€80M Funding Available for Web Entrepreneurs, SMEs and Start-ups through the EC’s FIWARE Accelerator Programme!

BU research, Funding opportunities

The European Commission is now launching a massive call for web entrepreneurs, SMEs and start-ups. 80 Million Euros will be distributed across Europe.

There is a huge demand for new Internet applications and services across all industry sectors. There are plenty of people with strong skills, eager to materialize their ideas…they just need the right ecosystem to help them grow! The FIWARE Accelerator Programme aims to bring together traditional industries (manufacturing, automotive, cultural sector, etc.) with highly innovative ICT web entrepreneurs, SMEs and start-ups to enhance growth in their regions.

WHAT IS FIWARE?

FIWARE seeks to provide a truly open, public and royalty-free architecture and a set of open specifications that will allow developers, service providers, enterprises and other organizations to develop products that satisfy their needs while still being open and innovative. FIWARE will dramatically increase Europe’s ICT competitiveness by introducing an innovative infrastructure that enables cost-effective creation and delivery of versatile digital services, high quality of service and security guarantees.

WHAT IS THE FIWARE ACCELERATOR PROGRAMME?

The FIWARE Accelerator Programme aims to help web entrepreneurs, SMEs and start-ups to capture the opportunities coming from a new wave of digitization by creating a sustainable ecosystem where entrepreneurs, domain stakeholders and technology providers fulfil their needs. This is a massive opportunity for all European start-ups that need help during the first stages of business development. All across Europe, accelerators specialized in different sectors will provide direct funding (equity-free), mentoring, coaching, support and networking.

The FIWARE Accelerator Programme supports 8 sectors:

  1. Smart Cities
  2. eHealth
  3. Transport
  4. Energy & Environment
  5. Agrifood
  6. Media & Content
  7. Manufacturing & Logisticts
  8. Social & learning

There are 16 FIWARE Accelerators ready to support innovative ideas. Some of the Accelerators currently have open calls while others will open their funding applications in the coming weeks/months.

For more information on the FIWARE Accelerator Programme, check out this YouTube video.

HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED?

While the FIWARE Accelerator Programme is aimed specifically at web entrepreneurs, SMEs and start-ups, there is potential scope for university support on funding applications as sub-contractors/knowledge brokers. In fact, several Accelerators mentioned they’d prefer to see university involvement on applications for funding. Therefore, if you know any web entrepreneurs, SMEs or start-ups that you think fit the bill for the FIWARE Accelerator Programme, check out the website. Additionally, feel free to contact the Bournemouth University Cyber Security Unit (BUCSU), as we attended the 2nd annual European Conference on the Future Internet (ECFI), which launched the FIWARE Accelerator Programme. We’re more than happy to chat with you about this funding opportunity!

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