If you’re starting a software company in the verticals clean tech, smart cities or agribusiness or launching a new product as an existing company than you might be interested in the EU subsidy program Speed UP! Europe.
The program provides a grant of €50,000 for 100 startups interested in using EU funded Future Internet Ware (FIWARE) technology as the technological foundation of their (new) product, for software and equipment, travel expenses, rent of facilities and accommodation costs. Teams that need to recruit an employee or additional team member in a later stage can apply for a supplementary €20,000.
The teams accepted to the program will be supported by ‘business support organizations’ in Hamburg, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Aarhus and Brussels. Mentoring and coaching is provided for up to one year. The local partners in Amsterdam are Webclusive, University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Crowdfundinghub.
For a team just starting a company receiving €50,000 as a grant is quite interesting. The application of FIWARE technology is however an important condition, as it enables teams to accelerate their product development process.
FIWARE is an innovative library, a platform and a framework developed by 25 leading European IT companies. It provides an open cloud-based infrastructure for cost-effective creation and delivery of Future Internet applications and services on a scale never before seen. The FIWARE library is public and royalty-free
“By using FIWARE technology you don’t have to build everything from scratch. If your product idea requires a GPS positioning system you can use a ready-made FIWARE module instead of developing a new one yourself” - explained Tsvi Vinig, professor of entrepreneurship at the UvA.
The program is restricted to the EU: team members must either work or be a resident in a country that is part of the 7th Framework Program. Your team should consist of three to five people. Application is open until 10 December 2014, 17.00 CET.
