S3E START acceleration program kicks-off to support deep tech researchers
S3E team kicked off the START Acceleration program with an onboarding session with the 16 research teams and tech transfer offices selected through the Open Call #1.
The research teams presented their deep tech innovations and the tech transfer offices their research work. They all had the chance to meet each other creating a perfect atmosphere for collaboration and networking opportunities. During the kick off meeting, held virtually, we celebrated the first webinar of the training series called “War Stories'' with Joana Simões Correia and Thiago Gomes, former participants of the HiEngine program that inspired S3E START.
Joana Simões Correia is a co-founder and the Executive Director of Exogenus Therapeutics. With a PhD in Human Biology, she dedicated more than 15 years of her career to research in the area of human diseases, including cancer genetics and regenerative medicine. Author of several high impact papers and patents, she has been a pioneer in exploring the therapeutic potential of umbilical cord blood derived exosomes as a therapeutic tool. Since 2015 she has been leading Exogenus Therapeutics research and development team and activities and has been recognized several times for the excellence of her work, nationally and internationally (eg. ANJE Young Entrepreneur Award 2015, Everis Foundation Award 2016, Prémio Empreendedor XXI 2019). Under her leadership, Exogenus Therapeutics has conquered a distinguished position in the field and is recognized has a leading company harnessing the potential of exosomes as a therapeutic tool for diseases of high unmet need.
Thiago Gomes is the Co-Founder & CEO of a StartUp called BioReboot. BioReboot is a Startup that focuses on reusing and transforming agricultural waste into a biomaterial that has the potential to replace single-use plastics in the agriculture sector. It was the winner of the StartNOW 2020 acceleration program powered by StartUP Madeira. It represented the Autonomous Region of Madeira in the first phase of Climatelaunchpad 2021, the Global Green Business Ideas Competition. Currently, it represents the University of Madeira in the Born from Knowledge 2021 Competition.
Joana and Thiago gave participants an inspirational speech about their drive to be entrepreneurs, their successful experiences, sharing advices and learning, and the reasons behind their participation in the program that inspired S3E START.
During the following 18 weeks, S3E team and the designed Mentors will be supporting the selected participants defining their pathways from the lab to the market.
About S3E START acceleration program
The S3E Start includes online classes (mainly on the topics related to the development of a business case for deep tech projects) and webinars (on diverse topics pertinent to the development of the relevant skills). These in-class tutorials will account for less than half of the total workload of the Program, the remaining time being allocated to group meetings facilitated by the mentors. There are deliverables to be fulfilled each week and these deliverables will guide the participants throughout the three phases of the Program, namely:
IDEATION PHASE: In this phase a set of clearly defined product concepts will be developed and prioritized considering the linkages between the unique capabilities of the technologies and customer/market needs (Technology-Product-Market linkages). Each team is required to generate multiple product concepts that can be enabled by each technology. Then research teams will have to identify diverse market opportunities for each product concept to further specify product attributes.
DEVELOPMENT PHASE: In this phase teams will refine, improve, validate and select among the product concepts devised in the ‘ideation’ phase using a guided approach that will force them to contact the ‘market’ to challenge and sustain each of the T-P-M linkages proposed in the ideation phase. In the early stages of this phase, teams will be looking for ‘fatal flaws’ (product or market) that will justify ‘dumping’ one (or more) T-P-M linkage(s). With the information gathered from the market teams will develop “value propositions” for their products using a standard format that will force them to (i) clearly define the product, (ii) tie customer needs to the benefits of using the product in economic terms and (iii) differentiate the product from competitors based on unique product features. Additionally, they will build a business model that, for the product moving forward, describes the rationale of how the company will create, deliver, and capture value. Throughout this phase participants will have to use a set of management tools (e.g., 5 Forces Analysis, SWOT Analysis, Industry Mapping, “Voice of the Customer”, etc.) to gain a much better understanding of the way the market works and will be supported by the tools embedded in the approach, thus fine-tuning their product concept choices.
COMMERCIALIZATION PHASE: In this phase teams put the pieces of the puzzle together by building a strategy to bring the product to market. This phase begins with the definitions of the pricing point and the sales plan answering strategic questions such as market traction and market entry point(s). Additionally, drawing on the business model previously designed teams will define their development roadmap that will allow them to build the financial projections and risk analysis. At this stage teams will have all the elements needed to produce a business case and a final pitch that will be the final deliverables for the Program.
