The winners of the 6th edition of Boostcamp were appointed during the Final at the Microsoft Innovation Center Brussels (MIC Brussels). This acceleration program for early-stage businesses consists of a series of hands-on, practical workshops in key areas of knowledge for starting entrepreneurs, including business models, sales, marketing, finance, and practical aspects. The program includes sparring sessions with experts from a wide variety of backgrounds.
The three winners were distinguished on the criteria of business potential, the maturity of the project, and the quality of the presentation.
For the Grand Prize winner, project innovation was also rewarded.
The three winners are:
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1. Jonathan Guzy for his project CarASAP .
CarASAP is a legal on-demand transportation service that connects retail and corporate users with trained, licensed, and professional car drivers (SLC) thanks to validated technology. CarASAP offers a service that is affordable, comfortable and reliable. The first CarASAP vehicles will circulate in Brussels and the Brabant in February 2015. Reservations are made via mobile, computer or phone. CarASAP won the Grand Award from Didier Gosuin, the Brussels Minister for the Economy, Employment and Vocational training. The Grand Prize winner was also awarded with € 3,000 by the Minister and Scientific Advisor of Innoviris, Sebastian Serrano. Through this award, the winner also receives a free month with Betagroup Coworking and half a day with a Cloud Consultant at RealDolmen.
2. Edoardo Camilli for his project Hozint.
Hozint helps “country risk analysts” follow the stability and security of states around the world. The experts consult and select thousands of sources in different languages to provide customers with relevant information that meet their needs. Hozint received the award of the Brussels-Capital Region, presented by COO of Impulse Bruno Wattenbergh and Lionel Anciaux, Entrepreneur, Coach and President of Cluster Software in Brussels. Through this award, the winner also receives, a free month with Betagroup Coworking, a half-day with a Cloud Consultant at RealDolmen, and half-day with a Branding Consultant, offered by Impulse.
3. Brieuc Thoumsin and Vasileios Vallas, for their project Odyseed
Odyseed connects with greenhouses to cultivate all kinds of organic fruits and vegetables in an automated and controlled environment. Cooking and cultivating fruit and vegetables will become more fun and effective with Odyseed; by allowing users to control and monitor plants remotely. This project includes a series of descriptions and advice on plants and their uses, to feed the intellectual curiosity of each user. Odyseed received the Expert Award, presented by Baldwin Urban; Public Sector Director at Microsoft Belux and Jury President, and Gilbert West; Partner at Greenamity and Boostcamp Expert. Through this award the winner receives a free month with Betagroup Coworking and a half-day with a Cloud Consultant at RealDolmen.
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Apart from these three winners, six other Boostcamper start-ups participated in the 6th edition of the Boostcamp Final Award Ceremony.
Thanh Hoang, David Boyker, Joelle Barthel and Bouchra Kostet: Ambelle.
Marie Gillet and Marion Pirazzi: Ethik Style.
Jérémie Melchior: UsiDistrib.
Grégory de Walque and Brahim Ammarkhodja: Team Challenge.
Raphael d’Aligny: Ultreiya!
Sébastien Goldberg, Nicolas De Wael and Kevin Dethoor: Next Happy Hours.
About the MIC Brussels:
“I want to highlight an effective partnership between the public and the private sector, between the Brussels Region and Microsoft. A partnership that helps stimulate socio-economic development on the sector of technology information and communication in Brussels – a great potential sector.” – Brussels Minister for the Economy, Employment and Training, Didier Gosuin
Three years after its launch, the MIC Brussels has already received nearly 8,107 people in networking and coaching activities. The MIC Brussels also issued 464 certificates to job seekers, and nearly 200 entrepreneurs received thorough coaching via the MIC Brussels Boostcamp. 38 of them have already started their company in Brussels. Also note that 177 jobs were created through Boostcamp’s free preparation sessions to MIC certifications – coaching trainees organized by Evoliris, Bruxelles Formation, Cefora and MIC Brussels.
Apart from that, the MIC Brussels and a lifetech.brussels cluster will launch a new 4-month accelerator program for e-Health startups in the Brussels region in early February. The objective is to support the business and the development of a growing number of e-Health startups in the Brussels Region. (50% of entrepreneurs coached by lifetech.brussels in 2014 developed an e-Health project). Startups participating in the program will receive technological support, individual support, and coaching group sessions, as well as preparations to pitch and investor meetings.
In this program, the MIC Brussels brings IT components and support for Microsoft’s Health teams, while lifetech.brussels brings the expertise component of the sector. That way, both support start-ups with their complementary networks, with specific contributions being particularly useful in multidisciplinary areas, such as e-Health.
On the 27th February, 28th February and 1st March 2015, the cluster lifetech.brussels, in partnership with the EAHSA (the European Network of Nursing Homes and Care) and Startup Weekend, with the support of MIC Brussels, and the Foundation king Baudouin, will organize the first Startup Weekend theme “Ageing Population”. This weekend startup will be an opportunity to raise awareness and to help entrepreneurs and generate ideas and projects to meet the challenge of an aging population.
In February 2015, the MIC Brussels will start a coaching program for advanced startups: the “BizSpark Accelerator“. The objective is to support startups coming out of Boostcamp, or startups that are generally at a more advanced level than the Boostcamp stage. The MIC Brussels will support a greater number of IT companies wishing to start and accelerate their business in Brussels. Candidates for this program will be selected by a panel of experts and receive advanced coaching, mentoring and high-level and technical support to the development of a prototype.
