On Friday, October 2nd, the BoostMeUp project Demo day was held in the premises of IEC Technopolis, during which 19 selected teams presented their ideas.
The event was opened by the Minister of Science and Technological Development, Biljana Scepanovic, who emphasized the role of Tehnopolis in the development of the innovative and scientific-technological community by implementing numerous activities in that field. Ms. Scepanovic emphasized that pre-acceleration is the first step towards entering the market, and the third implementation cycle implies that this Program provides significant benefits for participants in terms of developing ideas and mentoring support.
The executive director of IEC Tehnopolis, Djordjije Malovic, emphasized that the Bootcamp will first of all help the teams in the further development of their startups, so that in the end they will one day find themselves on the market. “The idea is for Niksic and Montenegro to become a “hub” that will not only attract investors, the scientific community, digital nomads from the region and the world, but to provide something that will make our country recognizable,” said Mr. Malovic.
During the previous week, the selected teams had the opportunity to attend group workshops, individual sessions, meetups, lectures and work with mentors in order to improve all aspects of their ideas, which they presented in front of an expert jury on the last day of the Bootcamp, the Demo Day. The rich Bootcamp program enabled the teams to learn more about: the Montenegrin innovation ecosystem, available support within the business incubator IEC Tehnopolis, support programs within the Innovation Fund of Montenegro, as well as the procedure for registering innovative activities, thanks to local and foreign experts. Through the experiences of the Raising Starts program, previous participants of BoostMeUp, as well as one of our most successful startups “Uhura Solutions”, the teams were presented with the key steps for the development of a startup. Experts from the field of economics pointed out ways of financing startups and gave guidelines for transforming an initial idea into a sustainable business. As part of a special part of the program, we had the opportunity to host Scott Page, an American musician and former member of the bands Pink Floyd and Toto, during an online lecture, who gave the teams a unique opportunity to learn about his space methodology, which he used not only for development and improving his startups, but also as his life methodology.
Based on predetermined criteria, the expert jury selected six teams: MyTurn, Deltahes, netAI, MindShift, Statisti.me and Visit village, which will receive financial and non-financial support in the next stage of the pre-acceleration program. Additionally, it was decided to support the following teams through various non-financial mechanisms in the next phase of the Program: Between / Innovation Logistics, F1XP™ by QQRIQ, Komunumo and STAZE BEZ GARINA. The support includes a six-month training program in which they will deepen their knowledge and develop their ideas in various aspects of business, so that at the end of this period, at the grand finale of the program – Montenegro Pitching Competition, they will present their developed ideas in front of an expert jury and all important actors of the innovation ecosystem. The three most successful teams in the Grand Final of the Program will receive, among other things, the opportunity to present their idea at a larger regional event where representatives of VC funds, business angels, accelerators and other potential investors will be present.
The pre-acceleration program “BoostMeUp” is a national platform that aims to increase competitiveness and digitize the economy of Montenegro through the development of an innovative ecosystem and the creation of innovative companies, raising knowledge and skills, creating new values, entrepreneurial culture and easier access to regional and international markets for innovative and entrepreneurial projects. The program is fully aligned with the priorities of the S3 national strategy, which emphasizes a new model of economic development based on targeted support for scientific research and innovation activities and hits several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The holder of the program is the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center Tehnopolis, and the partners are the Science and Technology Park of Montenegro, the University of Montenegro, Montenegrin Telekom and Science and Technology Park Belgrade. The program is co-financed by the Innovation Fund of Montenegro.