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Techcelerator brings to Romania the Venture Program, a pre-accelerator offered by EIT Digital. Up to 25,000 EUR per winning team


Techcelerator brings to Romania and Bulgaria the Venture Program, the pre-acceleration program launched by EIT Digital
, developed to support early-stage entrepreneurial teams on their journey to market. The program is open to teams from the Baltics, Eastern Europe and Southern Europe (full list of 19 countries here).  Entrepreneurial, non-incorporated teams with digital deep tech business plans are encouraged to apply by April 8th

The Venture Program takes young entrepreneurs from idea to investment in less than a year. The selected teams will receive an intense 8 week knowledge training, they will get support to build their MVP, as well as financial support from investors, to navigate efficiently through the first year of building their business.

At the final “Pitch Days”, teams get the chance to validate their business solution by presenting it in front of early-stage investors, potential clients, and experts from the tech community. 

“We strongly believe in the impact Romania and Bulgaria can have on the European innovation system, therefore we seek to enhance their contribution by opening a path for the young entrepreneurs in the region to start their venture and be successful. It’s always together that we are stronger, more knowledgeable, more efficient. ROTSA is constantly promoting Romanian start-ups, and is always at work to consolidate Europe’s start-up ecosystem”, states Tudor Pasc, Incubation Director, ROTSA.

“In addition to our focus on pre-seed technology start-ups, Techcelerator is keen to support grassroots ventures. This year, we are happy to do so with the Venture Program, as members of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. There is great need to work with founders, even from the idea stage, and support the best ones to grow and become the next unicorns in the region. What it takes is the urge and commitment to build a viable venture”, states Cristina Țoncu, Co-Founder Techcelerator.

All accepted teams will receive a 5000 euro grant funding upon the selection in the program. Winning teams will receive a grant of up to 25,000 EUR


The program will select non-incorporated multidisciplinary teams, with the best innovative business ideas, PoC or prototype in one of the EIT Digital 5 market verticals: Digital Industry, Digital Cities, Digital Wellbeing, Digital Tech and Digital Finance. Among other selection criteria are: addressed market or business challenge, technology underlying the product/service, product innovativeness, global market and risks associated with the business model.

The pre-accelerator program starts on May 10th, it lasts for 2 months, and will be organised online. The full program lasts until November 30th, 2022. The interested founders are invited to apply until April 8th here. More information about the program is available here.

In the past four years, the EIT Digital Venture Program has supported more than 93 teams and over 200 entrepreneurs in an early stage of their development. Many of these teams have attracted investors during or shortly after the pre-acceleration program.

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About EIT Digital

EIT Digital believes in making and shaping a competitive digital Europe that is inclusive, fair and sustainable, and aims at global impact through European innovation fuelled by entrepreneurial talent and digital technology. 

EIT Digital embodies the future of innovation by mobilising a pan-European multi-stakeholder open-innovation ecosystem of top European corporations, SMEs, start-ups, universities and research institutes, where students, researchers, engineers, business developers and investors address the technology, talent, skills, business and capital needs of digital entrepreneurship. 

EIT Digital builds the next generation of digital ventures, digital products and services, and breeds digital entrepreneurial talent, helping business and entrepreneurs to be at the frontier of digital innovation by providing them with technology, talent, and growth support. 

EIT Digital is a Knowledge and Innovation Community of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). EIT Digital is co-funded by the European Union.

For more information, visit www.eitdigital.eu.

Application form FAQ’s

General aspects

  • A minimum number of 2 members per team are eligible to take part in the competition.
  • Each team can submit one and no more than one application.
  • The Venture Program Committee reserves the right to disqualify any submission that violates any of the points above. Disqualified submissions will not be reviewed and will receive no feedback.

Some questions first:

Any source of funding that has an equity ownership component, including funding from non-managing founders, is considered institutional and must be clearly identified in the proposal.

Teams that are in the process of securing arrangements for capital from any source must disclose the amounts and types of sources of capital (e.g.: Grants, Angel and or Venture Capitalists (“VC”)) as well as amounts and dates. This information shall be clearly identified in their submissions and Teams shall keep the Venture Program Committee aware of such developments throughout the selection process. Such information will be treated as confidential.

Applying teams must not have already established a legal entity for the project in question.

Which vertical do you consider the best match for your venture project?

