The Ireland-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce (ILCC) today launched its fourth Innovation Contest to promote the concepts of innovation, entrepreneurship and business idea pitching to take place on 8 May, with a deadline for applications of 25 April.
The contest is open to early-stage start-ups in the domains of: Connected Objects / Internet of Things (IoT); Mobility / Smart City; FinTech / RegTech; Healthcare / eHealth Tech; AI / Machine Learning -- whose founders or developers have formed their business ideas but not yet necessarily created their company .
The ILCC Innovation Contest is based loosely on the Dragon’s Den concept of pitching ideas to potential investors with market experience. As long as the project would be operated from Luxembourg, is an early-stage start-up with under €50,000 raised, and has a technological component, there are no restrictions as to whether it is product- or service-based, or whether the participating entrepreneurs are ILCC members or not. Applicants will need to demonstrate that they have covered the groundwork of market research, prototyping, a financial business plan and and have the ability to deliver a pitch.
Once the above is established, applicants can email: info@ilcc.lu with a brief outline of their business idea. Full applications should be submitted by Tuesday 25 April 2017, so that entrepreneurs can be selected to pitch their ideas in front of the “Dragons” on 8 May at a venue to be confirmed.
The selected/screened entrepreneurs will be invited to pitch their ideas in front of a panel of “Dragons”, each for a maximum five minutes. During the next five-ten minutes, the “Dragons” can then ask questions to better understand the business concept. When all pitches have finished, the “Dragons” will deliberate to choose the best pitch or pitches for the awarding of prizes. Judging criteria will be along the lines of the four basics detailed above, with the individual “Dragons” bringing their own market expertise to their critiques and decisions.
The pitching event will be followed by a networking reception during which the winning pitches will be awarded prizes from organisations including the ILCC, Bonn Steichen & Partners, ATOZ, Enterprise Ireland, The Huggard Consulting Group, LuxFutureLab with more under consideration.
