Over 850 early stage startups and innovators from 27 EU countries have registered for the second wave of the Idea Challenge from September 1st to 30th. 479 ideas were submitted, which is a rise of 54 percent compared to the first submission phase in spring 2014 with 311 ideas. In total, EIT ICT Labs has activated this year 790 startups to apply with innovative ideas.
“Our mission is to bring innovation to life – and the Idea Challenge is very important to us, because it helps us finding these innovations across Europe” explains Willem Jonker, CEO of EIT ICT Labs. “The competition is really about scouting technologies, ideas, opportunities and make sure they make it to the market” he adds.
An expert jury consisting of industry experts, investors, entrepreneurs and business accelerators currently reviews the entries to select the most innovative ideas for the finals. Between eight and twelve teams per category will be invited to pitch their ideas depending on the topic in Berlin (October 31st), Trento, Stockholm (both November 13th) and London (November 20th). At these events, twelve winners will be selected – three in each category.
Submissions per topic and category:
Country
|
SES
|
IoT
|
CSP
|
ULM
|
Total
|
Finland
|
4
|
12
|
5
|
9
|
30
|
France
|
6
|
13
|
5
|
29
|
53
|
Germany
|
11
|
25
|
14
|
36
|
86
|
Italy
|
14
|
29
|
14
|
43
|
100
|
Netherlands
|
2
|
7
|
2
|
6
|
17
|
Sweden
|
4
|
16
|
1
|
6
|
27
|
UK
|
6
|
20
|
11
|
20
|
55
|
Hungary
|
5
|
11
|
3
|
11
|
30
|
Spain
|
1
|
7
|
2
|
5
|
15
|
Others
|
9
|
23
|
10
|
22
|
64
|
Total
|
62
|
163
|
67
|
187
|
479
|
