The Forty Kleparz Music Club in Kraków hosted the 6th edition of the EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final on the 29 of November. Located in a XIX century fort, the venue was perfectly chosen to livestream the event from three different rooms at the same time. It’s warm lighting and clubby atmosphere contributed to break the ice among participants much faster, and ease the nerves of those entrepreneurs before their live pitches.
Jumpstarter is one of EIT Community’s flagship programmes and this was the first time after covid, that entrepreneurs, trainers, mentors and KIC representatives gathered for a half day exciting event, not only to compete for the final prizes, but also to network and boost the idea of the EIT community.
Out of the thirty urban mobility teams onboarding the programme back in June, only six made it to the Grand Final. After months of developing their business solutions by the hands of the KIC’s RIS Hubs trainers and external mentors, these young entrepreneurs had the chance of putting into practice their learnings and pitch live in front of a jury.
Winners of the urban mobility category:
1st prize: Bruntor (Lithuania) – Bruntor cargo is a four-wheel electric scooter for last-mile delivery. It allows you to deliver parcels, letters, or groceries 15% faster and 5 times cheaper than a Van. It is small and can carry up to 850L of volume and 200Kg. The winning team was supported by EIT UM RIS Hub Latvia.
2nd prize: BeBeep (Montenegro) – BeBeep is carpooling platform, which allows users easier transportation and to save money on long-distance trips by sharing costs with other users. The initiative doubles the occupancy rate of cars whilst operating a carbon-saving network. BeBeep participated in the Local Joint Training held by the EIT UM RIS Hub Portugal in Lisbon and receieved training by EIT UM RIS Hub Greece.
3rd prize: Esguil (Spain) – ESGUIL has developed and patented “SMUBER”, a last mile vehicle, multifunctional, portable, intelligent, comfortable, safe, eco-designed and adapted to the new green cities. They offer versatile and real “door to door” mobility, unique in the market according to the entrepreneurs.
An urban mobility team also won the prize for the best cross KIC business idea. Green Kilometers (Bulgaria) gives value to non-motorized distances passed by citizens in big cities. They reward citizens for every kilometre passed in a green way with various forms of social benefits. In addition, the recorded track of carbon free passed distance is aggregated to make a green bond to be issued on the EU financial market in the name of the municipalities that support the project. The project received training by the EIT UM RIS Hub Greece.
The category areas were health, food, raw materials, energy, urban mobility, manufacturing, and New European Bauhaus (focused on sustainable and inclusive living spaces). Some of the winning teams of other EIT KIC’s were supported by EIT UM RIS Hub Hungary and EIT UM RIS Hub Greece. Check the rest of the EIT Jumpstarter winners here.
EIT Urban Mobility, through its RIS programme, is proud to see the geographical split of the teams winning in its category, including countries from the Western Balkans region and where we do not have any presence. This proofs the emerging ecosystems as a reality and that allocating efforts in RIS regions pays off.
EIT Urban Mobility has plenty of opportunities to offer to early-stage startups, check them out in our website: Accelerator programmes – EIT Urban mobility
Source: EIT Urban Mobility I News (https://bit.ly/3B5NLuf)