This call is devoted to young Startups (TRL 3-5) to showcase successful entrepreneurship projects in the field of interest of IEEE RTSI 2024.

The competitors shall prepare a pitch video (5 minutes) in which will present their entrepreneurship project and activity, pictures, photos, graphics, skills of the entrepreneurial group, market opportunity and competitor analysis. The video will describe in the most convincing and attractive way their innovative project, achievements, field of application, team competences and market analysis.

The dead line for the submission of the video is August 12, 2024. All videos shall have MP4 format, dimension not larger than 150 MB and they shall not be longer than 5 minutes.

A special commission will select the finalists (maximum 10 video) that will be invited to present their entrepreneurship project  during RTSI 2024 special session.

The finalists will have the opportunity to present their entrepreneurship project with the video pitch of 5 minutes and to answer the questions from the public (senior researchers and people from industry) and the evaluation committee.

An evaluation committee will select the best startup according to these criteria:

• innovation: the startup brings forward a new technology, adds to an existing technology, or uses a new application for an existing technology;
• scalability: the startup has room to grow its value proposition (i.e. additional applications) or its market (e.g. geographically, sector wise, industry wise, etc.);
• impact: the startup creates positive impact for its community, clients, and users, and champions sustainable engineering;
• market feasibility: the startup has the potential to, or has demonstrated its ability to enter the market and gain market share;
• business potential: the startup has the potential to, or has demonstrated its ability to sustain a profitable business operation;
• skills of the entrepreneurial group;

For the Humanitarian Technology award the stratup project shall  be applied on one of the UN SDGs.

The competition will take place during IEEE RTSI 2024 on September 19, 2024 (09:00 – 10:30). For more details on the room and other updates refer to the conference website: https://2024.ieee-rtsi.org/.

One representative for each startup can participate free to the event to answer the questions of the audience.

All finalist startups (max 10) selected for participating in the final competition will receive a participation certificate. The best entrepreneurship project and the best entrepreneurship project with humanitarian application will be awarded with a customized IEEE certificate and a prize of 1000 Euros each, sponsored by the IEEE Italy Section and IEEE R8. The award ceremony will take place on September 19 during social dinner (one representative for each of the two winners will have free access to the dinner to receive the award).

Startups willing to participate in this competition shall send an e-mail to this address: rtsi2024-startup@ieeesezioneitalia.it
no later than July 31, 2024.

In the Object of the e-mail the participant in this competition should write:
Best Entrepreneurship project pitch competition – name surname
In the text of the e-mail the participant shall include the following info:

• Name of the startup
• title of the entrepreneurship project (specify whether with application in the humanitarian field)
• description of the project (300 words max)
• name, affiliation and email of the authors
• name , affiliation and email of presenter/s (more than one presenter is admitted but only one has free admission to the competition, the others must register for the conference. One day registration will be available for them)
• link (youtube private, google drive, ….) where the pitch video can be seen and downloaded

Competitors must fill in the form at this address:

https://italy.ieeer8.org/2024-ieee-rtsi-best-entrepreneurship-activity-video-presentation/
giving their consent for privacy.

A special commission will select the finalist  (maximum 10) that will compete during RTSI 2024. The announcement of the selected startups will be given to proposers by 20 August 2024.

All accepted video will be uploaded on IEEE RTSI website and the winners will be advertised on the IEEE Italy Section and R8 media.

The two winners will be able to participate in the R8 pitch competitions (see https://entrepreneurship.ieeer8.org/) and details below.

R8 Pitch competition criteria

• Startup team should have at least one IEEE member (encouraged, but not required)
• Startup should showcase traction, i.e., have an MVP (Minimum Viable Product ), dummy / demo app, business plan, initial market interest or any source of traction and commitment to their venture
• When applying to your pitch competition, startups should submit a pitch video in English.

The Top 10 startups from local IEEE R8 Section competitions are selected for semi-finals by panel of judges and “People’s choice” social media competition. Semi-finalists compete in an online event.

Finalists are awarded a trip to an Entrepreneurship Summit/Techncial showcase (e.g., Web Summit, Techne, Slush, Gitex Global) where the Final Pitch takes place and startups get to present their business to summit attendees.