Turning ideas into start-ups: International Create Challenge 2016

The International Create Challenge provides the ideal breeding space and resources to drive early stage technology innovation into Minimum Viable Products and start-ups, providing top-notch coaching, seed funding and competitive prizes. The format is a free of charge, 3-week immersive program in which around 10 teams of 2 - 3 people, composed of developers, researchers, entrepreneurs and/or designers, will be engaged. The project selection is focused around the IM2/Idiap domains of research and technologies.

The International Create Challenge is a full concept which includes top-of-the-class coaching and mentoring. Every day, a different topic (IP, funding, business model, market, competitors, and customers) will be discussed with professionals through short plenary sessions and face-to-face meetings.

For ideas or projects to be eligible for the ICC, they should exploit information and communication technologies (ICT) as available within Idiap. Research themes of the Idiap Research Institute are:

• Perceptual and cognitive systems

• Social/ human behaviour

• Information interfaces and presentation

• Biometric Person Recognition

• Machine learning

The best three teams will each receive CHF 5’000 cash of prize money. There is also the possibility to negotiate seed funding in exchange of up to 10-15% of equity of the created company. Should one of the teams decide to create a company locally by integrating the IdeArk Incubator, additional grants will be delivered including an open access to the The Ark Incubator with in-kind support of over CHF 100'000, CHF 10’000 in the form of a The Ark Scholarship among others.

The prizes will be awarded during the event "Oser entreprendre" on 21 September 2016. The selected team(s) will have the opportunity to integrate the IdeArk Incubator at the end of the ICC program.

Applicants are advised to take note of the registration deadline: 16 May 2016.

(RAN)