SIMO AND FUNDETEC STAGE THE THIRD EDITION
OF THE START-UP AWARD (PREMIO VIVERO)
· For the third consecutive year, the Start-Up Area (Vivero) at SIMO'08 will present the most innovative projects from among a selection of Spanish start-ups.
· As a new feature, this area will be limited to a maximum of 50 projects and will be presented in Hall 4 (SIMO EMPRESA), offering access exclusively to professionals.
· The exhibiting companies in the Start-Up Area will have the opportunity to be tutored by companies from the private sector who have been operating for a large number of years on the market and, therefore, have considerable experience within the field.
As part of its vocation to boost the ICT industry in Spain, Simo, the International Data Processing, Multimedia and Communications Show, in collaboration with Fundetec, the Foundation for the Info-Technological Development of Companies and Society, will present the Premio Vivero (Start-Up Award) for the third consecutive year, a promotional tool designed to serve Spanish companies that have recently been set up and that are interested in presenting and launching new products, services and solutions on a large scale, products that are still at the marketing stage.
These companies, whose projects will be chosen based on their feasibility, innovation and capacity to cater for real needs within society, both within the professional sphere and within the home, will be granted a free space at the fair measuring 9 square metres, an area perfectly equipped for them to take part at Simo '08. Furthermore, these companies will appear in all of promotional elements that are generated to mark the staging of the next edition of this fair, which is organised by Ifema and is due to take place between 11th and 16th November at Feria de Madrid. In addition, from among all the companies that are granted free participation in the Start-Up Area, Fundetec will choose the best project presented at the event, which will be awarded a prize of 9,000 euros.
As a new feature this year, the Start-Up Award will be limited to a maximum of 50 projects and will take place in Hall 4 at Simo, which will facilitate a more professional environment within the framework of the Simo Empresa ("Simo Enterprise") Area. Hall 4, which permits access exclusively to professionals, will be open from 10.00 a.m. through to 7.00 p.m. between 11th and 14th November.
Furthermore, in order to enhance this initiative, the Start-Up Area will offer its exhibiting companies the opportunity to be tutored by companies from the private sector who have been operating for a large number of years on the market. In this respect, these Spanish start-ups will be able to learn from the experience of a number of large corporations, obtaining an external and objective perspective that will help them to shape their marketing strategy, based on an analysis of the competitive environment, the creation of new business plans, improvements in production processes and skills and more wide-ranging contacts with other companies. In general, the aim will be to maximize the value of their products.
In turn, the tutoring companies will be linked with a project that enables them to discover the activities being carried out and products being developed by the exhibitors in the Start-Up Area. The tutoring companies will choose one of the proposals that are presented, which will then be monitored over a period of six months, based on an analysis of the following aspects: the degree to which best practices are incorporated into the daily management of the activity; production, strategy and sale processes; marketing and public relations; finances; human resources, etc.
The Third Edition of the Start-Up Award at Simo is open to all initiatives by Spanish companies that have recently been set up (since 1st January 2006) and that offer product and service innovation by using the information and communications technologies. The entries, which shall consist of a maximum of two projects per company, must be presented at Ifema/Simo before 31st July 2008.
The results achieved at previous editions of the Start-Up Award attest to its effectiveness as a means of promoting recently-created business initiatives, whilst also offering a source of interesting opportunities for large corporations and venture capital companies. The first edition featured the participation of some 32 companies and Fundetec presented a prize of 9,000 euros to a project developed by the company from Madrid, Vaelsys, which was created at the Autónoma University of Madrid with a view to developing artificial vision solutions within the security field.
The year 2007 edition featured some 58 companies and the Start-Up Award became a fully established event, enjoying truly outstanding media coverage. The Catalan company, Gem-Med, won the cash prize on this occasion with a product designed to facilitate cardiology diagnoses.
Furthermore, in order to widen the impact of the initiative still further among Spanish enterprises, the year 2007 edition decided to welcome the support of the Spanish Regional Governments and public organisations, encouraging them to serve as publicising bodies and to back the technological initiatives carried out in their respective territories. Thus, the Start-Up Award featured direct support from the Regional Governments of Aragón, Cantabria and Madrid, as well as the Official Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Madrid.