Stay tuned for further communications!
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S3E CHARGE: meet the selected growth startups
S3E CHARGE Open Call results are out!
Between November 7, 2022 and February 10, 2023, growth startups from South European countries submitted their deep tech innovations to the S3E Open Call #1 to participate in our S3E CHARGE Program.
S3E CHARGE is a program that we have designed for growth start-ups with deep tech products, services, or process concepts, grounded in a scientific discovery or meaningful engineering innovation and at a growth development stage, that are already in the market. The program will facilitate selected growth startups to be better aligned with Horizon Europe’s goals, namely by better positioning them to apply for public or private funding and programs, assisting them in linking their business offerings to market needs and becoming market ready to pitch and attract investments whilst having validated and honed their business plan and value proposition.
During the open call period, we received a total of 33 applications and after running and independent evaluation process (counting on external experts) we are very excited to share the selected growth startups that will take part in the first edition of our S3E CHARGE program.
12 GROWTH STARTUPS INVOLVED
| Project name | Team member | Country | Science field | SDG |
| RespiBit | Christodoulos Spagakas | Greece | Medical and health sciences | Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3) |
| Distinkt | Luca Venza | Spain | Engineering and technology | Industry Innovation and Infrastructure (SDG 9) |
| Grawindy Renewable Energy INC. | Atilla Öztürk | Turkey | Engineering and technology | Industry Innovation and Infrastructure (SDG 9) |
| Bluana Foods | Florin IRIMESCU | Romania | Other | Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3) |
| Inteligg Private Company (P.C.) | Christos Ioakeimidis | Greece | Engineering and technology | Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11) |
| Digital Bites | Theodoros Sofianos | Greece | Engineering and technology | Industry Innovation and Infrastructure (SDG 9) |
| Psychomeasure | EDUARDO SAMPAIO | Portugal | Medical and health sciences | Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3) |
| ThetaBiomarkers | Olga Begou | Greece | Medical and health sciences | Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3) |
| Water2Wk | Juan Suárez | Spain | Medical and health sciences | Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11) |
| Freshwater | Naeria Navarro | Spain | Engineering and technology | Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11) |
| IIO
Arcan |
Pasquale Bombino
Ilaria Pigazzini |
Italy
Italy |
Engineering and technology
Engineering and technology |
WHAT NEXT?
S3E CHARGE offers selected growth startups a 14-week tailor-made mentoring and networking program that aims to provide skills to growth startups to enable them to:
- link the product/service/process product with market needs,
- better communicate their offerings to potential clients and investors,
- become market ready to pitch, persuade and readapt the business offerings to different audiences, depending on market needs
- connect to ‘Innovation Leaders’ and ‘Strong Innovators’ Ecosystems
- better understand to protect IP
- prepare an investment ready business plan
- get access to funds and funding
We congratulate the selected participants and we are looking forward to supporting their deep tech projects!
Deliverable 4.1. Implementation & Deployment of the S3E framework
Deliverable 4.1. Implementation & Deployment of the S3E framework
Submission date: 20 March 2023
The purpose of this deliverable is to present the S3E framework that includes all processes, tools and activities that were designed and are being implemented as part of our Engine programme. In essence, the document is a reference guide with explanations and references to all other documents that have been prepared as part of our project.
Its aim is to serve as a guide in the implementation of our Engine programme.
This Deliverable concludes the results of T4.1 (Connect) and continues with T4.3 (Boost). It will offer to test and pilot the use of the basic features for S3E users to deploy the offered services.
Looking forward to exploring synergies and creating a long-lasting collaboration.
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S3E Open Call #1 Reverse for solvers: startups and SMEs with deep tech solutions
We are looking for deep tech startups and SMEs to respond to the 15 identified challenges
The EU-funded project South3E launches a new Open Call to identify deep tech based solutions to 15 selected market challenges, in the frame of the S3E REVERSE Program.
