Business / startups
India Croatia Startup Challenge
The Croatian Agency for Small Business, Innovation and Investment, HAMAG-BICRO and Startup India announced the Indo-Croatian startup challenge with partner companies Infobip, KONČAR and HexGn, with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of India in Croatia. The project partner is the Zagreb Innovation Center (ZICER).
Interested startup companies can submit innovative solutions from April 11 to May 20, 2022. The winners will be announced on June 14, 2022, at the Zagreb Innovation Centre (ZICER) event. The Indo-Croatian startup challenge will also be presented at the Leap Summit on May 12 and 13 in Zagreb.
The startup challenge is a way to highlight critical issues and define innovative solutions to achieve the following goals in sustainable solutions:
- Provide a framework and mechanism for interacting with internal and external stakeholders that catalyse innovation
- Leverage technology and innovation to address challenges to improve efficiency and productivity
- Identifying and addressing bottlenecks that prevent the adoption of innovative products and services.
The first initiative was the India-Croatia Startup Bridge, a digital platform designed to strengthen international cooperation, innovation, trade, and economic cooperation between Croatia and India.
Now, they are looking for innovative solutions for startups to address three challenges within the fields of sustainability, livelihood, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), green energy, education and skills development:
- clean water and better quality of life
- reduced inequality
- decent work and economic growth.
Participants in the Indo-Croatian startup challenge who offer the best solutions can win cash prizes, mentoring, incubation and business solutions for growth. The total value of the prize pool is estimated at $43,000.00.
The partner companies of the Indo-Croatian startup challenge will provide the following benefits for Indian and Croatian startup companies that will participate in the competition:
- Infobip will select up to 3 of the best startup solutions from the 12 successful participants with an example of application in Infobip and award each of them with a prize in Infobip products and services worth a total of $10,000. Selected startup teams will receive the support of the Infobip team to make the most of the value of Infobip products for their growth.
- KONČAR will provide a cash prize of HRK 10,000.00 gross amount (~ 1,694 USD) for the best startup solution to the challenge of decent work and economic growth.
- HexGn will provide a free scale-up program worth $ 2,000 to each of the 12 successful participants (six from India and six from Croatia). The program will run for 45 days, twice a week.
HAMAG-BICRO is one of the sponsors of this event whose mission is to educate and inspire the future generation of innovators, entrepreneurs, leaders, and drivers of change.
