42 finalists from 20 countries in seven categories – health, food, raw materials, energy, urban mobility, manufacturing, and New European Bauhaus (focused on sustainable and inclusive living spaces) presented their pitches during the EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final in Cracow on November 29th. W Insight was a media partner of the event.
FCL from Serbia was awarded the best business idea from Western Balkans, and Bulgarian startup Green Kilometers won the Best Cross-Thematic Business Idea prize, a special award for impactful innovators. In cooperation with local municipalities, the company has created a social-benefit system that rewards inhabitants who choose “green” options when commuting. The New European Bauhaus prize went to Spektral Seismic Solutions from Slovenia. There were other finalists as well, and you can see a complete list below the article.
Women leadership
A session with three women entrepreneurs was held during the event. Zsófia Ghira, Megi Mejdrechová, and Clara Balust shared their challenges when growing their startup projects.
We interviewed Ghira, Mejdrechova, and another entrepreneur – Miren Gallastegui, for W Insight and will publish the Q&As soon.
The EIT Jumpstarter program aims to push early-stage innovators from emerging European regions onto the market and help their scientific ideas and innovations become successful businesses. The program lasts seven months, during which selected startups work with mentors and receive a master class in business modeling and business planning. Then, based on the developed business plan, the startups are evaluated and the six best ones are qualified for the Grand Final where they compete for the prize of 10,000 EUR in each category. More than 750 innovators have joined the program during the last six years.
The complete list of winners
EIT Health
1st prize – Thertact, Portugal
2nd prize – Orgavalue, Portugal
3rd prize – Play.air, Poland
EIT Food
1st prize – LiFi4Food, Spain
2nd prize – Ribes Technologies, Poland
3rd prize – Digital Bites, Greece
EIT Raw Materials
1st prize – FarMine, Turkey
2nd prize – EpoxCE, Spain
3rd prize – Kodatek, Estonia
EIT InnoEnergy
1st prize – Solar Container Marine (Green Marine), Spain
2nd prize – EFC Mag, Slovenia
3rd prize – EV to go, North Macedonia
EIT Manufacturing
1st prize – Quimsil, Spain
2nd prize – Lume Label, Poland
3rd prize – Fprint, Spain
EIT Urban Mobility
1st prize – Bruntor, Latvia
2nd prize – BeBeep, Montenegro
3rd prize – Esguil, Spain
New European Bauhaus
1st prize – Spektral Seismic Solutions, Slovenia
2nd prize – KEEEN, Italy
3rd prize – HIRIKI, Spain
Special prizes
Best X-KIC project – Green Kilometers, Bulgaria
Best RIS Hub: Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland
Best Business Idea from Western Balkans: FCL, Serbia
Audience Award – MaskOFF, Poland
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