Start-up competition - digital innovations

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The start-up competition - digital innovations of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) supports start-ups whose ideas are based on modern information and communication technology (ICT) with prize money as well as coaching and advice on setting up a company. The “Start-up Competition - Digital Innovations” builds on a long tradition and follows the “ Start-up Competition - IKT Innovativ ” (2010–2015) and the “ Start-up Competition - Start Successfully with Multimedia ” (2004–2010) and “ Start-up Competition - Multimedia ” (1997-2001). The ideas competition is part of the Digital Agenda 2014–2017the German Federal Government. The VDI / VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH (VDI / VDE-IT) has been commissioned with the implementation. There are two competition rounds per year. The award ceremonies will take place at the IFA in Berlin and at the CeBIT in Hanover. In total, over 600,000 euros are available per competition year to give young, innovative technology companies start-up assistance.

The competition

The start-up competition is an ideas competition. To participate, applicants should describe their founding concept on a maximum of 15 pages. It is not necessary to draw up a full business plan to enter the competition. In the idea sketch, the innovative core of the idea should be shown and the technical and commercial skills should be discussed. In addition, the feasibility of the founding idea in economic and technical terms as well as in relation to resource planning should be evident.

There are two rounds of competition each year, each of which has two phases. In the first phase, the founding teams can submit their ideas. All participants receive professional feedback on their idea sketches from the jury. In the second phase, the top 50 teams with the best concepts are given the opportunity to use this feedback to further develop their ideas and submit them again. The jury then selects the winners based on the revised and optimized idea sketches. The ideas competition aims to give really innovative ideas a chance, even if some areas such as marketing and sales, the implementation concept or financial planning initially show weaknesses.

Prices

In each round of the competition, up to six start-up ideas are awarded main prizes of 32,000 euros each. The prize money should serve as start-up capital for setting up a company. A partial amount of 7,000 euros will be paid out shortly after the award ceremony. The remaining payment of 25,000 euros is linked to the specific establishment of a company in the form of a GmbH or an AG based in Germany. In addition, up to fifteen other start-up ideas will be awarded cash prizes of 7,000 euros each. In addition, the BMWi regularly awards special prizes on current topics of the “ digital agenda ”, which are endowed with prize money of up to 10,000 euros. The topics of the special prizes will be announced in the respective round on the website of the start-up competition. All participants in the start-up competition receive a written assessment of their start-up idea with regard to strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks ( SWOT analysis ). All award winners receive a comprehensive coaching and qualification program tailored to their individual needs.

Application deadlines

There are two competition rounds annually. 

Events

Round 1

  • Phase 1: January 1st - March 31st
  • Phase 2: June 1st - June 30th

round 2

  • Phase 1: July 1st - September 30th
  • Phase 2: December 1st - December 31st

Participation requirements

All persons residing in Germany who intend to set up a company in Germany are entitled to participate.

Participants who have already been founded in the form of a GmbH or an AG may not have been registered more than four months ago. Entrepreneurial companies (UG) are excluded from this rule . An application for the “Founders' Competition - Digital Innovations” can be repeated up to two times in the following competition rounds.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Up to 600,000 euros in prize money annually for ICT start-ups: The new “Start-up Competition - Digital Innovations” of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy - Press - Start-up Competition - Digital Innovations. Retrieved February 14, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Up to 600,000 euros in prize money annually for ICT start-ups: The new “Start-up Competition - Digital Innovations” of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy - Press - Start-up Competition - Digital Innovations. Retrieved February 14, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Conditions of competition - competition - start-up competition - digital innovations. Retrieved February 14, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Conditions of competition - competition - start-up competition - digital innovations. Retrieved February 14, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Conditions of competition - competition - start-up competition - digital innovations. Retrieved February 14, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Who has the best digital ideas in Germany? Start of applications for the new "Start-up Competition - Digital Innovations" - Press - Start-up Competition - Digital Innovations. Retrieved February 14, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Evaluation criteria and prizes - competition - start-up competition - digital innovations. Retrieved February 14, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Conditions of competition - competition - start-up competition - digital innovations. Retrieved February 14, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Conditions of competition - competition - start-up competition - digital innovations. Retrieved February 14, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Conditions of competition - competition - start-up competition - digital innovations. Retrieved February 14, 2017 .