This article was 1st published on our Sister Site, The Internet Of All Things
Three major companies Cisco, Deutsche Telekom and Intel recently announced ‘challengeUp!’, a joint Internet of Things (IoT) accelerator for startups from the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. The program aims at helping innovative IoT startups go-to-market faster through joint projects, mentoring, high-value networking and corporate assets. Selected companies may also receive strategic investment and support commercialising their product or service for global markets.
The program claims to unite resources and experience from the startup initiatives of the individual companies, including Cisco Entrepreneurs in Residence (Cisco EIR), Intel Business Challenge Europe and hub:raum powered by Deutsche Telekom. The application period ends on May 25.
“With challengeUp! we are bringing together the resources and know-how of three corporations. We will use our combined experience for the benefit of the Challenge Up! program and the support of the startup community”, said Elias Drakopoulos, Senior Vice President responsible for Europe B2B at Deutsche Telekom, in a written statement. ChallengeUp! is designed for early-stage startups creating solutions for the Internet of Things/Everything (IoT/IoE) and related areas, including connected and smart solutions (smart home, smart city, smart energy, connected cars, wearables, Industry 4.0), information security, big data, analytics, connectivity and cloud computing.
Key elements of the program are Acceleration Week (to be held July 6-10, 2015), which will be sponsored by Cisco EIR, Intel Business Challenge Europe and hub:raum, and a tailor-made, 4-month incubation program (July to October) taking place in Krakow, Berlin and Vienna supported by Cisco, Deutsche Telekom and Intel.
What’s in for startups?
The biggest value for participating startups is the support to accelerate the go-to-market preparation and commercialisation of the projects. Access to expert networks all around the world offers startups the technology and business know-how need to succeed.
The startups that are best at executing their solution while in the program are eligible for potential co-investment from Cisco, Intel and Deutsche Telekom also from leading corporate venture funds.
The program is free to start ups, no equity is required for participation, and startups keep their Intellectual Property. ChallengeUp! will even cover some travel and accommodation costs incurred through the program.
Here’s the timetable of challengeUp:
Turbo Acceleration Week in Krakow (for up to 24 startups)
July 6 – July 10
First Incubation week in Krakow (for up to 12 startups)
July 11 – July 13
Second incubation week in Berlin
September 2 – September 6
Challenge Up! Summit: Novemeber
More dates to be announced soon.
You may also want to read: Cisco shows it’s big on IoT security, offers upto US $300k as bounty in challenge
Image Credit: challengeUp!
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