ITC – Innovation Technology Cluster and STARTUP3 Accelerator consortium virtually organize the Ecosystem Discovery Mission event in Slovenia on the November 12th, 2020.

The STARTUP3 Ecosystem Discovery Missions are a supporting tool/methodology to engage and connect startups/SMEs (from different ecosystems) allowing its participants to understand and “feel” the hosting ecosystem, learn the processes required to boost innovation, find out about the available resources, build relationships and expand their networks and capacity to support their SMEs’ growth.

In this webinar, the first part will be dedicated to taking a deep look at the startup ecosystem in Slovenia, where some key players, who are coming from different support environments (private, university, and public) will present their initiatives and view on what is the best way to support the startup community.

The second part of the webinar will be dedicated to startup acceleration and pitching. Experts/mentors will speak about different opportunities for startups (financing and others) and coach them on how to properly sell their stories to the investors. The webinar will be concluded by a pitching session, where startups will be able to show their skills in pitching, while participants will vote who is the best one and who will receive 1 on 1 mentorship from a STARTUP3 Consortium mentor.

STARTUP3 encourages you to apply for the DIGI-B-CUBE – Virtual Matchmaking: Health meets IT!

Do you have innovative ideas as to how to adapt digital solutions for improving healthcare?

Are you looking for collaboration partners to complement your expertise in cross-sectoral innovation projects with up to €60,000 of equity-free funding per partner?

DIGI-B-CUBE project partner Cluster for Individualized ImmuneIntervention (Ci3) is organising a matchmaking webinar to present and discuss innovative ideas to adapt digital solutions for improving healthcare.

The event will also be an ideal platform for those looking for collaboration partners to complement expertise in cross-sectoral innovation projects. The Open Call launched by DIGI-B-CUBE is now in Phase 2 and up to €60,000 of equity-free funding can be availed by Small or Medium-Sized enterprise (SME).

Entry to the webinar is free and it will be held on 22^nd October 2020 at 10 AM CET. The language to be used for discussion is English.

If you are an SME operating in the health, medicine, biotech, biopharma, IT or related sectors (robotics, automation, electronics, nanotech etc.), the webinar is an excellent opportunity for you to meet other SMEs and together with them develop project ideas in order to apply for funding.

We will introduce the DIGI-B-CUBE project to you, and selected participants will have the opportunity to present their organisation and respective project ideas in a short pitch. Detailed agenda can be found here.

Registration to participate in the webinar is open until 21^st October 2020. Registration for pitching slots is optional and is open until 16^th October 2020.

Link to the virtual event will be sent to registered participants prior to the event. For any questions, please contact Dr. Tobias Neumann at neumann@ci-3.de

The STARTUP3 Project announces the Top 10 Innovators! Over the next 6 months, teams from all over Europe will continue working hard to build the next great deep-tech startup!

STARTUP3 is proud to announce the 10 companies selected to participate in the 2^nd phase of the STARTUP3 Business and Growth Programme. They represent a group of founders and entrepreneurs addressing challenges across different deep-tech industries that have the potential to make a lasting impact in creating a more equitable and inclusive global influence.

Each of these 10 companies tackles systemic industry obstacles and embodies what it means to drive inclusive innovation. STARTUP3 is excited to see how they will continue their growth over the next 6 months of the programme and beyond.

More about 2^nd phase – MENTORING: IDEATION2PRODUCT

STARTUP3 is a mentorship-driven accelerator programme. During this phase, teams will be prepared to enter the last stage – Product2Market by submitting a valid and strong Executive Summary and through soft skills necessary for a successful business meeting. After this phase, the projects holding a major market potential will be invited to enter the last stage of the process.

Individuals from Europe, from startup founders to corporate and community leaders, have raised their hands offering to do whatever they can to help STARTUP3 companies succeed. Leaders in the deep-tech industries, such as NVIDIA, Symag by BNP Paribas, TMW, and 30 others have also taken note of STARTUP3’s efforts, and have signed on to mentor programme’s incoming teams and support innovators.

A virtual accelerator is not a lesser, or less valuable, accelerator. It provides the ability to embrace the constraints to innovate, being globally inclusive with mentors, investors, and interesting new technologies. Stay tuned for more from the STARTUP3 Innovators!

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”  – Steve Jobs, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO, Apple

The first STARTUP3 Pitch Stop was a 3-day event organised from September 16th till 18^th – designed to gather the 25 deep-tech Best potentials from the STARTUP3 Open Call. The event was divided into 4 sessions; all sessions had started with an opening welcome speech by Clémence Castell from Pole SCS, Project Coordinator, and Jean-Luc Fretard from HOLA-UP Startup Studio, providing an overview of the STARTUP3 Project and its activities to all of the Pitch Stop participants.