📃 Press Release S3E Open Call #1 Reverse for solvers 📃
The consortium of S3E – Southern European Entrepreneurship Engine has officially launched the S3E Reverse for Solvers Open Call #1 targeting scaling start-ups and SMEs with deep tech solutions. Through S3E REVERSE, the project creates an Innovation and Technology Brokerage Program aiming at connecting corporates and public organisations (Challenge Organisations) with scale-ups, start-ups and SMEs (Solvers) that can address the identified challenges through their products, services, and solutions, based on deep tech and aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Open Call for Solvers will be available from 14 March (12.00 pm CET) until 15 May (17.00 pm CET).
The Solvers - SMEs and more mature start-ups - are invited to join the program, submitting their solutions, ideas and products that solve one or more of the 15 identified challenges. These challenges were unveiled by 19 Challenge Organisations since last November 2022 at the first stage of the S3E REVERSE program and reviewed by S3E partners in collaboration with external experts. All of them have the highest degree of potential, impact, innovation, and feasibility and should be addressed through deep tech solutions. Check the selected challenges here.
Who can apply?
Scaling Start-ups and SMEs with deep tech projects and solutions from all Southern Europe, meeting the following criteria:
- Is established in any country of the Southern European science-based innovation ecosystem is eligible for the Horizon Europe program including associated countries.
- Is capable of addressing a challenge that has been submitted as part of the conducted open call for Challenges and which is related to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
- Can justify the development and / or deployment of a Deep Tech solution.
How to apply?
Interested start-ups and SMEs tackling the challenges can apply before 15 May 2023 via F6S and find further information about the application guidelines here. The S3E REVERSE Open Call for Solvers will operate on a ‘first come – first Served’ for the solvers: when a match is identified, the challenge provider organisation and the solver can start working together immediately.
What are the benefits?
- Innovation Readiness Assessment: a Self-assessment of the solver that will help thecompany identify weak points or problems in their growth. Our Technology brokers can then suggest specific actions that can help the solver improve their operations.
- Mentoring (from selected business & innovation experts) based on an assessment of the company that will help the scale-up identify any weak points of problems in their growth scale.
- Coaching (from sustainability experts) will support the company in identifying business cases and potential applications based on their portfolio that could provide solutions to
address sustainability challenges related to the UN SDG of the call. - Training in public procurement, including Pre-Commercial Procurement and Public Procurement for Innovative solutions (PPIs) that will help scale-ups access bigger projects and clients.
- Masterclasses with established experts in their field in topics such as ESG compliance, leadership, onboarding new personnel, customer acquisition, company culture).
- Networking with industry leaders and showcase opportunities at the S3E Open day.
- Technology Brokerage: our technology brokers will help the SMEs and startups prepare their technical offer and match them with the challenge organisations in need.
Join the South European DeepTech Revolution!
Subscribe to the S3E Newsletter now!
S3E at the Empowering Female Entrepreneurship Summit 2023
"Empowering Female Entrepreneurship" is a two-day summit that brings together inspiring speakers from all Europe, female entrepreneurs, EU officials, investors and key stakeholders in business.
The summit was held on the 8-9 of March in Brussels, coinciding with International Women’s Day. Co-organised by the European Female Founders with the support of the European Commission, who initiated the network, the event brought together more than 60 participants. On behalf of the S3E team, our Community Manager, Carmen Serna, attended the event and had the opportunity to meet inspiring female founders.
Two days of inspiration
The speech of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel and the EU Gender Equality Champions Awards opened the summit. Gabriel handed the prizes to the winners of this pioneering initiative that celebrates the outstanding results achieved in implementing gender equality plans by academic and research organisations.
During the first day, participants listened to panels and exchanged knowledge and experiences on critical topics such as how to foster female entrepreneurship, build strong ecosystems and diverse communities and tackle the gender gap regarding access to funding.
Some takeaways from the session remind us that entrepreneurship is crucial to Europe’s economic growth. Yet women entrepreneurs continue to face different gendered challenges, from lack of funding to expectations that they will perform unpaid care duties at home. In this sense, by promoting women’s entrepreneurship, European societies could accelerate economic growth and women’s participation in the marketplace.
In the second day, participants witnessed powerful testimonies about the entrepreneurship journey. With a mix of Keynote Speeches and interactive and stimulating workshops, they learned practical information about where and how to get funding, mental resilience for entrepreneurs and diversity and inclusion.
