Last week for entries to EDP Open Innovation
Global award for startups will award € 50,000 and hold exhibition for finalists at the Web Summit, the largest and most important event in the sector in Europe
Next week, entries close for the EDP Open Innovation award held by EDP Brasil, a company that operates in the areas of energy generation, distribution, marketing and solutions. Entrepreneural teams with creative ideas for the electric sector have until Tuesday, August 31 to register their projects.
For the first edition of the contest, the subjects included are related to clean energies and recent industry trends in the sector. The competition covers the following topics: energy efficiency; electric mobility; the internet of things; M2M (Machine-to-Machine); machine learning; information technology; wind, solar, and offshore electric production and other forms of energy; the storage and distribution of energy; and natural gas.
"The aim is to stimulate the emergence of innovative ground-breaking businesses, so as to anticipate the transformation of the electric sector and contribute to its development, making it more and more efficient and sustainable," says Jo‹o Brito Martins, director of Strategy, Organization and Innovation at EDP Brasil.
The world largest competition for innovation in the energy sector came into being though the merger of the EDP Inova‹o and Energia de Portugal Awards, both of which encouraged entrepreneurship in the energy area. Interested parties, from anywhere in the world, must submit their projects with potential to reach markets on a global scale.
The teams should consist of 2 to 4 members and can subscribe through the website http://edpopeninnovation.edp.pt.
Contest stages and awards
After the registration stage, up to 30 groups will be selected for interviews conducted by an international jury. At this stage, contestants will have the opportunity to detail their business model and persuade jurors to back their projects.
From these discussions, 15 teams will be chosen, which will benefit from the accelerator program for startups in Lisbon during the whole month of October. Travel and accommodation costs in Portugal will be the responsibility of the EDP organization, limited to two members per group.
At this point, the teams will work at the F‡brica de Startup to accelerate their projects and will follow the FabStart method, which will allow them to simulate the product in the real world. This is a unique opportunity to share experiences and improve their projects, at the same time as receiving assistance from periodic mentoring sessions with renowned professionals from the areas of interest.
The winning team will be awarded a prize of Û 50,000, an amount to be used exclusively in the development of the idea. The three groups with the best performance throughout the contest according to criteria established by the EDP Open Innovation organizing committee will be present at the EDP Stand at the Web Summit, the largest and most important technology startup event in Europe, to present their projects to investors and guests attending the event.
The winners will be announced in Lisbon November, after all the members of the acceleration program make their pitches to an audience composed of EDP employees, investors and guests.
Participants with high-potential projects will also be invited to join the EDP Starter Program in Portugal, Spain or Brazil.
The contest regulation and more information about the award are available at the website:
