• Startup-builder etventure and Fraunhofer IAIS Partner in the EU-Accelerator EuropeanPioneers
• 25 Startups and SMEs in the areas of Smart City Services, Social Connected TV, Pervasive Gaming and E-Learning will be supported
• Applications open 1^st September at europeanpioneers.eu

Berlin/Sankt Augustin, 27^th August 2014 – Over the next two years, the EU funding programme “EuropeanPioneers“ will support 25 startups and SMEs in the European Union with a total of 4.5 million Euros. The scheme targets businesses active in the fields of Smart City Services, Social Connected TV, Pervasive Gaming and E-Learning. The aim of the project is to boost media-sector startups and SMEs with innovative business models. The application deadline for the first round is 31^st October 2014. Interested companies can apply online from 1^st September at www.europeanpioneers.eu.

In the course of the 8-month programme, the selected startups will receive funding of between 50,000 and 250,000 Euros each, as well as access to the technologies of the powerful FIWARE and FI-CONTENT software platforms. The platforms provide open-source software, software as a service and cloud service infrastructures for the digital industry. These technologies have been developed by companies and research institutions in the context of the EU’s “Future Internet Public Private Partnership”.

The participants will also be supported by experienced coaches in areas including concept and business model development, milestone-planning, user-testing, team-building, marketing and financing. In addition, the programme offers access to mentors and a strong network of useful business contacts. This year, 5 companies will be accepted onto the programme, and two more application rounds in 2015 will select a further 10 participants each.

EuropeanPioneers is a consortium of innovation experts from all over Europe, led by startup-builder etventure (Berlin) in collaboration with the following partners: the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS (Sankt Augustin), Weblify (Poland), Thoughtbox (Ireland) and F-Secure (Finland). EuropeanPioneers is one of 16 accelerators which will distribute a total of 80 million Euros to innovative companies on behalf of the European Union.