The "Empowering Female Entrepreneurship" summit has created a rich forum for discussion, experience sharing, and alignment to understand better why female entrepreneurship in Europe is still lagging. It has also brought inspirational and educational content to empower female entrepreneurs. In this first edition, outstanding speakers have shared pinpoint female founders' struggles and discussed the measures needed. Fundamental topics, such as funding, networking, building ecosystems, education, mental resilience, diversity and inclusion have been addressed over the two days.
Impact and Mission of European Female Founders
Female-led companies represent only 5% of all VC backed startups, with this percentage going downnto 2% if the team is all-women. For this reason, Commissioner Gabriel is asking European women to raise their voices. In May 2022, European Female Founders was created on her initiative. This network brings together European women entrepreneurs to propose concrete actions to enable equal opportunities for all founders. The network aims to inspire, encourage and act to support female entrepreneurship for an inclusive and diverse Europe.
S3E's contribution to achieving gender equality
At S3E, we are committed to supporting women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship as part of our innovation programs. S3E focuses on the acceleration of deep tech projects, startups, and SMEs that, by providing solutions towards a more sustainable society and economy, can impact social development and economic growth in these countries and contribute to the timely achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in line with the EU Green Deal, the EU Digital Agenda and the Recovery Plan for Europe. Because of this mission, we are at the frontline of making female researchers and innovators thrive.
Learn how we are supporting women entrepreneurship through our three innovative programs (START, CHARGE and REVERSE) and check our current opportunities to join the SOUTHERN DEEP TECH REVOLUTION.
Do not miss our official communications.
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S3E START: Selected Research Teams and Tech Transfer Offices
S3E START Open Call results are out!
Between November 7, 2022 and February 10, 2023, research teams and tech transfer offices from South European countries were able to participate in our Open Call #1.
S3E START is a programme made for research teams with deep tech projects, grounded in a scientific discovery or meaningful engineering innovation and in any stage of development, that want to explore the path from the lab to the market, and also for technology transfer offices that want to learn a thoroughly tested methodology to foster science-based entrepreneurship and technology commercialization.
During the open call period, we received a total of 43 applications for S3E START and after running and independent evaluation process (counting on external experts) we are very excited to share the selected research teams and tech transfer offices that will take part in the first edition of our S3E START program.
18 RESEARCH TEAMS SELECTED AND 67 RESEARCHERS INVOLVED
| Project Name | Country | Researchers involved | Science field | SDG addressed | Affiliation | |
| Male | Female | |||||
| SIRIUS-AAGI | Spain | 2 | 3 | Engineering and technology | Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure | Complutense University of Madrid The Mindkind SL |
| Brine Utilisation for CO2 to be ‘Koncretely’ Sequestered, Solidified and Stored - BUCKS$$$ | Italy / Greece | 1 | 3 | Engineering and technology | Affordable and clean energy Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Responsible Consumption and Production Climate Action |
Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas (CERTH) | Sapienza University of Rome | Queen Mary University of London |
| Nanofertilizer | Turkey | 1 | 1 | Natural Sciences | Climate Action Life on Land |
Ege Universisty |
| Device for vacuum sublimation (DVS) | Spain | 1 | 3 | Engineering and technology | Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure | ICREA/ICMAB-CSIC |
| Sumatrix Biotech | Turkey / Germany | 2 | 3 | Engineering and technology | Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Climate Action |
|
| Nano-ink: Exploring Nanofluids for High Throughput Thin Film Production | Turkey | 3 | 1 | Engineering and technology | Affordable and clean energy Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Responsible Consumption and Production Climate Action |
Eskisehir Technical University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering | Izmir Katip Celebi University, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences | Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of History of Medicine and Ethics |
| In vitro system for metastatic breast cancer diagnostic | Spain | 0 | 2 | Medical and health sciences | Good Health and Well-being | Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela |
| CAVI | Greece /Slovenia | 3 | 1 | Engineering and technology | Clean water and sanitation Affordable and clean energy Industry, Innovatiuon and Infrastructure |
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana | National Technical University of Athens |
| COPPER (II) NITROPRUSSIDE (Cu(II)NP) FOR USE IN THE TREATMENT OF TUMORS | Italy /Slovenia | 3 | 2 | Medical and health sciences | Good health and well-being | Ca' Foscari University of Venice | Centro di Riferimento Oncologico di Aviano |
| ENIGMA | Italy | 2 | 2 | Engineering and technology | Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure | Politecnico di Milano |
| MET Lab - Protein Portflolio for Sustainable Chemicals | Portugal | 2 | 1 | Natural Sciences | Affordable and clean energy Sustainable Cities and Communities Responsible Consumption and Production Climate Action |
ITQB NOVA - Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier |
