Kicking off with the latest opportunities for startups at Pioneers’18, the second day on 25th will see more than just the Pioneers Challenge Top 8 finalists fighting it out on the Arena Stage. Honda and Bosch will lend their weight to additional pitching challenges, which will go ahead on the Amplify Stage. The startups for these are being scouted and selected by Pioneers Discover, who will also take charge of moderating the pitching sessions.
Honda is keen to see pitches from European startups offering disruptive solutions in mobility, consumer robotics and electric devices, including smart grid and smart homes. Startups, who should have a Minimum Viable Product available, will compete for the chance to enjoy international growth support from Honda. The best company will get to spend time with the mobility giant’s tech team in Mountain View, California – flights and accommodation included.
The only way in is to have been selected for the Pioneers500 program, from which Pioneers Discover will be choosing the best-fit startups for Honda. And while applications for Pioneers500 are already closed, it’s possible to join the waitlist here.
The topic for the Bosch Pitching Challenge is The Air Around Us. The global engineering and electronics company is looking for European startups with creative solutions for measuring and tackling air pollution in big cities. Anything from the IoT world that addresses this problem will be of interest, whether it’s sensing, components, measurement or app technologies. But it’s a quick turnaround for this one: application deadline is May 3rd – that’s this Thursday!
As always, there’s the potential for startups who impress in one of our pitching challenges to engage in a long-term collaboration with the partner concerned. And that goes for the other Pioneers Discover programs running throughout the year as well. Applications are also open for several of these…some of them also with deadlines bearing down.
One of the tightest is that for the Startup Exhibition at Börsianer Messe in Vienna on September 19th-20th, for which founders need to put their names forward by next week Monday, May 7th. Pioneers Discover will scout and evaluate FinTech startups from the DACH region, with 12 game-changers with radical ideas to be selected for the event.
Meanwhile with applications closing later this week on May 3rd, it’s also just about last-chance saloon for those still wanting to apply for BBVA Open Talent, the biggest FinTech startup challenge in the world. Pioneers Discover is scouting worldwide for candidates in three categories, namely FinTech for Business, Fintech for Future and FinTech for People. The finalists will advance to pitch at the BBVA Open Summit in Madrid in October, just like our startup B2B Pay did last year. The three category winners will also win an increased prize of €50,000.
And don’t forget our ongoing open call for 5G and IoT startups from both Europe and Israel to take part in Hub:raum, the incubator for Germany’s telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom. With three separate programs ongoing in Berlin, Krakow and Tel Aviv between June and December, benefits include co-prototyping, mentoring, commercial co-operations and partnerships, financing and access to Deutsche Telekom’s powerful connectivity solutions.
There’s also still time to apply for the GoAustria 2018 autumn program. The two-week incubator, which runs twice a year, will take place in Vienna and Styria, starting on September 17th and ending on October 3rd. Applications close on June 4th, and preference will go to startups from Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Israel.
Apply for opportunities at the Pioneers Discover Open Calls page here.
