EIT Digital's startup contest Idea Challenge activated entrepreneurs all over Europe. Since its kick-off on May 6th it generated great awareness among European startups.
Willem Jonker, CEO of EIT Digital: "We are excited to meet the 80 finalists of EIT Digital Idea Challenge in autumn. Many promising startups applied. We are looking forward to help them grow and scale-up in Europe and beyond so they become Europe's next success stories!"
Here are some important facts & figures on EIT Digital Idea Challenge 2015
- 750 teams registered from May 6th till July 6th
- 461 tech startups applied in eight topics
- 26 EU countries are represented
- Germany (20%), France (14%) and Italy (9%) are leading the country ranking
- 15% of applications generate from CEE countries.
- 37% of submissions came from female founders or co-founders
- 57% applied in the three categories Urban Life & Mobility, Health & Wellbeing and Internet of Things (IoT)
- 50% of the teams applied within the last 24h of submission
- 40% of the young companies are profitable or will be in 2016
- Close to one third of the teams secured patents already
- 75% of the startups attracted by Idea Challenge offer B2B solutions and provide valuable tech innovation
