It doesn’t matter in what stage of development the respective business idea is at the moment. The new Deep-Tech Startup Acceleration Programme of Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), bundled into four weeks with eight hours per week each, is aimed at students, graduates, employees of TU Graz and external interested parties who are burning with their deep-tech business ideas.
16 teams in the first round
Teams of two or more can apply until 18th October, and a total of 16 teams selected by a panel of experts will be accepted into the first round of the programme. From 23rd October, those who take part will benefit from the wealth of experience of experienced mentors – including academics who have founded companies themselves, venture capitalists and a governance agency. In online lectures and workshops on entrepreneurship and innovation, they help participants take their start-up ideas to the next level. At the end of the programme, the teams pitch in front of a top-class expert jury as part of a final presentation. The best team gets an opportunity for further coaching by a mentor. In addition, the winning team and the runner-up can look forward to cash prizes.
Build up innovation skills
The Acceleration Programme is part of the HEICE project funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). In HEICE, TU Graz is working together with partners from Portugal and Serbia to strengthen the entrepreneurship and innovation skills of students and staff in deep-tech areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and environmental technology. The longer-term goal is to close the gap between research and industry.