| RL-based solution for managment of RAN slicing in 5G networks | Spain | 3 | 1 | Engineering and technology | Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Sustainable Cities and Communities |
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Researcher at Mobile Communication Research Group |
| Breast 4.0- AR-enabled breast cancer localization | Portugal | 3 | 0 | Medical and health sciences | Good health and well-being | Clinical Center Champalimaud |
| Colloidal inks for Superconductors (HTS-INKS) | Spain | 0 | 5 | Engineering and technology | Affordable and clean energy Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Sustainble Cities and Communities Responsible Consumption and Production Climate Action |
Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) |
| The potential of EntomoPathogenic Fungi as Biological contol agents, Biofertilisers and Biostimulants (EPF3Bio) | Greece | 2 | 2 | Agricultural Scienses | Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-being, Decent work and economic growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Climate Action, Life On Land | National and Kapodistrian University of Athens |
| Life on healthy land- Circular economy for microbial inoculants to improve soil quality (CE4Land) | Serbia | 0 | 3 | Engineering and technology | Zero Hunger Responsible Consumption and Production Life On Land |
Faculty of Technology Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad |
| BioMicroElectroMechanical Systems for hard tissue engineering - BioMEMs | Portugal | 2 | 1 | Medical and health sciences | Good health and well-being | University of Aveiro |
| GENOME EDITING OF THE KOZAK SEQUENCE FOR TREATING DISEASES | Italy | 3 | 0 | Medical and health sciences | Good Health and Well-being | University of Trento | Fondazione Hub Innovazione Trentino (HIT) |
12 TECH TRANSFER OFFICES SELECTED
| TTO Name | Description | Country | |
| Aliağa Industrial Zone Technology Transfer Office (ALOTTO) | ALOTTO leads the trustworthy information flow between universities, industry and start-ups to create innovative products, processes and services. |
Turkey | |
| Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol | Gerència Territorial Metropolitana Nord | Institut Català de la Salut | Its activities have focused on driving cultural change through the development of early-stage projects, as well as on evangelising the healthcare community in the hospital on what innovation in healthcare is and what it entails. |
Spain | |
| Centro di Riferimento Oncologico di Aviano | The National Cancer Institute /C.R.O. Aviano, a public institute operating under the authority of the Italian Ministry of Health /MoH and leading center for cancer research, diagnosis and therapy works to advance medical knowledge, provides outstanding medical care, and prepares tomorrow’s physicians, scientists, and other professionals. |
Italy | |
| ODTÜ Technology Transfer Office | METU TTO Commercialization Department works on the commercialization of 150+ academic inventions from various technology areas. Commercialization activity is initiated by the patent application of an academic invention, to the national patent office. During the grace period, we begin to assess the commercial potential of the invention. |
Turkey | |
| Tec Labs | The incubator of the Faculty of Sciences of ULisboa and the place where all the science and technology-based entrepreneurship and innovation related initiatives happen. For the last 30 years we have been supporting and promoting the economic valorisation and knowledge transfer in this school | Portugal | |
| International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE) | It is a research organization created in 1987 at the heart of the prestigious Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) as a partnership between the Government of Catalonia and UPC, in cooperation with UNESCO. The aim of CIMNE is the development of numerical methods and computational techniques for advancing knowledge and technology in engineering and applied sciences. The ultimate goal of CIMNE is to become an international reference centre and leader in computational mechanics, through achieving excellence in all the activities carried out by the centre. | Spain | |
| Bilkent University | As Bilkent TTO, we carry out works involving deep and high technologies. |
Turkey | |
| Center for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) & Competence Center I4byDesign | CERTH: is one of the leading research centres in Greece & listed among the TOP-15 E.U. institutions with the highest participation in competitive research grants Integrating digital and technological Industry 4.0 & Logistics 4.0 solutions in Greek and international MSMEs | Greece | |
| Babes-Bolyai University | Given the market value of our research team results (Constantin Cosma Radon Labortaory from Babes Bolyai University - LiRaCC), we had laid the foundations for our university's first innovative spin-off, RadonControl. |
Romania | |
| ODTÜ Technology Transfer Office | As METU TTO Commercialization Department, we are working on the commercialization of 150+ academic inventions from various technology areas. Commercialization activity is initiated by the patent application of an academic invention, to the national patent office. During the grace period, we begin to assess the commercial potential of the invention. |
Turkey | |
| Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Institute of Robotics | It is a leading scientific institution integrated in the international research community. The creative work of the institute is focused in 9 labs and departments. The team works on cutting-edge inventions and events that aim to familiarise the public with robotics and its benefit for the society, education and business. | Bulgaria | |
| UniSMART- Fondazione Università degli Studi di Padova | UniSMART - Fondazione Università degli Studi di Padova aims to bridge the gap between academia, more specifically University of Padova researchers, and industry, be it an established company or a Venture Capital firm. |
Italy |
WHAT NEXT?
