There is time until July 27 to apply for the Business Plan Competition, Stage II of Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta 2022, the initiative now in its 18th edition and promoted by the I3P, 2i3T and Enne3 incubators to support the birth of innovative and knowledge-intensive start-ups, spread the culture of innovation at local level and promote the economic development of the Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta regions.
Organised within the framework of the PNI - Italian National Award for Innovation promoted by PNICube, the Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta's Business Plan Competition is open to all aspiring entrepreneurs over 18 years of age, who can submit a Business Plan describing an entrepreneurial project aimed at the creation of an innovative start-up in reference to the Life Sciences, ICT, Cleantech & Energy, Industrial, Tourism and Cultural & Creative Industry competition categories.
The numbers of the Ideas Competition
In the meantime, the Ideas Competition has successfully closed. The Stage I of Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta gathers and identifies the best business ideas to be rewarded with free support and consultancy services and activities provided by the Business Incubators, aimed at drawing up a business plan.
There were 173 proposals, up from 146 last year, and 416 proposers, 71% of whom were men and 29% women, and one in three was under 30. In general, they are mostly university graduates (47% master's degree and 17% three-year degree), but there is no shortage of graduates, who account for 22% of the proposers. More than 4 out of 10 are resident in Turin.
The ideas mainly refer to the ICT sector (32%), i.e. innovative products and/or services in the field of information technology and new media, such as e-commerce, social media, mobile, gaming, etc. The Tourism and Cultural and Creative Industry sector is also popular with 23% of candidate ideas. This is followed by project ideas for the Cleantech & Energy sector (16%), i.e. oriented towards improving environmental sustainability, environmental protection and energy management. Life Sciences and Industrial were the focus of 15% and 14% of the candidate projects, respectively.
"We are very satisfied with the results of Stage I: the numbers show us an ecosystem that is constantly evolving and an area that is eager to grow and improve through innovation. We are now looking forward to evaluating the business proposals of Stage II and, above all, to accompanying them in their growth. To date, Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta has supported the birth of more than 160 companies that now employ more than 1,300 people," commented the Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta organising committee.
"The Piedmont Region has always believed in innovation and in the ability of people to come up with innovative and practical business ideas, because that is where our future lies, our ability to evolve," commented Councillor for Education, Employment and Professional Training Elena Chiorino and Councillor for the Development of Productive Activities Andrea Tronzano. "And we have proof of this in the 2022 edition of Start Cup, which once again proves to be a veritable hotbed of business ideas with so many proposals reaching the award secretariat. All this is nothing other than the declination of the quality of a Piedmontese anthropological fabric that is always able to find and experiment new ways and new proposals, and it only increases the seriousness of a prize that improves in prestige and notoriety every year".
The prizes of the Business Plan Competition
Stage II, the Business Plan Competition, has officially started and will end on July 27, giving access to the final selection and prizes. It is also open to those who did not submit an idea in Phase I. To participate in Phase II of the competition, the Business Plan Competition, it is necessary to submit a Business Plan describing an entrepreneurial project on the contest's official website.
The best projects will be decided by mid-November and will receive cash prizes and special mentions, awarded with the support of a Jury made up of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and business angels. Thanks to the endowment made available by the Promoters and Supporters of the 2022 edition, as well as the support of the Piedmont Region through the European Social Fund, this year's total prize money rises to over 60,000 euros and will be awarded in cash and services.
The first prize winner will receive €10,000, the second prize €7,500 and the third prize €5,000. The first six projects will also be awarded a prize of €1,000 each for entering the PNI 2022, the Italian National Innovation Award, the 'cup of champions' among the winning business projects of the regional Start Cups that this year will be held in L'Aquila, organised by Start Cup Abruzzo and the University of L'Aquila.
There will also be special prizes promoted by Sponsors interested in contributing concretely to the development of innovation:
- the Cuneo Prize, of €7,500, for the best Business Plan that establishes the company in the Province of Cuneo, sponsored by Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo;
- the Valle d'Aosta Prize, of €7,500, for the best Business Plan that establishes the company in the Pépinières d'Entreprises of Aosta or Pont-Saint-Martin, sponsored by Regione Autonoma Valle d'Aosta;
- two Jacobacci & Partners Prizes, worth a total of €7,000, to be awarded to the two best Business Plans with intellectual property features on the basis of merit - Jacobacci 150 Gold Award, worth 5,000 euros, and Jacobacci Silver Award, worth 2,000 euros - in the form of consultancy services on the protection of trademarks, models and patents, offered by Jacobacci & Partners;
- the Space Economy Prize, of €7,500 for the best Business Plan proposing innovative products or services based on space technologies, with both upstream and downstream applications, offered by Distretto Aerospaziale Piemonte;
- the City of the Future and Sustainability Prize, of €7,500, of which €4,000 in cash and €3,500 in the form of technical services, for the best Business Plan proposing innovative products and/or services linked to sustainability, offered by Fondazione LINKS;
- the UniCredit Start Lab Prize, for the best Business Plan on the basis of the maturity of the entrepreneurial project, the market potential, the team's skills and the innovative characteristics of the startup finalists, consisting of a mentorship session during which it will be possible to assess the suitability of the project to be admitted to targeted content of the Start Lab programme, offered by Unicredit.
There will also be five special mentions:
- "Equal Opportunities": for the best project of "Social enterprise in terms of equal opportunities" aimed at promoting the female entrepreneurship, whose definition requires that it meets at least one of the following criteria: women-led team or social structure; team or social structure containing at least 51% of women..
- "Social Innovation": for the best "Social Innovation" project, defined according to the criteria expressed by the Italian regulations for innovative startups..
- "Covid-19": for the best project that offers solutions to health crises caused by the spread of virus outbreaks through innovative products/services designed to protect human health, prevention, emergency management, data and information, economic recovery and health system strengthening.
- "Open Innovation / Industrial Spin-off": to the best project concerning innovative products and/or services coming from a joint research activity between a company and a University in Piedmont, Italy.
- "Climate Change": for the best project proposing innovative solutions related to climate, biodiversity, energy, mobility, economics and technology to combat climate change.
Also confirmed is the participation in the initiative and the support for the Start Cup organisation of the other Sponsors: the City of Turin and Fondazione Michelin Sviluppo, aimed at fostering the socio-economic development of the area and the creation of jobs.
For more information, you can write to info@startcup-piemonte-vda.it, while to stay up-to-date on all the news of the competition - in the current or future editions - you can follow the official social media channels on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, or subscribe to the dedicated newsletter via the form at the bottom of the official website pages.
