MWCapital promotes technology transfer with The Collider

• The Collider aims to create highly innovative deep-tech startups in a 10-month incubation period
• MWCapital will grant projects an initial investment up to €150k in the form of seed capital and provide them with workspace at Pier 01 ( Palau de Mar, Barcelona)
• The Collision Weekend will take place on 18-19 November to allow scientists and entrepreneurs to draw up the initial outlines of their projects

16 November 2017

Mobile World Capital Barcelona is launching The Collider, a new programme designed to connect the scientific knowledge with the entrepreneurial talent to create highly innovative technological startups. This new programme conducted as a venture builder, aims to promote technology transfer from research centres and universities to the market by creating, developing and supporting high-performing teams.

The Collider has developed a new transfer model based on connecting professionals with profiles related to scientific research or technological innovation and entrepreneurs with expertise in launching startups, leading innovative projects and business development. This MWCapital initiative has made its first call for submissions and has already received 200 applications from entrepreneurs and professionals with links to research projects and who have shown already a high interest in taking part in the programme.

After an initial selection period overseen by a committee of experts, the programme has worked on creating teams formed by entrepreneurs and scientists, depending on their skills, interests and professional motivation. Once they have been established, the groups will begin an incubation period of 10 months in which to design and promote their future scientific startups.

Pioneering model: project development and incubation in four phases

The Collider bases its startup creation process on a work method that is divided into four phases: Collision Weekend, Bootcamp, Venture Builder and Incubation. The first phase will begin on 18 November, when the selected teams will take part in the Collision Weekend, two days during which candidates can get to know each other and begin to develop the work plan that will set the course for defining the model of their future startup.

From here, the teams will have one month to define their project and draw up the structure of their startups in the Bootcamp stage. The third phase, which will take place from 8 January to 29 April, is known as the Venture Builder. At this point, the participants will found the startup and develop their project or service and establish the bases of their business model over a period of four months. Once completed this stage, the startups will go into the last incubation phase to test the scalability of their business over the following five months.

Throughout the entire incubation period, the programme will grant each startups up to €150,000 in seed investment and provide them with workspace at Pier 01 (Palau de Mar, Barcelona). