EuropeanPioneers launches second call for new start-ups

By @SimonCocking

This week, the EU funding programme EuropeanPioneers started their second call for projects in the areas of Smart Cities, E-Learning, Pervasive Gaming and Social Connected TV. The accelerator is looking for 13 start-ups and SMEs from all around Europe that will receive equity–free funding of up to 250,000 Euro each. The aim of the project is to boost media-sector startups and SMEs with innovative business models.

Entrepreneurs or technology SMEs with start-up businesses or developing concepts have until midnight the 22^nd of June to apply for a place in EuropeanPioneers. Applications can be submitted online at http://europeanpioneers.eu/en/apply.html or f6s.com/fiware-europeanpioneers.

So far 12 companies have been accelerated, including the Irish start-up UsherU which has built a cinema app launching in London this month: “EuropeanPioneers has given us a distinct European outward-looking perspective. The network of great companies, mentors and potential partners will help us build a company ready for international expansion in the future, from a firm foundation of where it has put it now. Fiware technologies are helping us build a scalable platform for our business from day 1 which has data analysis at the core” sais UsherU CEO Oliver Fegan.

EuropeanPioneers is one of 16 accelerators, which will distribute a total of 80 million Euros to innovative companies on behalf of the European Union. The incubator is promoted in Ireland and UK by ThoughtBox and will accelerate a total of 25 Start-ups Europe wide with 4.5 million Euros.

In the course of the 8-month programme, the selected startups will have access to state of the art European FIWARE and FICONTENT platforms.  The participants will also be supported by experienced coaches in areas including concept and business model development, user-testing, team-building, marketing and financing. In addition, the programme offers access to mentors and a strong network of useful Europe wide business contacts.

The local contact and main promoter for EuropeanPioneers in Western Europe is Cristina Luminea, CEO of Irish based company ThoughtBox. They will also act as the main experts on the Programme in the areas of E-Learning and Gaming. Other consortium partners include: etventure (Berlin), the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS (Sankt Augustin), Weblify (Poland), and F-Secure (Finland).

Visit EuropeanPioneers: www.europeanpioneers.eu

Follow EuropeanPioneers: https://twitter.com/EUPioneers

About ThoughtBox:

ThoughtBox is an award winning educational company, specializing in E-Learning and Gamification. By partnering with bigger brands such as Eason and Fyffes, ThoughtBox is aiming to provide free quality educational products to kids worldwide.

For more details contact:
Cristina Luminea, ThoughtBox CEO @ThoughtBoxEd
Email: cristina [at] thoughtbox.co