The goal of the Matchathon is to connect the needs of innovators with the opportunities made available by investors, corporates, public authorities, academia and research institutions. During the Matchathon, innovators will pitch their solutions in order to secure deals and funding that will enable them to scale up their innovative solutions and bring them to the market. This in turn will help address COVID-19 relevant challenges and speed up the European and global recovery in the aftermath of the pandemic.

A total of 120 winning projects with 800 innovators working in multinational teams, 115 investors and more than 200 ‘partners’ (including corporates, universities and public authorities) have registered to participate at this #EUvsVirus Matchathon.

A Demo Day with selected teams and partners is scheduled for 21 May ahead of the Matchathon, which will take place from 22 to 25 May.

Background

On 24, 25 and 26 April the European Commission, led by the European Innovation Council and in close collaboration with the EU member states, hosted a pan-European hackathon to connect civil society, innovators, partners and investors across Europe in order to develop innovative solutions for coronavirus-related challenges. Over 20,900 people from across the EU and beyond took part, with 2,150 solutions submitted in areas including health and life (898), business continuity (381), remote working and education (270), social and political cohesion (452), digital finance (75) and other challenges (83).

The solutions were selected by a jury and weighted according to impact potential (40%), technical complexity & novelty (20%), prototype completion (20%) and efficacy of business plan (20%). Winners and two runners up were also selected for each challenge, of which there are 37. Cash prizes will be offered by partners to winners of their choosing - a total of over €100,000 has been pledged by partners to date.

Full list of winners and prize allocations

Original source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/european-commission-euvsvirus-matchathon-boost-scaling-creative-solutions-covid-19-challenges-2020-may-20_en