Boldbrain Startup Challenge 2019 - the finalists

Boldbrain Startup Challenge 2019 enters its final stage with the selection of the ten projects rated the best, out of the twenty that took part in the 3-month acceleration phase, by the regional jury. The final event will take place on December 4 at the USI Lugano campus Aula Magna of USI.

After having concluded the intense acceleration phase, which started on 26 August, the twenty innovative ideas selected for Boldbrain 2019 were evaluated by the regional jury on Friday, November 22, at the Tecnopolo Ticino, home to the Agire Foundation, organizer of the program. During the accelerator, teams were able to perfect and implement their initial idea thanks to what they learned at the four workshops and thanks to the support of professional coaches.

The regional jury – chaired by Giambattista Ravano (Head of research and innovation at SUPSI), Leandro Bitetti (SUPSI lecturer), Antonio Carzaniga (USI Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Informatics), Franco Citterio (Director of the Ticino Banking Association), Gianluca Colombo (USI Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Economics), and Michele Merazzi (Deputy director at the Chamber of Commerce of Canton Ticino) - reviewed and evaluated each of the twenty teams in competition on the basis of defined criteria.

The ten finalists who totalised the highest scores are, in alphabetical order:

• Beyond the Gate, immersive travel in the past or in historical contexts
• LAVATAZZINE A VAPORE, no more plastic coffee cups
• LocalPoint, digitisation system for offline content
• MANO,  the new way to iron clothes, anywhere
• myLAB, medical analysis from your own home
• openwatt.ch, the platform to manage energy systems
• Orchestra, app to coordinate emergency response services 
• REC360, e-commerce device to take 360° pictures of items
• Qikle, app to pay and collect digital receipts
• Smart Pantry, app to monitor the expiration dates of food in your refrigerator

These ten startups will compete at the final ceremony on December 4, 2019 (from 6:00 p.m. at the Lugano campus Aula magna) for the five prizes that will be assigned by the national jury. A sixth prize will be awarded by the attending public.

Info and registration at www.boldbrain.ch/evento-finale

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The Boldbrain Startup Challenge is the accelerator in Ticino for early-stage innovative startups, organised by the Agire Foundation with the support of the USI Start-Up Promotion Center (CP Start-Up). Boldbrain is the evolution of the previous StartCup Ticino competition, offering 20 new start-ups a three-month coaching program that helps them to take on an identity and to continue their entrepreneurial activity in a solid way. Sought and supported by the Division of the Economy of the Canton of Ticino, with the important contribution of BancaStato, the program kicked off on August 26 and ends with the award ceremony on December 4, at the USI Lugano campus Aula magna USI, where the winners will be declared. The prize money will total 120.000 francs and numerous other in-kind prizes and services with a total value of more than 50.000 francs.