- 60 applications, involving 230 professionals, researchers and students submitted
- Early stage ventures come from Portugal, Belgium, Spain, UK, USA and Argentina
- Semi-finalists to be announced June 30
Lisbon, June 3, 2011 - Registration for the second edition of the largest competition of technology-based entrepreneurship in Portugal, the ISCTE-IUL MIT-Portugal Venture Competition, ended on 30 May. 60 applications were submitted that, in total, involve 230 professionals, researchers and students from Portugal and also, for the first time, Belgium, Spain, UK, USA and Argentina, increasing the impact of competition internationally. Over half of applications for the 2011 edition of the MIT Portugal ISCTE-IUL Venture Competition come from start-ups based on technology: about 50% come from "information technology and the Internet," 20% from "products and services," 18% from "life sciences," and 13% from "sustainable energy and transportation, " the four tracks of the Competition. An international judging panel with members from ISCTE-IUL, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and national and international entrepreneurs, will select 20 semi-finalist projects that will be announced on June 30. These semifinalists will be eligible to participate in an intensive curriculum in Lisbon: e-Teams I Crash Course delivered by ISCTE-IUL, and eTeams II Go-to-Market delivered by MIT. A subset of the projects will be invited to Cambridge, MA in the Spring of 2012 to network with entrepreneurial and innovation thought leaders, investors, angels, VCs, and other early stage US-based ventures, through participation in e-Teams III, Sales and Marketing, organized through MIT Portugal, the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, and the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. The e-Teams I Crash Course will be held at ISCTE-IUL from July 13 through July 15, 2011. The Track Finals, or the “Finals”, is scheduled for September 22, and the Grand Finale for November 17. Semifinalists will compete for awards underwritten by Caixa Capital, the risk management arm of Caixa Geral de Depósitos: four (4) €100,000 Finals at the Finals in Lisbon, and the four Finalists will then compete for an additional €100,000 award at the Grand Finale. The main objective of this international venture competition is to support the launch of innovative product or services early stage companies. The competition is sponsored by ISCTE - Lisbon University Institute and the MIT Portugal Program, in cooperation with the MIT Deshpande Center for Innovation, the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, and Caixa Capital (Caixa Geral de Depósitos). Gonçalo Amorim, ISCTE-IUL program director, stated that "our initial review of the submissions indicates a noticeable high quality of submitted projects. It is very gratifying to recognize that universities are having an increasingly prominent role in the structuring of business opportunities and activities for technology transfer, not only through competition of ideas and business plans built, but also training around these specific topics." "Through this very extensive program, involving several entities, we are helping to catalyze our innovation-entrepreneurial ecosystem in Portugal. We are thrilled with the results achieved in a little over a year of activity on the ground, " he concludes. About ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa ISCTE - Lisbon University Institute is an institution of public higher education, established in 1972. ISCTE-IUL develops programs in: Education / Training, Research and Services to the Community. Located in the University Campus of Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL currently offers 15 degrees in three major areas: Management Sciences, Social Sciences and Technological Sciences. With approximately 8,000 students, 400 faculty and 200 non-teaching staff, ISCTE-IUL is proud of its impact over the past 33 years. The institute's priorities are innovation, quality and diversity, both in education and in academic research. With great recognition in the labor market, ISCTE-IUL has a high rate of employability of its graduates, in some areas reaching 100% results. This confirms not only the prestige of the institution as the quality of their teaching. About MIT Portugal Program The MIT Portugal Program is a large-scale international collaboration involving MIT and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education which aims at strengthening the knowledge base of national and international competitiveness through strategic investment in people, knowledge and ideas. The program is a high-profile effort to demonstrate that investment in science, technology and higher education can have a positive and lasting impact on the economy, addressing major social issues through quality education and research in the emerging field of systems engineering. The program uses as a basis systems engineering, integrated management sciences, economics and politics in order to better understand, design and implement the complexity of technology-based systems on which society is increasingly dependent. The particular focus of the MIT Portugal Program is systems thinking and the emerging field of engineering systems. We believe an understanding of systems thinking to be fundamental to the future of scientific and technological education and practice. The program is supported by a national initiative that involves seven Portuguese universities and 14 research centers that target sustainable energy systems, transportation systems, bioengineering and advanced production methods as key areas for economic development. Additional information:
ISCTE-IUL MIT Portugal Venture Competition website
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