EIT Manufacturing Provides a Unique ‘Access to Market’ Opportunity for Startups to Implement their Technologies with Multinational Corporates

In this year’s BoostUp! BRIDGE competition, EIT Manufacturing collaborates with Whirlpool EMEA, voestalpine & EROSKI to offer startups the chance to solve real-world challenges using their technology solution. Each corporate challenge has been designed to be scalable within the organization, but could also be applicable to other verticals. You can read more about the challenges below.

By applying, participants stand the chance to win up to €50.000 towards the implementation of their project with the corporate partner. Further, EIT Manufacturing will provide startups in the winning teams with support related to business development, access to market, and access to finance.

BoostUp! BRIDGE Will Provide A Rare ‘Access To Market’ Opportunity

Gianluca Grifi, Business Creation Manager at EIT Manufacturing, obtained an MSc degree at the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1997 and an MBA degree at Beuth University Berlin in 2019. He worked for over 20 years in a corporate environment covering leading functions in manufacturing, operation, product development, business management, and business development.

Since 2017 he has been consulting startups, SMEs, and larger companies on Access to Market and Open Innovation programs, as well as sustainable business development strategies. He joined EIT Manufacturing in 2020 and in the last few months, he has been focusing on designing tools to support and scale up the deployment of innovative solutions for the manufacturing ecosystem. His activity has peaked in 2021 with the definition and launch of BoostUp! Bridge.

We spoke to him, to find out what the competition is all about:

What is the motivation behind BoostUp! BRIDGE? How is it different from the previous BoostUp! programs?

BoostUp! BRIDGE is the third edition of the BoostUp! competition series, which began in 2020. However, BoostUp! BRIDGE is quite diverse from previous editions as it seeks to directly connect startups with large industrial players, in an attempt to deploy and quickly scale innovative solutions.

EIT Manufacturing spotted this gap between the world of corporates and innovative startups and decided to overcome it by building a “bridge” and connecting these two worlds.

Why should I participate as a startup?

Well, to startups BoostUp! BRIDGE will provide a rare ‘access to market’ opportunity for startups to potentially implement their solutions, with up to €50k in prize money per winning project, on the real-world challenges of corporates. Given the challenges are scalable, the right solution could have significant potential beyond the defined project.

In addition, BoostUp! BRIDGE seeks to help startups work with partners beyond their regional or domestic markets, which could provide a stepping stone to future growth.

Further, EIT Manufacturing will provide support for winning teams related to business development, access to market, and access to finance.

What are some of the specific business challenges that startups can address through BoostUp! BRIDGE?

This year’s BoostUp! BRIDGE seeks to address challenges and solutions under EIT Manufacturing’s flagship: Low Environmental Footprint Systems & Circular Economy for Green Manufacturing.

We have identified three challenges in collaboration with our corporate partners:

1. WHIRLPOOL EMEA – Net Zero Operations: Designing and implementing a process to measure and drive the energy efficiency and performance of a painting process line at the industrial plant in Biandronno, Italy.
2. VOESTALPINE – Measuring & Modelling CO2 Emissions: Measuring and Modelling CO2 emissions of direct material suppliers (from cradle to gate, including recycling).
3. EROSKI – Optimizing Product Shelf Life: Implementation of an AI-driven solution to model, analyze and optimize the shelf life of products.

You can read more about each of the challenges here.

Can you share some details about the big BoostUp! BRIDGE competition event to be held on 18 October 2021?

The BoostUp! BRIDGE final competition will be held during the World Manufacturing Forum (WMF) organized within the World Manufacturing Week. Finalists of each challenge, as chosen by an independent jury, will have the chance to pitch their final solution projects in competition for some of the great prizes mentioned above.

Do you have any suggestions for startups planning to apply?

Choose the challenge(s) that you think your solution could tackle and go for it!

Key BoostUp! BRIDGE Milestones for Participants

• Deadline to participate: 6 September 2021
• Workshops with corporates: week commencing 6 September 2021
• Solutions proposal submission: 8 October 2021
• BoostUp! BRIDGE Final: 18 October 2021
• Winning teams submit a detailed project plan: 8 November 2021
• Workshop between winning teams and corporates: No later than 19 November 2021
• Winning prize release: By 31 December 2021
• Solution implementation at corporates: 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022

Apply today for BoostUp! BRIDGE and compete for the chance to see your solution implemented alongside one of our corporate partners!

 

 

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