Minalogic ramps up support
The purpose of the first call for projects issued by the DigiFed consortium, which includes Minalogic, is to finance small-scale multi-partner projects that aim to integrate innovative digital solutions into new products and services. In the two-and-a-half months in the run up to the closing date of June 9, the project partners were active promoting DigiFed and helping their members prepare submissions.
A huge response
DigiFed’s first call for projects garnered 92 submissions, 72 of which were complete enough to be evaluated. Of the 72 projects, 48 involve a member of the consortium (“application experiment” category) and 24 involve at least two European companies (“application experiment twin” category) as stipulated in the call for projects (see here).
A total of 91 companies submitted projects. These companies are located in a large number of European countries, plus Turkey. The majority are located in France, Italy, Spain, the UK, Slovenia, and Germany
Four projects were submitted by Minalogic members; they received assistance from Minalogic putting together their proposals.
Additional support from Minalogic
To raise companies’ awareness of DigiFed and to support companies with their proposals, the members of the consortium held a large number of informational webinars on the technologies offered by the project partners for potential cooperation on technologies that include: IoT, AI, software, lighting, reliability and autonomous vehicles, and cybersecurity.
Recordings of these webinars are available on the DigiFed website: https://digifed.org/explore/online-bootcamps/
Minalogic offered its members additional support to improve their project submissions and give them the best possible chances of being selected. Specifically, Minalogic’s experts reviewed members’ projects by:
- Reading through their technical proposals
- Conducting mock pitches/interviews
- Providing comprehensive feedback and recommendations for improvements
- Writing letters of support as needed
The review process focused on the technical aspects of the proposals, how well the proposals aligned with the expectations of the DigiFed call for projects, the viability of the target product on the market, and the overall quality of the proposals. Minalogic is working on expanding its quality process, which is appreciated by members and recognized by a number of regional and national financing instruments, to cascade funding instruments like DigiFed.
The selection process
The projects submitted will be assessed based on the written proposal, which covers the technical aspects, and a more business-oriented video pitch. The DigiFed evaluators will grade the proposals according to three main technical criteria: quality, excellence, and impact. They will look at things like clarity, ambition, innovation, coherence, and efficiency. In terms of the business aspects, the evaluators will look at strategy, market potential, and differentiators.The projects selected are expected to be announced the first week of August.
Save these upcoming dates
The next DigiFed call for projects will be open from September 22 to December 15, 2020. This upcoming round will provide even more opportunities for technology partnerships with small-scale R&D and validation/testing projects with DigiFed partners, European companies, and major industrial corporations.
If you are interested and would like assistance preparing your proposal, contact Minalogic today!
Bastien Hualpa de Schuyter | European Project Coordinator | bastien.hualpa@minalogic.com | M : +33 (0)6 21 96 71 83