S3E START offers selected researchers and tech transfer offices an 18-weeks hands-on experience that involves:
- Online classes, mainly on the topics related to the process used to guide the participating teams in the development of a business case for a product, service, or process grounded on the proposed technology. Note: classes are held every week for one hour.
- Webinars, on diverse topics pertinent to the development of the relevant skills (e.g. intellectual property, financials, business development, venture funding.). Note: a total of six webinars (one hours long) will be held.
- Mentoring (industry experts) that will guide the teams on validation of the project and in the development of the business case. The mentors supporting the S3E Start edition are individuals who are somehow connected to the area of deep tech and entrepreneurship, and who are prepared to help teams solve problems that arise throughout the program. You can see an updated list of mentors on the S3E website (https://south3e.eu).
- Networking with industry leaders and showcase opportunities at the S3E Open day.
Outcomes:
- The teams will undergo a training program that will have as the visible outcome a business case for a product/service or process concept sustained by the technology proposed.
- The teams will pitch their project, at S3E Open day, to pre-seed stage investors and corporate ventures.
We congratulate the selected participants and we are looking forward to supporting their deep tech projects!
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Meet the selected CHALLENGES: S3E REVERSE Program in action!
The aim of S3E REVERSE is to create a Deep Tech Brokerage Program that will connect corporates and public organisations (Challenge Organisations) that face certain challenges related to the SDGs, with start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs (Solvers) that can address these challenges through their products, services, and solutions, based on deep tech.
The overall goal is to create new collaborations between Challenge Organisations with specific needs and the Solvers that are able to address them.
We launched this program in November 2022 by inviting Challenge Organisations to submit challenges through our Open Call Mechanism. Through this Open Call we received a total of 21 challenges from 19 organisations and after running an independent and transparent evaluation process, we have selected 15 challenges.
MEET THE 15 DEEP TECH CHALLENGES
Challenge title |
Challenge description |
Related SDGs: |
| AI-driven Energy efficiency | This Challenge aims to reduce costs due to unnecessary energy consumption and avoid destruction of fuel and natural resources used and the resulting pollution caused. | SDG 9
SDG 10 |
| Human-centred services with privacy at the core | This Challenge aims to tackle a social problem by use of deep tech driven innovations for the support of well-being professionals and those seeking mental help while easing the burden on the hospitals caused by the rise in the demand for mental help due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. | SDG 3
SDG 9 |
| Energy Demand Forecasting | This is a targeted Challenge aiming to come up with optimal bidding strategies that will be used as part of power and gas demand forecasting algorithms for residential users | SDG 3
SDG 9 |
| Monitor and improve public health, reduce health disparities, and support healthy lifestyles | Health and well-being are an important challenge for smart cities, and technology can play a significant role in improving public health and reducing health disparities.
