Innovation Hub by Innogy offers €250,000 investment prize for machine economy start-ups

Woah!

Innovation Hub by Innogy, which exists to accelerate solutions to energy transition, is offering a prize of €250,000 for start-ups, entrepreneurs and innovators shaping the transition to the machine economy across the categories of society, business and culture.

The award is part of Innovation Hub’s IPRIZE Machine Economy Innovators Challenge, devised to accelerate the strong foundation for developing new machine-powered business models. 

Successful early-stage start-ups will gain seed investment of a value of up to €250,000 as a convertible loan within each of the categories. Meanwhile, successful individual applicants also stand to win a €2,000 per month stipend, as well as office space and monthly one-on-one coaching from Innovation Hub entrepreneurial experts to support their ideation.  

Start-ups and individuals working within the fields of blockchain, machine learning, self-organising systems and artificial intelligence are invited to apply for the IPRIZE.

Kate Jack, country lead for UK Innovation Hub, said:“As we increasingly move into the era of the Machine Economy, the question of how the relationship between humans and machines will evolve is one that needs to be addressed promptly.

“Increasing use of autonomous technology could impact up to 50 per cent of the global workforce, according to research from the University of Oxford. Meanwhile, our existing political, economic and business structures are ill-prepared for a world becoming more decentralised, autonomous and machine-powered.

“Innovation Hub is excited to see what creative solutions applicants to the IPRIZE have devised, and we are looking forward to working with our winners to help build a future in which the Machine Economy benefits us all.” 

The deadline for submissions to the IPRIZE is 4 August 2017. Finalists will be selected by 1 September and the winners announced at the IPRIZE finale on 28 September at Tak Theatre in Berlin. Applicants can find detailed information on entry criteria by visiting https://innovationhub.innogy.com/iprize