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Because of his affiliation with EIT ICT Labs, Business Developer Filip Coenen, based in the Eindhoven Co-location Centre, is chosen to be one of the jury members in the 5th edition of the 'Building Global Innovators' contest.

The 'Building Global Innovators' contest is a collaboration of MIT (Cambridge USA) and the MIT Portugal Program with reputable Portuguese partners. Submissions came from a record number of 31 countries including new geographies such as: China, Finland, Hong Kong, Hungary, Jordan, Maldives, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine.

'Building Global Innovators' (BGI) contest is a deep innovation accelerator based in Lisbon (Portugal) and is directed at would-be tech entrepreneurs and Innovators working on 4 market verticals. On Friday 7 November next, the competition jury will select the winning team in each one of the 4 existing tracks. Each track winner will be awarded with 100k €.

The 4 existing tracks are:

1. Medical Technologies & Health IT,
2. Smart cities & Industrial Tech,
3. Enterprise IT & Smart Data,
4. Ocean Economy.

Also in the 5th edition:

  • 20 teams are selected to BGI accelerator and benefit from expert mentoring amounting to over 1.150hrs, which includes boot camps in Lisbon (Portugal) and Cambridge (USA). This free of charge in kind support is valued at 1 million €.
  • About 11 out of the 20 accelerated teams attracts some form of venture financing (40% non dilutive and 60% risk capital sources).
  • 4 selected ventures are also supported by BGI Award sponsor - Caixa Capital, with up to €500.000 in convertible notes.

The acceleration is provided via a combination of uniquely designed boot camps where invited teams MUST attend. Each boot camp typically runs physically from 1 to 2 weeks and is extremely intensive (12+ hours a day). After graduation, BGI concentrates/limits its support to the top 12 (out of the 20 per edition) for a period of up to 5 years via a formal catalyst program (1st year) and continuous coaching over the following years until companies exit or fail. Teams have to find their own financial means to support their travel and accommodation

More information: http://buildingglobalinnovators.eu

Contact: Filip Coenen

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