The introduction was followed by a session where all STARTUP3 Innovators from the Open Call had an opportunity to introduce themselves and their solutions with 5-minute pitch presentations. The Innovators’ pitches were followed by a Q&A session between STARTUP3 Corporate Pool members and the Pitch Stop participants, which led to fruitful discussions and useful conclusions on the topics relevant to STARTUP3 Innovators.

During the Q&A sessions, members of the Corporate Pool had an opportunity to ask questions about products and services developed by innovators. This is one of the key aspects of the Pitch Stop since it provided the innovators with a rare opportunity to meet their potential investors and collaborators considering their geographical distribution, facilitating quality networking, and raising the potential for new business deals and ventures.

Finally, jury members composed of the Corporate Pool members as well as of the Consortium Partners, gave a final assessment to all innovators present. The best 10 innovators are selected! They will be part of the 6-month long growth training and mentorship. Teams will be prepared to enter the last stage – Product2Market by submitting a valid and strong Executive Summary and through soft skills necessary for a successful business meeting. After this phase, the projects holding a major market potential will be invited to enter the last stage of the process.

BeOn IoT provides asset tracking services for sensitive and valuable products that are transported by air freight.

BeOn has been founded by Pierre-Jean Tiné and is based in Toulouse, France.

The mission of BeOn is to help secure that sensitive and valuable products are transported and stored in proper conditions for people and organizations who need them most. Users access BeOn services on a web platform collecting real-time monitoring data from BeOn A1, the sustainable tracking device recommended by the air transport industry.

With access to the BeOn platform, shippers have real-time visibility on the transportation conditions of their products. If an alert is received, the shipper may trigger an intervention to save the product.

Freight forwarders may also access to the platform to track shipments, synchronize ground handlers operations with flight operations to reduce out-of-cold-rooms time, trigger an intervention to save products, and eventually abort useless transportation if a product is wasted.

BeOn platform brings transparency in transport liability and more collaboration between supply chain stakeholders to improve air freight performance and attract more shippers and customers.

Real-time monitoring of temperature, movement, shocks, and position of shipments is powered by the BeOn tracking device. By using Low-Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) and smart operating modes, BeOn A1 reaches a 3-years battery life to make BeOn A1 a sustainable solution and a game changer compares to other activity tracking devices using GSM networks with only a few weeks of battery life. Finally, BeOn A1 is compliant with air transport regulations. Electromagnetic performance has been optimized and the battery has been carefully designed to mitigate any safety risk.

In the air transport industry, the use of active tracking devices is very restricted to ensure flight operations safety. Tracking device manufacturers must design and test their devices according to aviation-specific standards. Device manufacturers must provide extensive technical documentation and rationales for standard compliance to airlines or national aviation authorities who check and assess the documentation to approve the use of the tracking device on board of aircraft.

Swiss International Airlines is the first airline to approve BeOn A1 tracking device in air operations. And BeOn A1 is the first LPWAN device to be approved in Swiss operations. With this collaboration, BeOn shows its ability to comply with air transport regulations and provide a tracking device that is compliant with the highest quality and safety standards. It gives BeOn the opportunity to address all customers of Swiss International Air Lines shipping valuable and sensitives goods worldwide. Swiss International Air Lines shows its willingness to bring innovation, new technologies, and better real-time asset tracking services to customers and partners. It gives Swiss International Air Lines the opportunity to grow its portfolio of services with real-time transport condition visibility based on a sustainable solution – BeOn A1 having 3years of battery life.

BeOn is willing to make BeOn A1 approves by more and more airlines to address more customers and reach more destinations worldwide. BeOn has the technology and the expertise to handle air transport complex approval process which is the key to access the air freight market accounting for approximately 35% of world trade by value.

STARTUP3 encourages you to apply for the MediaMotorEurope Open Call – looking for the brightest deep-tech innovators with solutions for the media and creative industries!

MediaMotorEurope (MME), a mentoring programme supported by Startup Europe, is looking for high-potential European deep-tech innovators who can target today’s most relevant media industry challenges. European startups and scaleups are invited to apply for MME Second Open Call on F6S until 30 October 2020 at 17h00 CET!

MME is powered by strong media and innovation hubs, as well as key players in the tech and investment scene:  VRT, Media City Bergen, Thermi, Athens Technology Center, Cluster Sofia Knowledge City, FastTrack, and F6S.

The 6-month programme will foster the development of creative and unique deep-tech solutions targeting some of the biggest challenges and needs that the media sector faces, such as the fight against misinformation and fake news; improved accessibility and inclusion of media services for people with disabilities; more advanced human-machine interaction; better protection of personal data through new technologies; and transition towards a data-driven media 4.0 market.

