euRobotics invites participants to the Entrepreneurship workshop hosted at the European Robotics Forum 2018 (ERF2018) in Tampere, Finland, on 13-15 March 2018. 

The Entrepreneurship workshop provides the ability for small innovative companies to pitch their ideas for the next big thing in robotics to a panel of technology investment experts. Entrants stand the chance to gain valuable skills in how to pitch an investment idea together with the potential to gain interest in their company from the investment community.

Entrepreneurs with developed business plans can enter to pitch their ideas and receive support for their expenses for one person. Applications are expected by 2 February 2018.

Time of workshop 

The workshop will take place over three sessions: on Tuesday 13 March, the first speed dating session will be between 16:00 and 17:45; on Wednesday 14 March the second coaching session will be between 8:30 and 10:00 and, the third judging session will be between 10:45 and 12:15. The first two sessions will be closed sessions for the entrants only, while the last session will be open to all ERF attendees.

Organiser(s)

Jon Agirre Ibarbia, Tecnalia, jon.agirre@tecnalia.com

Renaud Champion, PRIMNEXT, renaud.champion@primnext.com

Geoff Pegman, R U Robots, geoff.pegman@rurobots.co.uk

Motivation and objective

The objective of the workshop is to encourage the wider of acceptance of entrepreneurship in robotics research by providing Entrepreneurial coaching to several teams who themselves have ideas for developing robotics products or services.

Approach

Three sessions are proposed. The first is a "speed dating" session at which all the entrants are invited to individually pitch their ideas to the panel of investment judges. This session will result in five entrepreneurs going forward to the next session. The second session is a coaching session in which the selected entrants are given coaching by experienced financiers and entrepreneurs about how to most effectively pitch their ideas to potential finance providers. In the final session, each potential entrepreneur will make a public presentation of their idea in front of a panel of private finance providers. The panel will then consider the presentations and declare a winner of the Entrepreneurship Award 2018.

Agenda of the workshop

The speed dating will involve each entrant pitching their existing business in a 5 minute slot followed by questions from the panel. For the five selected entrants, coaching sessions will cover aspects of making a business case with the last part being about making convincing presentations. Each team will be provided with one dedicated coach (or the coaches may rotate but there will always be one coach per team). The presentation session will see each team presenting for 10 minutes before being interviewed by the panel.

Coaches

The coaches are in process of being identified but will consist of respected members of the investment community and / or well established entrepreneurs.

How can participants contribute to, and prepare for, the workshop?

The participants are expected to have already developed an idea for a product or service and done some background work in researching the marketplace in which it could be exploited. Entries are expected to be individuals but, exceptionally, could be small teams. However, only one person will be subsidised to join the event.

Interested participants must submit an application with the following format by 2 February 2018 to the following email address: jon.agirre@tecnalia.com

Entrepreneurship Workshop at ERF2018 - Application Form

Contact details :

First name :

Surname :

Job title :

Company/ affiliation :

Address :

Postal Code :

City :

Country :

Email :

Abstract text of your idea (approx. 2500 characters ) :

• Which problem are you addressing with your idea? (the market for your solution)

• Why that problem is important? (size of the market)

• Which is your solution? How does it work? How does it solves the problem?

• Which are the existing solutions? (the competence) and how do you compare them to your solution? (comparison / benchmarking with the competence)

• At which level of development is your technology? Which are the next steps? Which could be the cost (time and €) to fulfil those steps?

The number of entrants will be restricted to a maximum of 10. If we receive more applications, the organiser team supported by some coaches will select the most promising or innovative ideas based on the application.

Successful applicants will be notified by 9 February 2018.

In order to address the confidentiality issues the workshop will adopt the following guidelines:

1. The first and second sessions will be closed sessions.

2. The third session will be open to registered attendees of the European Robotics Forum 2018

3. Presentations should contain information that participants are happy to share with the public

4. If there is any information that participating teams feel is essential to their presentation but you do not want to be fully public then this can be discussed with the judging panel during the first session.

Further information

In order to promote the participation of entrants from different European countries, accepted entrants will be entitled to the cost of flight tickets and accommodation covered for one person until a maximum of 500 euro. The ERF registration fee for one person will be covered by euRobotics aisbl.

Planned follow-up

A certificate will be awarded to the winning team during the Gala Dinner Awards Ceremony, taking place on 14 March, at the Scandic Rosendahl Hotel, Tampere. There will also be a press release about the Awards, mentioning the winning team.

Sponsorship

This event is sponsored by euRobotics aisbl.

Additionally, we are looking for other companies or institutions interested in supporting the workshop though sponsorship. If the contributions of the sponsors allows it, the winner could get the chance to win a cash prize.