How Are Tech Startups Shaping Europe’s Future?

THE FUTURE

Amiens, France: 27th October, 2019

“I woke up at 7.00 a.m. as usual and checked the air quality level [White Lab]. Since the ban to gasoline-powered vehicles in all the country, parks and gardens are bursting into life, it feels good but I am a bit allergic. In fact, since we can go and buy Hydrogen blocks [H2go] for our house’s power generator (it’s usually a bit cloudy for solar energy) many of us went away from the city and settled in the countryside.

Someone told me that now there are drones flying over the cities and “smelling” pollution [Koniku] so they can detect potentially dangerous areas, just like birds. I used to believe that technology is just our way to get closer to nature’s perfect design – well, seems like we are not that far anymore. Not bad if you think that these machines were being used just a year ago for things such as calibrating landing instruments in airports [Canard drones].

Oh, right! WE too, humans, appear to be more conscious about the environment. It’s funny how after fishermen discovered how to attract only specific kinds of fish to their nets [SafetyNet Technologies], the industry became more profitable and the oceans more biodiverse than ever before. And guess what: they move the filled boxes around on pallets made of coconut waste [Cocopallet]. Turns out that by replacing timber pallets they prevent the deforestation of 500 million trees every year.

Okay, 10 minutes before I go. Let’s check the news: “Major improvement in cancer radiotherapy: no side effects in 99% of the cases [Novagray]” and “The widespread use of personal 3D printers boosts the demand of designers [Re3D]”. Interesting, back in school they used to say I couldn’t actually do such things… Oh didn’t I tell you? I was born blind, but since a couple of years ago I can easily work, surf the internet and read the news as much as you do [Blitab].

Sounds like the pilot has already landed in the garden and is now waiting for me. Not that I don’t like self-driving cars, but I have a busy schedule today and I can’t wait to smoothly fly to Paris and meet my next investment opportunity [Lilium Aviation].

Have a great day!“

THE PRESENT

The 10 startups mentioned above were the finalists and winner of this year’s Hello Tomorrow Challenge. The event was celebrated during the Hello Tomorrow Global Summit 2016 in Paris on the 13th and 14th of October. Each finalist won a 15K € prize and the overall winner took 100k € home. There were a total of 3500 startups participating in the challenge on 10 different tracks (each one sponsored by top French companies in the sector): Aeronautics, Air Quality, Beauty & Wellbeing, Data & AI, Energy, Food & Agriculture, Healthcare, Industry 4.0, Transportation & Mobility and Waste & Water. For those wanting to participate in the next editions, the requirement is to have a project that:

• Is based on a new technology or an innovative application of an existing technology.
• Has a Proof of Concept, prototype or scientific validation.
• Has raised under €400K in equity funding.

Hello Tomorrow is a global non-profit organization headquartered in Paris that aims to accelerate science & tech innovation by empowering startups with cash prizes and connections with investors and industrials. It was created in 2011 and is supported by the French public and private sectors and they have ambassadors worldwide who organize events to build a strong local ecosystem for technological innovation. As some say, “Crazy is the New Norm at Hello Tomorrow”.

So just in case you want to know how the future looks like or if you want to BE part of that future, stay tuned for the next editions!

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