What does MediaMotorEurope offer?
The intensive mentoring programme aims to bring deep-tech innovators from an MVP to a growing company together with candidate clients in the media sector and potential investors.
Selected startups and scale-ups get:

• Dedicated coaching to support upscaling the business and soft-landing to new markets
• Tailored support and guidance to the startups’ needs and challenges, improving skills in areas such as product-market fit, legal aspects, pitching readiness, fundraising, product development, strategic management, internationalisation, UX and Design, etc.
• Matchmaking with media & creative corporations and public procurement support
• Meetings and networking opportunities with investors
• Pitching and showcasing at major media events, such as Slush, Digital Media Days and New Radio Day
• The chance to win tickets to relevant international conferences of high impact
• Vouchers of up to EUR 600 to support travel costs to events

The second support cycle will take place between January and June 2021. All services are offered for free thanks to Startup Europe.

For more information, please visit MediaMotorEurope on www.mediamotoreurope.eu, or follow MME on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871552.

Large firms have numerous advantages for startups: market knowledge and experience, economies of scale, established networks, and brand power along with other considerable resources. Working with big businesses can be an important route for startups to test their products for market fit. As CB Insights data suggests, the majority of startups fail as there is no market need for their products. Procurement from a corporate partner can also help startups scale up their operations and convey essential validation for future customer acquisition.

We have started with 250 applicants from 36 European countries and came to the best 25 potentials. Now, the first phase of the STARTUP3 Acceleration Programme is coming to an end and we need to choose 10 of 25 best innovators! During the second phase, they will be mentored by Corporates and Investors from the STARTUP3 Corporate and Investors Pool and together they will try to reach Phase 3 and start a collaboration with the matched Corporates or Investors!

The first Pitch Stop of the STARTUP3 acceleration programme will be held from the 16^th to the 18^th of the September and it is divided into 4 Sessions:

• Session 1: 16/09/2020 10:00-12:30 (AI/ Robotics/ Drones)
• Session 2: 16/09/2020 14:00-16:30 (Agritech)
• Session 3: 17/09/2020 14:00-16:30 (Agrifood/ BioTech)
• Session 4: 18/09/2020 14:00-16:30 (Earth Observation/ Space)

If you are a Corporate or Investor trying to include innovation in your company, to find more innovative suppliers, to stay on-top of market developments this is an opportunity for you! The list of our best potentials can be found on the STARTUP3 website, and the sectors they are covering are: Agritech, Agrifood, Medtech/healthcare, Space/EO, AI, Drones, and IoT/Robotics.

And remember, a collaboration between deep-tech startups and corporates is key for fostering innovation in Europe. It can benefit both sides, helping corporates to enter and create new markets, and innovators to develop their products, and to scale: chief executive officers of both corporates and startups share the common strategic goals of growing their company, improving its competitive positioning, and generating revenue.

We invite you to join the STARTUP3 Pitch Stop Event and discover the potential for fruitful collaboration with Europe’s top-notch deep-tech innovators! In case you’d like to assist the event, kindly send an email to clemence.castell@pole-scs.org.

STARTUP3 encourages you to apply for the Global Pharma Booster Programme and win the chance to co-create with Bayer Pharmaceuticals France!

STARTUP3 encourages you to apply for the ATLAS Project Open Call and develop new and innovative services by making use of the technical foundation the ATLAS network provides!

The ATLAS Project will build an open, distributed and extensible data platform based on a microservice architecture which will offer a high level of scalability from a single farm to a global community. ATLAS will involve all actors along the food chain, simplifying and improving the processes from farm to fork. Through the support of innovative start-ups, SMEs and farmers, ATLAS will enable new business models for and with the farmers and establish sustainable business ecosystems based on innovative data-driven services.

STARTUP3 encourages you to apply for the Farm2Fork Hackathon and propose innovative and implementable products and services!

The main Farm2Fork Hackathon objective is to identify products and services applicable in the agrifood domain, which are responding to the effects of the COVID-19 crisis. Products and services can be presented as Minimum Viable Products (MVP) or fully developed products and services that can be deployable, promotable and marketable.

The Hackathon aims at attracting European solution providers, innovators and enthusiasts to propose innovative and implementable products and services, which will have the following impact:

• minimizing negative effects of COVID pandemic in agrifood sector or
• increase the resilience of the food production and food supply systems in pandemic situations

Examples for products and services may be very broad, covering following areas (this list is not exhaustive):

• Deployment of any kind of digital technologies in agriculture, food production/processing and food supply (robotics, AI, IoT, EO, Big data, blockchain, …);
• Agrifood workforce (management, personal distancing, training, optimization, …);
• Education in the agrifood sector;
• Connecting regional supply and demand (short food supply chains, transport, forecasting, …);
• Decreasing food loss and managing food waste (donating, new business models, re-routing, circular business models);
• Food safety, storage, packaging;
• Preservation of nature and resources.

The Hackathon is organised by the Innovation Technology Cluster (ITC) from Slovenia – a STARTUP3 Consortium Member – along with other relevant European institutions and projects.