Digital Tech is the core enabler of digital transformation, by providing secure, robust, responsive and intelligent communications and computation facilities.
In this category we have several targets: In networking, the focus lies in improving the mobile broadband infrastructure, network management tools based on software defined networks (SDN), and a multitude of IoT applications in the network area. In computing, we focus on Cloud Computing, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence, especially technologies efficiently combining AI techniques such as machine learning and deep learning capabilities on top of the cloud & Big Data platform(s) in such a way that it leads to successful business. In security, we are looking for solutions on privacy, cyber security, and digital ID management. Of great interest are solutions enforcing the privacy-by-design paradigm and the minimality principle in balance with usability, and usage of user-controllable privacy policies and assurance levels. We are also looking for data privacy solutions for cloud services through implementation of advanced cryptographic techniques.
Keywords: Cloud Computing, Big Data, AI, privacy, cyber security, digital ID management

Delivery of innovative financial products and services through digital technology, with the objective of making financial systems more reliable, more transparent, and less dependent on central infrastructures.
Within this category, we are looking for disruptive solutions using blockchain technology for various applications, including payments, contract handling and voting. Technologies integrating Artificial Intelligence, pattern identification technologies, machine learning, natural language processing, homomorphic encryption and big data analytics are equally interesting. In addition, solutions improving interactions between customers and financial service providers, offering new and innovative approaches for customer relations and focusing on usability are part of the focus of the Digital Finance category.
Key words: blockchain technologies, pattern identification, machine learning, natural language processing, homomorphic encryption

Digital Industry covers the seamless process from production to retail and the related supporting functions such as logistics and consumer engagement.

We are looking for innovative solutions to improve efficiency in production and retail, to
better address customer needs, and to help save natural resources in manufacturing and logistics. This includes solutions creating value from big data collection, aggregation, analysis and visualization services (and their enabling technologies) for decentralized production management covering the complete product life cycle:
design, simulation, production, operation/consumption, maintenance, and consumer relationship frameworks. Value creation may also be achieved from dynamic and flexible omnichannel solutions for all kinds of commerce – physical, online or blended- which enable the seamless consumer experience in exploration, in choice of products, payment and delivery, as well as collection and analysis consumer trends and insight for logistics, retail operations and customer relationship management.
Keywords: Production and retail, manufacturing, IoT, logistics, big data

Digital Wellbeing leverages digital technologies to stay healthy (prevention/early detection) or cope with an existing chronic condition. Both physical and mental wellbeing are considered.
The solutions should enable consumers to be well-informed about their wellbeing and to be able to use digital instrumentation to monitor and improve their quality of life, according to the motto “an ounce of prevention is worth at least a pound of cure”. Good examples are products (unobtrusive sensors and actuators and associated software services) targeted at occupational and private health and fitness. The clear focus is on measures supporting prevention or secondary care for both physical and mental/cognitive impairments. Correlation of diverse data sources in a “big data” approach is also important to get more relevant results. As the collected data is sensitive, privacy-aware systems are equally important. Solutions that delay the onset of physical and cognitive/mental conditions or cope with these conditions in a social context are considered as a triple win.
Keywords: prevention, fitness, monitoring, early detection, e-health

Digital transformation of the cities through centralized, participative and collaborative interactions between city actors: government, city service providers, industry, citizens.
In the information area, we are looking for solutions to allow municipalities or regions to evolve from Open Data to an Urban Information Framework, creating value from big and real time data, audio/video flows generated by any sensors, IoT, social networks, crowd sensing, etc. Examples of expected new business models include semantic data browsing, data brokerage and trusted services between data providers and customers, as well as hyper-local services and local Internet networks. Additionally, solutions for a clean, quiet, stress-less and cost-effective mobility are of interest. Mobility as a Service integrating public, private, peer-to-peer, conventional, decarbonized or autonomous transport means in seamless door-to-door mobility services. Augmented and virtual reality solutions for city planners and tourists in situ with valuable added information about the past and potential future of city sights. Also, solutions improving the safety in the cities are expected, either for exceptional events such as concerts, climatic events or terrorist attacks, or in daily life, in the street, at home or at work. Traditional centralized systems need to be enhanced with citizen participation and collaboration at each step of risk management: risk analysis, prevention and mitigation strategies, training, prediction and post-event analysis.
Keywords: mobility, safety, e-government

Selection process:

The selection process for the Growth Package will be performed by the Venture Program Selection Panel, appointed by the Venture Program Committee. The process will go through two phases:

• Application shortlisting, based on individual assessments provided by the Selection Panel members, followed by a consensus meeting.

• Interviews via video-conference with shortlisted teams.
Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

After individual assessments, the Panel will convene in a consensus meeting and select the applicants to invite to individual interviews, with the aim of gathering additional information and clarifying possible pending issues.

After the interviews, the Selection Panel will rank the shortlisted applicants and provide, by consensus, the list of the winners of the Growth Package Prize.

At least 3 Selection Panel members will individually rate each application according to the above listed Selection Criteria. Each category will be scored on a scale from 1 to 5 by the Panel members where:
• Poor – criterion is inadequately addressed or there are serious inherent weaknesses
• Fair – application broadly addresses the criterion, but there are significant weaknesses
• Good – application addresses the criterion well, but a number of shortcomings are present
• Very good – application addresses the criterion very well, but a small number of shortcomings are present
• Excellent – application successfully addresses all relevant aspects of the criterion. Any shortcomings are minor.
The maximum score attainable is 30.

Submissions that describe exciting technological breakthroughs but fail to show a clear path to commercialization will not score well. The goal of the EIT Digital Venture Program is not to fund science, but to support the execution of the MVP and the establishment of a new venture.
The selection will focus on how well the team has prepared the submission, i.e.
• Their solution to a clearly identified market challenge within one of the verticals, and the fit of the envisioned MVP to solve such a challenge demonstrated by the validation of at least a first mock-up prototype.
• The venture’s business model, how it’s going to be implemented and its scalability.
• Of the utmost importance, the quality of the team and its capability of executing the identified strategy, including clearly identified technical and business skills.
Key operational aspects during the execution stage and how the support provided may or may not have an impact on it.
• General quality of the presentation and demonstrated communication skills.

What are the criteria?

Describe the core knowledge and expertise of each team member, as well as any areas of competence still in need of development within the team. Be as open and honest as possible. Describe also the team’s access to knowledge and expertise in any specialist field outside yours but required to implement the solution envisaged, i.e. your product and / or service, and to establish your venture.

Through a 2 to 3 sentence statement, describe who is your customer and the challenge that your product and/ or service will actually solve or help to solve. Characterise clearly and quantitatively the current problems faced by customers with existing solutions (from competitors, direct and indirect).

Please, keep in mind that the Venture Program targets deep-tech based solutions. Start by describing your technology, the stage of technical development you are at and what the next critical steps in development are to establish your MVP and have your solutions ready to launch in the market. What makes it different (better) from existing solutions? Participants must refrain from disclosing any confidential information for that purpose. In other words, do not describe how your technology works but rather explain what technology it is, what it does and how it meets customers’ needs. Also, explain your strategy for managing any Intellectual Property (IP) protection for your solution.

Through a clear, 2 to 3 sentence statement, describe your solution, the benefits for the customer and how it overcomes the problems identified in item 2. Be as quantitative as possible in the description of the benefits. For instance, do not just say that your solution “is better than..” but rather “enables XX% improvement in..”

Describe the main characteristics (margins; emerging; consolidation stage, other) of the market in which you will introduce your solution (product or service) and in which way your value proposition (to the customer) makes it an attractive opportunity for an investor. Include the financial needs for implementation and the projected returns for a hypothetical investor. Also, highlight how the market has been growing and how it is expected to grow in the foreseeable future. Always quote and reference your sources. You will also need to focus on market sizes for the total and the addressable markets respectively, and make clear any economic, political, and regulatory issues that may limit market access.

Global investors expect teams responsible for their projects to apply international best practice in managing the risks and achieving the objectives of the project. Risk management needs to be balanced with the opportunities presented in a timely and cost-effective manner. Clearly identify the main risks involved in your business model and strategy. Document the risks and the severity of any legal/regulatory issue (e.g. International standards, issues with privacy regulation, IP disclosures and protection strategies, etc.). Provide a discussion of the budgetary implications of dealing with the above risks, being honest about possible costs no matter how uncertain such estimates may be.

For more information, visit www.eitdigital.eu.

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