234 Startups From 25 European Countries Are Competing In The EIT Digital Challenge 2016

234 entrepreneurs from 25 countries submitted applications to the EIT Digital Challenge in order to compete in Europe’s most prestigious startup competition and gain international growth support. Most applications came from the United Kingdom, followed by France, Germany and Italy.

“Each year the applicant pool gets stronger and stronger” says Dominik Krabbe, EIT Digital Challenge Lead. ”This year, we’ve set requirements to apply higher, targeting early scaleups with existing market traction and revenue. We are looking forward to inviting the most promising ones to our finals in autumn, and of course working with the winners on their international expansion. Past winners like Soma Analytics, Konux or Sentryo have already successfully grown their businesses with the help of EIT Digital.”

Winners Of The EIT Digital Challenge Will Become Part Of A Unique Pan-European Innovation Network

Startups could apply in five different categories. In each category, eight to ten teams are invited to present their technology in front of an expert jury at one of five final events taking place in different cities across Europe in November 2016: Helsinki (category: Digital Industry), Paris (Digital Cities), Eindhoven (Digital Wellbeing), Stockholm (Digital Infrastructure) and London (Digital Finance). The finalists will be announced by early October 2016.

• A total of 234 tech startups applied in five categories
• 25 EU countries are represented
• Every third submission came from female founders or co-founders
• Half of all entries were in the Digital Industry and Digital Wellbeing categories
• A quarter of the teams applied within the last 24 hours before the submission deadline
• More than a third of the teams have already secured patents for their technology
• 80% of the startups offer B2B solutions
• 25% have 10 or more team members.

Successful startups will have the opportunity to become part of EIT Digital’s unique pan-European innovation network that provides access to a network of investors, leading corporates as well as research institutes. They will also have the chance to join the EIT Digital Accelerator for a full year. On top, the best team per category receives a cash prize of 50,000 Euros.

About EIT Digital

EIT Digital is a leading European open innovation organisation. Our mission is to foster digital technology innovation and entrepreneurial talent for economic growth and quality of life in Europe. We bring together entrepreneurs from a partnership of over 130 top European corporations, SMEs, startups, universities and research institutes.

EIT Digital invests in strategic areas to accelerate the market uptake of research-based digital technologies and to bring entrepreneurial talent and leadership to Europe. Our innovation and education activities are organised in and around our co-location centres, where students, researchers, engineers, business developers and entrepreneurs come together to drive the digitalisation of society.

EIT Digital is a Knowledge and Innovation Community of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Since 2010, EIT Digital has consistently mobilised talent, ideas, technologies, investments and business across Europe and beyond to stimulate disruptive digital innovation. EIT Digital headquarters are in Brussels with co-location centres in Berlin, Budapest, Eindhoven, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Paris, Stockholm, Trento and a hub in Silicon Valley.

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