Today Urban Tech WorkLab opens its call for a Pre-Acceleration Program signed by LVenture Group and Regione Lazio with Lazio Innova in partnership with Linkem, Sara Assicurazioni and Toyota and supported by Amazon Web Services, Cariplo Factory and Cisco. “Face the city challenge” is the claim of the Program, which target startups and talents and aims to incubate the most innovative solutions to make cities more technological and human centered.  

All over the world, cities lead the economic, technological and cultural growth, with half of global population already inhabiting large urban centers. By 2025, the 60% of global GDP will be produced by solely 600 cities and we will benefit from 200 million Connected Vehicles, 8.4 million Electric Vehicles and 20 billion Smart Devices. In order to meet this trend and inject positive change within our cities, this program will incubate and validate those disruptive solutions that truly bring humans back on the core of urban living, making urban spaces more interconnected, sustainable and efficient.

THE PROGRAM – Urban Tech WorkLab is an Open Innovation Program dedicated to startups and corporates willing to face the challenges of urban living. The call opens 21 June and closes 27 August: individual talents willing to join a startup and teams can apply at www.urbantech.lventuregroup.com.

Innovators can also pitch their projects during the “Pitch Crash Test” sessions in Rimini (Web Marketing Festival, 22 June) and Milan (Campus Party, 24-27 July): two key events for Italian Innovation. After a shortlist of 20 participants to 10 and 11 September Bootcamps, 10 projects will be selected to be validated during the Program, starting from September 2019 and lasting 3 months.

Synergically working with LVenture Group team and Corporate Sponsors, startups will validate their project and develop an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), to be presented during the Urban Tech Grand Finale on 17 December.

At the end of the Program, each Corporate Sponsor (Linkem, Sara Assicurazioni and Toyota) will select one startup to develop the PoC in the following 4 months, with the support of Cariplo Factory team. The program will be officially launched on 2 July at LVenture Group & LUISS EnLabs Hub.

BENEFITS – The 10 projects selected for Urban Tech WorkLab will receive a 2.500 euros grant (equity free) and will benefit from the know-how mentors, managers and experts from the Corporate teams. Startups attending the program will also have access to the AWS Activate program from Amazon Web Services. With the AWS Activate program, startups get access to the resources they need to quickly get started on AWS – including credits, traning and support.

These AWS Activate credits will be of variable value according to the startups’ selection process evaluation:
a) all startups that will finalize the application and participate in an AWS webinar will receive credits worth USD 500, valid for one year;
b) the twenty pre-selected startups for the two bootcamps in September will receive credits for a value of 5,000 USD, valid for two years;
c) the ten startups that will be selected to participate in Urban Tech WorkLab will receive credits worth USD 15,000 valid for two years or USD 100,000 valid for one year.

The three finalists selected by Linkem, Sara Assicurazioni and Toyota to create a PoC with the support of Cariplo Factory will also receive an additional cash prize.

LOCATION – Selected startups will attend their workshops and checkpoints at the LVenture Group and LUISS EnLabs Hub, in Rome (Termini Station) a vibrant ecosystem where investors, business angels, entrepreneurs and corporates contaminate and evolve together. LVenture Group and its partners are launching this challenge to the most promising startups and talents of Urban Tech to shape the cities of tomorrow: Face the city challenge!