This Challenge aims to devise technology driven solutions that can solve several key problems related to the well-being of smart such as, amongst others inadequate access to care, lack of health information, inefficient use of healthcare resources and chronic disease management. |
SDG 3 |
| Thermal energy storage | The process of aluminium smelting and shaping requires high temperatures and incurs high energy costs. A great amount of thermal energy gets lost. This is a dual challenge as it concerns on the one side how to decrease energy losses and also reduce the negative environmental impact. | SDG 9 |
| Global Monitoring of Health Misinformation | This Challenge is about finding ways to compile, analyse, monitor and respond to the proliferation of public conversations that can be detrimental to the quality of life.
Applications can be considered in various levels: in global context like by the United Nations Health Organisation, applied to a local context like a municipality or a region monitoring citizen behaviours and trends, or a commercial brand that monitor consumer habits and reactions |
SDG 3
SDG 4 SDG 5 SDG 9 |
| Increase transparency and accountability in the wine supply chain | This Challenge is focused on enabling the track of products and materials from source to final destination in the wine supply chain. We would like to explore the potential of employing blockchain technology and cover aspects related to quality control, traceability, and sustainability. | SDG 8
SDG 9 |
| Vehicle Fleet Management | Communities and SMEs alike suffer from lack of technical support in managing and growing their green vehicle rental service offerings as they are unable to compete with big commercial players.
This Challenge aims to help come up with innovative and intuitive solutions that will help reverse this trend. |
SDG 3
SDG 9 SDG 10 |
| Flood Risk prevention in Smart Cities | Climate hazards are already a serious threat to many urban dwellers, who are increasingly affected by extreme weather. This Challenge aims to deploy Digital Twin technology to support assessment of flood risks using Open Data (Geospatial, Satellite, Climate Data) and AI-based models. | SDG 9 |
| Clean energy solutions for sustainable agriculture | This Challenge aims to explore novel ways to develop and deploy deeptech innovations to generate low-cost and clean energy in particular for agricultural usage demands. | SDG 9 |
| Improving the user experience for data protection and privacy | Sharing private data (health, lifestyle) is always an issue: apart from the legal aspect, citizens should have an increased feeling of value they receive from sharing or donating their own data. This challenge aims to explore ways to offer citizens and patients an increased control over their own data, incentivising them to share or donate them for health- and medical-related research and innovation activities | SDG 3
SDG 8 SDG 9 |
| Prevention of harassment | With this challenge we seek to deploy viable NLP algorithms that can detect written harassment and be used as plug-ins to online corporate communications | SDG 5
SDG 8 |
| Digital transformation processes | Manufacturers and distributors of products in electronic marketplaces face many challenges and there is an increasing demand for coupling IT processes close(r) to the production processes. | SDG 9
SDG 10 |
| Optimization of machine operation | Production plants consist of many isolated machines that are not connected with each other. How can a plant interconnect all machines in one single platform? This platform will support AI and Data Analytics and enable functions such as controlling the machines, monitoring, and improving productivity, updating MES etc. | SDG 9 |
| Raw material and alloy upgrade | In a Scrap Sorting Unit of an aluminium production company, aluminium scrap goes through the shredder before going through the smelting process to turn into aluminium billets. During the alloying process unwanted elements remain in the material. A) How could we remove these unwanted elements? The alloy mixture is determined by employees based on experience (% of scrap and % al. billets). B) How could we optimise the mixture “recipe” to give the final product the characteristics we want? | SDG 9 |
ARE YOU A START-UP OR SME WITH A DEEP TECH SOLUTION?
S3E REVERSE is launching its first open call for applications for Solvers: start-ups and SMEs with deep tech solutions to overcome the challenges described above.
Any kind of SME can participate as long as it meets the following criteria:
- Is established in any country of the Southern European science-based innovation ecosystem is eligible for the Horizon Europe program including associated countries.
- Is capable of addressing a challenge that has been submitted as part of the conducted open call for Challenges and which is related to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
- Can justify the development and / or deployment of a Deep Tech solution.
OPEN CALL LAUNCHES ON 14 MARCH 2023
The Solver Organisation will be invited to submit a simple and quick application to present the proposed solution to any of the submitted challenges of the previous phase. The application will be submitted through the F6S platform and is available at: https://www.f6s.com/s3e-reverse-for-solvers/apply
To get ready to apply, do not forget to read carefully the Guidelines for Applicants, available here.
GET READY TO APPLY!
WE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU!
