 IEI coordinator José Estabil talks with competitors at the Boot Camp The Venture Competition sponsored by ISCTE-IUL and MIT Portugal is off to an auspicious start. The breadth of technologies indicates entrepreneurial insight and critical translation of university-researched innovations that are needed to build a knowledge-based economy of products and services. Close to 100 submissions distributed across the competition’s four tracks were received by the June 18th deadline with the following distribution by Track: Information Technology & the Web (36.8%), Products and Services (29.5%), Life Sciences (18.9%) and Sustainable Energy and Transportation (14.7%). Twenty Semifinalists were chosen on the basis of team and innovation strength, clear path to revenue, international scope, and market opportunity. 70% (14) of the Semifinalists spring from university developed technologies; 50% (10) are from educational partners of MIT-Portugal; and 10% (2) are from FCT-funded collaborations that arose as a consequence of the MIT-Portugal Program and the CMU-Portugal Program. 45% (9) of the Semifinalists already have market traction or key development partners. The Semifinalists in each track were invited to a boot-camp held at ISCTE-IUL from July 5th to 7th, 2010, and were announced at an invitation-only closing ceremony event at ISCTE-IUL, Lisbon on July 7th, 2010 The boot-camp was attended by 43 out of 73 team members, and accounted for all 20 teams. The teams were taken through a combination of lectures and fast paced set of exercises to strengthen the new ventures organization and market prowess, and to help them prepare for the upcoming Track Finals. Over 15 potential catalysts from multi-disciplinary backgrounds from the finance, industry and entrepreneurial communities met and mingled with Venture Competition participants during the “speed dating” portion of the program. Dr. Luís Reto, Dean of ISCTE-IUL, convened the closing ceremony and introduced keynotes Carlos Zorrinho, Portugal’s Secretary of State for Energy and Innovation, and Jonathan Medved, Founder of Vringo, Israel Seed Partners, and Meret Optical Communications. Mr. Medved emphasized the theme of Think Big but Start Small to the Semifinalists. Track Finals are scheduled for September 30, 2010. The top ranked team will receive €100,000 in awards and proceed to the Grand Finale scheduled for October 27, 2010. For more information please contact Catarina Madeira, ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), or visit our website at http://mitportugal-iei.org. Media coverage on the IEI Venture Competition in Portugal:
 IEI Diario Economico May 2010 | 
