs is reaching out to “scale-ups”, as EIT ICT Labs CEO Willem Jonker explains: “The strength of EIT ICT Labs 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.”
Must-have eligibility rules are: maximum five years of existence; less than one million Euro of external funding received, incorporated in EU28. Additionally startups need to meet at least one of the following criteria: existing customers/a public beta, revenue of min 12k Euro or seed investments of min 100k Euro.
Eight topics
The contest focuses on eight strategically-chosen topics that EIT ICT Labs has carefully selected and is very active in, both in terms of technical expertise and business network:
Health & Wellbeing
Smart Spaces
Cyber-Physical Systems
Future Cloud
Cyber Security and Privacy
Internet of Things
Urban Life and Mobility
Smart Energy Systems
Ten finalists will pitch in front of a jury in each if the eight topic finals, taking place in Autumn 2015.
Visit EIT ICT Labs at www.eitictlabs.eu
