The day finally arrived. After months of preparation, Innovation Forum and IQS Tech Factory launched last Thursday in Barcelona, IMAGINE IF!, the first truly global competition and acceleration program for entrepreneurs and scientific projects.
Institut Químic de Sarrià was the place chosen to host and initiate IMAGINE IF!. At six o’clock everything was ready to welcome the seven participating teams. Gabriel de Maeztu, Ion Santotomás, Kay Eckelt, David Alarcon, Shivam Dhawan, Maria Chatzou and Masha Plyuscheva, had a new challenge in front of them; develop their ideas with the support of leading experts in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and reach the final with the other selected projects in European cities.
Oriol Pascual, director of the center for entrepreneurship IQS Tech Factory, welcomed the assistants and gave way to the president of Innovation Forum, João Curado, who described the program and introduced the group of mentors who would work with the entrepreneurs in the development of their projects. A highly-experienced team composed by Carlos Esteban, Investment Director at Caixa Capital Risc; Daniel Inarejos, Business Development Manager at Hetero Europe; Benjamin Basset, investor; Mar Eroles, Analyst at Capital Life Science Cell; and Oriol Pascual, Director of IQS Tech Factory.
The launch of the acceleration program also featured another special guest, Marc Ramis, General Manager at Technology Business & Innovation (TBI). Ramis gave the keynote speech and highlighted the importance of working globally to advance and succeed in the field of technology transfer. He urged all participants to keep working and trusting in the development of their projects
Competition time
Following the introduction of IMAGINE IF! it was time for the participants to start their pitches and exhibit in just three minutes the most essential part of their proposals. The first one on stage was Gabriel Maeztu with his project Iomed, a new tool for doctors to create, search and store patient data through a simple and efficient system. Next participant was Ion Santotomás presenting their project Embassy, a new technology that improves productivity, focus and wellbeing at work.
After two pitches with a focus on improving different aspects of the world of work, Kay Eckelt came on stage to show NX Swim, a tool whose mission is to make swimming more accessible and effective for everybody. This was the reason why Eckelt created a treadmill for swimmers that consists of a swim harness, a sensor and a mobile application that makes the training more efficient and provides instructions for the correct movements in water.
Panakeia was another of the seven participating teams in the acceleration program IMAGINE IF!. David Alarcon was in charge of presenting this new project, a technology that works in the development of IoT Solutions for the health industry. Shivam Dhawan was the next participant to take the stage with Arbunize, a free cloud-based enterprise applicant tracking system for job applications that predicts fitment on applicants’ personality and skills.
Reaching the end of the first round of projects, it was Maria Chatzou’s turn. She presented Fdonant, a technology dedicated to the storage of fecal microbiota transplants and the production of suitable drugs for fecal transplants and treatment of digestive diseases.
Finally, Masha Plyuscheva, was responsible for closing the first part of the competition of IMAGINE IF! with her project Natural Bioluminescence Energy Transfer System for use in Photodynamic Therapy, a tool that improves the minimally invasive and toxic method to treat cancer, viral and microbial infections.
The first round of exhibitions IMAGINE IF! was over. Seven different projects were introduced, all of them with a common mission, improve human life. After the stress of the pitches, all attendees had the opportunity to network and enjoy the end of the day.
The winners
Following the success of the first day of IMAGINE IF !, ten new teams decided to undertake the adventure of being part of the acceleration program and participate in the competition. Finally only 10 of the 17 teams could move to the next stage, and the winners were: Embassy ; Enian ; iBreve ; Social IO Robot ; Iomed ; MOWoOT ; New Born Solutions ; NX≈SWIM ; Omnicane ; Panakeia.
EMBASSY is a new technology to improve productivity, focus, creativity and wellbeing at work.
ENIAN B2B deal-making platform for the commercial-scale renewable energy market.
iBreve helps users to master moments of stress. This new tool analyses individual breathing patterns and makes smart relaxation suggestions based on aggregated pattern recognition and users activity data.
IO Social Robot is a hardware created for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It will be living in child’s home, being part of the family routines and providing a tool for the child stimulation and therapy, complimentary information about clinical signs, and be a playmate for the child, increasing his/her motivation to cover the therapy plan.
IOMED is a new tool for doctors to create, search and store patient data through a simple and efficient system.
MOWoOT is a non-pharmacological, non-invasive, no side effects solution to chronic constipation in form of a wearable medical device based on pneumatic technology with connectivity to smart devices.
New Born Solutions is a healthcare start-up developing the Neosonics, the first medical device to non-invasively screen for meningitis that Works on the prevention of the infection.
NX≈SWIM a tool whose mission is to make swimming more accessible and effective for everybody. It consists of a swim harness, a sensor and a mobile application that makes the training more efficient and provides instructions for the correct movements in water.
OmniCane is an highly advanced assistant technology in the form of a unique pedestrian guidance device. OmniCane combines a series of sensors, electrical actuators, and micro-controllers to better asses the user on its navigation path and provide them with tools to leverage their disability.
Panakeia works in the development of IoT Solutions for the health industry After an initial research, Panakeia will offer an integrated solution for chronic diseases to monitorize, control, prevent and reduce the gap patient-doctor.
How does IMAGINE IF! continue from now on?
During the period of June 15 to July 8, the selected teams will take part on the local pre-acceleration program with the goal to build stronger businesses that will be presented at the DemoDay on 11th July in Barcelona. Finalists will enter in a Global 50 pool with victors of the other cities.
Ten of the fifty teams will be selected to participate in the Global Pitch at the Innovation Forum-Leaders Conference 2016 on 22 September in Cambridge. The winner will get £30,000 to continue the development of their idea.
Finally, all 10 finalists from the Final Pitch will also take part in the acceleration program from 23 September until 20 December, and will have the opportunity to participate in the Investors Conference on January 2017 in Cambridge.
Click here to read the Spanish version: Lanzamiento del programa de aceleración IMAGINE IF!
