The startups selected by the calls will have the opportunity to participate in WMF 2023-June 15-17 at the Rimini Fairgrounds-to access the expo area, present their projects to a highly profiled audience of VCs and industry players and plan B2B meetings with investors and expanding their network. To participate in the calls, it is only possible to apply until May 7.
After the closing of applications for the 11th edition of the WMF Startup Competition, the largest international competition for startups, WMF – We Make Future opens three more calls aimed at Italian and international startups and innovative realities eager to present and promote their business projects within the Festival. The calls, respectively carried out in collaboration with Esa-European Space Agency and Pegasus Tech Ventures – venture capital based in Silicon Valley – aim to identify innovative startups able to bring, with their projects, a significant impact in their reference industries. Selected startups will have the opportunity to compete in the International Trade Fair and Festival on Tech and Digital Innovation, where investment funds, VCs, and major players in the digital-tech sector will gather from June 15 to 17, at the Rimini Fiera.
Startups interested in the calls made by the WMF have the opportunity to apply by filling out the forms on the appropriate pages no later than May 7.
“WMF has been supporting the development ofstartups and innovative business projects for years, organizing opportunitiessuch asthe Startup Competition, the largest international competition for startups, which this year reachesits 11th edition” Cosmano Lombardo, CEO of Search On Media Group and creator of the WMF” considering the thousands of applications arrived from over 85 countries, this year we decided to implement, also thanks to the support of partners of international relevance, vertical callsforspecific innovation sectors aimed atstartupsthat operate in areassuch as AI and respond to the 12 Challenges of the Future identified by WMF”
Call STARTUP WORLD CUP – The Italian Stage
Among the opportunities arranged this year by WMF for the world of innovative startups is the chance to participate in the regional stage of Startup World Cup, thanks to the partnership with Pegasus Tech Ventures. The startup selected from the call will compete with the finalists in WMF’s Startup Competition to win the chance to enter the Pegasus Tech Ventures Startup World Cup Finals, scheduled to take place in San Francisco, USA, next fall, with a prize of $1
Million in directinvestment up for grabs. All selected startups and innovative companies will also have the opportunity to share their projects or services with the WMF ecosystem and digital – tech innovation players such as VCs and investment funds from around the world. The call is open until May 7 and you can apply by filling out the form on the dedicated page.
The WMF is also promoting two new calls related to the field of artificial intelligence: the AI4EO and AI FOR FUTURE calls, to which you can apply by May 7. Both calls are among the many initiatives inscribed in the “WMF FOR AI” project, the training, dissemination and information project carried out by the WMF – We Make Future which, since 2016 has been promoting culture in the field of Artificial Intelligence and its applications.
AI4EO Call – Artificial Intelligence 4 Earth Observation
AI4EO, born from the long-running collaboration between WMF – We Make Future and Esa -European Space Agency, is aimed at innovative business projects that use AI and its components in functional data processing applications to facilitate monitoring and care of the
Earth’s ecosystem. Also up for grabs, in addition to the opportunity to join the networks of the two entities, are two opportunities offered by ESA: access to the EO Commercialization Days event and participation in the pitch event within it; and access to business and technical coaching on EO. You can apply no later than May 7 by filling outthe form on the dedicated
page.
Call AI FOR FUTURE
Also on the topic of artificial intelligence, WMF is organizing the AI FOR FUTURE call, aimed at startups and projects that, through the use of Artificial Intelligence, are able to generate a positive impact on society by responding to one or more of the 12 challenges ofthe future.
The competition offers a dual opportunity to participate in the WMF, June 15-17, 2023 at the Rimini Fiera, and in the AI Festival, the event organized by WMF for training and cultural dissemination on AI, scheduled for October 5 and 6, 2023 at the MiCo Fiera in Milan. Selected startups will have the opportunity to give visibility and make their project known within the innovative ecosystem of the WMF and the AI Festival, where they will be able to get in touch with investors, companies, startups, stakeholders and industry players and schedule b2b
meetings and business matching. Selection will take place in two phases: the first, which will end on May 7, will give selected startups the opportunity to access the WMF and the AI
Festival; startups that apply from May 8 to July 23, if selected, will have access to the AI
Festival.
All initiatives related to the world of innovative entrepreneurship will fit within World Startup Fest, the international benchmark event for startups, scaleups and investors, scheduled for June 15-17 within the WMF. One of the 10 pavilions ofthe Rimini Fiera will in fact be entirely dedicated to the sector, and the largest International Startup Competition, the Startup District, B2B meetings with investors from all over the world, business matching, vertical stages and
many other activities that involved more than 1,300 startups and investors from 49 countries in the past edition will return.