The two-month application period, which ended on 31 July, resulted in 150 quality applications from 26 countries for the incubator, giving the Austrian regional energy provider numbers that surpassed its expectations.
The focus was on finding startups with new ideas for digital, scalable business models in Mobility, Fitness, Nutrition and Work-Life Balance.
As these topics reveal, Energie Steiermark is looking to expand into new markets. In recent years the company has founded an innovation department and embarked on a series of initiatives to develop new business models. These include founding an innovation department and running collaboration schemes like Next-Incubator.
“The number and quality of startup applications really went beyond what we expected,” said Christian Purrer, Board Member at Energie Steiermark. “Much of that is thanks to the great work Pioneers Discover did as they drove and managed the application phase. We’re exciting about continuing our partnership as we work towards building lasting partnerships with the best of these startups.”
“The need for us to look at future-facing business models and innovative approaches means we need to work towards new partnerships, and also be open to working with partners in other industries,” added Purrer, underlining the critical importance of corporations keeping close watch on all the opportunities the innovation scene has to offer.
The team has already completed a careful evaluation of the startups in conjunction with Energie Steiermark. From our shortlist of 30 startups, 10 will soon be selected for a final bootcamp in September, which Pioneers Discover is also helping to organise and moderate.
For further open call opportunities with Pioneers Discover please visit https://pioneers.io/discover/open-calls.
