News archive - IEC Tehnopolis: The second cycle of the BoostMeUp pre-acceleration program has been succesfully completed
BoostMeUp is the first pre-acceleration program in Montenegro intended for innovators, development teams in the early stages of an entrepreneurial venture, as well as entrepreneurs who intend to bring new and innovative products or services to the market.
The pre-acceleration program is implemented by a consortium of partners, led by the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center Tehnopolis, in cooperation with the Science and Technology Park of Montenegro, Amplitudo LLC and Crnogorski Telekom, co - funded by the Ministry of Science and Technological Development of Montenegro.
The general goal of the program was to increase the competitiveness and digitization of the Montenegrin economy through the development of the Montenegrin innovation ecosystem, creation of knowledge and new values, entrepreneurial culture, and access to markets for innovative and entrepreneurial projects. Additionaly to that, the specific goals of the program were:
- Improving the capacity of the Montenegrin innovative ecosystem in terms of knowledge and skills in the field of business development, technology development, protection of intellectual property rights and other relevant topics through the organization and implementation of the non-financial part of the support program (mentoring program, meet-ups, workshops, trainings).
- Activation and promotion of innovative entrepreneurial potential with a focus on universities and the development of entrepreneurial culture in Montenegro through the realization of educational-motivational and promotional events in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation using the public-private partnership model with key national and regional companies and start-ups and the national IT cluster.
- Improving the conditions for financing and access to capital for innovative and entrepreneurial ideas and start-up projects from Montenegro through the provision of direct financial support, the presentation of ideas and projects to investors, business angels from the country and the region and through the creation of special financing documents for the mentioned ideas for each of the supported ideas projects in order to define available models of financial support for Montenegrin projects in Montenegro and at the international level.
The importance and value of the program was recognized within the community, and after active promotional online and offlice campaigin, the 20 best rated teams were invited to atend the BootCamp of the BoostMeUp programme. During the BootCamp for the participants were organized Design thinking workshops, lectures, presentations, and active work with mentors. The lectures were dedicated to the process of development startup project, proces of registration, and mapping available support for startups in Montenegro. Additionally to that, to the teams was presented regional mentors platform which represents network of mentors from the Western Balkan region, who can provide additional support to the teams without any charges.
Also, to the teams was presented the Laboratory for industrial design TechLab Tehnopolis, which provided significant support during the prototyping process for all teams. Besides that, during the BootCamp the teams constantly worked with mentors and develop their ideas based on feedback and comments from the expert’s side. After the BootCamp the project team with the previously engaged mentors choose best 11 teams to develop additionally their ideas through BoostMeUp pre-acceleration programme.
During the four-month BoostMeUp program, the most successful development teams had financial support and non-financial support which included mentoring program divided into 6 modules and provided services of infrastructural segments of IEC Tehnopolis, such as are Laboratory for Industrial design TechLab Tehnopolis, Code Hub Niksic coworking space, FILA innovation laboratory and Biotechnical laboratory BioLab Tehnopolis, Data center, and development program support of the Science and Technology Park of Montenegro and Amplitudo LLC, in order to develop their innovative and export-oriented ideas.
The mentioned mentoring program were organized on 6 different topics, i.e.
- Development of business model;
- Marketing, research and market analysis;
- Intellectual property rights;
- Financial management;
- Pitching skills;
- Technology development and prototyping.
After the successfully organized four-month mentoring program, the final event i.e. Montenegro Pitching Competition was organized, during which the 8 most successful teams had the opportunity to present their innovative ideas, as well as knowledge and skills acquired through work under the program, to potential investors, business angels, national and international business communities and institutions from the country and the region. The mentioned event was organized on June 16th 2022. at the hotel The Chedi - Lustica Bay, in Tivat, Montenegro.
Presentations of ideas, i.e. pitch, were held in English lasting 3 minutes per team, with 5 minutes space dedicated for questions from the jury members in Montenegrin language.
The 8 finalists who presented their ideas were:
- Flash – A system for faster and more secure payment and transfer of funds
- Be Beep – A platform for sharing transportation costs
- Heart Shaped Box – Electronic donor boxes
- Parqueue – The perfect parking space for you
- Honey Swat – Smart water dispenser for bees
- Spectro – AI software for fire prevention and control
- Butt Made – Recycling cigarette butts into useful products
- Flatoro – A platform for real estate advertising and agent promotion
The evaluation by jury members have been done by the initially defined 7 criteriums, and those are: problem definition, commercial potential of ideas and competition, market size, technology choice, innovativeness, credibility and competence of the team and general impression.
The jury members selected three teams with the greatest potential for success on the global market. The winner was the Flash team, the second placed team is the Spectro team, while the third place was reserved for the BeBeep team.
In addition to the main prizes, a special prize was awarded, i.e. a trip to the United States of America (USA) for four teams, was provided by Digital Den Hub, through their Montenegro Technology and Startup Bridge program. A special award went to the teams Flash, Honey Swat, Butt Made and Spectro. The teams will have the opportunity to talk to potential investors in four states in the USA and present their ideas to them.
- Montenegro
- Engineering and Technology
- General
Entry created by Admin WBC-RTI.info on September 28, 2022
Modified on September 28, 2022
