Also this year Start-Up Lab has reached the end of its ninth edition with Demo Day 2021, a competition where the finalist teams of Start-Up Lab expose their projects to an exceptional jury in just 4 minutes. This year, we decided to do things big; bringing names such as Andrea Cuoghi - Project manager and business coach (Trentino Sviluppo), Marco Senigalliesi - Head of Startup & Acceleration (Hub Innovazione Trentino), Gabriele Paglialonga - Managing Director (Industrio Ventures), Andrea Bolner - Business Angel (BanD), Rui Barros Silva - Enterprise Education Projects Officer (Cass Business School), Chloe Hwang - former alumna and CEO/Co-founder of TxC2 and an outstanding keynote speaker: Lisa Short, professor and entrepreneur.
But, how did Demo Day take place?
During this edition, we wanted to engage as many people as possible through Youtube Live, giving everyone the opportunity to watch, appreciate and evaluate the projects of the finalist teams of Start-Up Lab.
Each team presented his idea with a 4-minute video, in front of a huge digital audience. Everyone was thrilled to see which innovative idea could win the Start-Up Lab 2021 podium. Throughout the afternoon of May 27th, the judges observed, interacted, and voted for the team's projects. We wanted to show you how, in reality, all the ideas developed by the teams were valid. Therefore, the public also had the chance to see all our team projects and vote for their favourite one through our website assigning the People's Choice Award!
Which are the finalist projects?
Some focus on the themes of health and beauty: a biotechnological patch to remove a painless tattoo (Yore); a digital service for online advice for hair problems (Hair); an IT solution to accelerate the diagnosis of melanoma via smartphone (Healme); a new type of bra for women undergoing mastectomy (ONEbra); a device that reduces preparation time for the electroencephalogram (EEGMate). Some projects focus on food and life at home: an app to reduce domestic food waste (Fookstokk); a new type of mushroom grown with coffee grounds to feed fully and sustainably (Mogu); a platform for booking technicians for home interventions (JustHome). Without forgetting the solutions for socializing and enjoying cultural content, it is always very popular for students like an app to look for playmates (OKaygo). Finally, some ideas to increase prevention and control systems: a platform for real-time monitoring of weather conditions for agriculture (EasyFarming); an IT solution to remove illegal and propaganda content from the web (Crawler); an information archiving system protected through the data of its DNA (Safe-X).
What about the winners?
This year the teams focused on health were the favourite from the jury.
EEG mate wins first place and the opportunity to fly to Lisbon to attend Web Summit in November 2021. Together with Yore, they were also rewarded with a special prize offered by HIT - Hub Innovazione Trentino, a 6-month pre-incubation program and mentorship.
Yore, winning second place, can participate in the South Summit in Madrid, which will take place in October 2021. It was also the favourite among the audience winning the People’s Choice award with 200 preferences out of 1500 total votes.
ONEBra won third place, gaining the chance to participate in the Web Marketing Festival, in Rimini.
Regarding the semifinalists, KitchenKit won the special mention award. The judges were impressed by the simplicity of the project and the quality of the presentation.
Moreover, KitchenKit and Easy Farming received the Best teamwork award assigned by Junior Mentors for the teams, which showed better how to listen and practice the mentor's advice and work in a team.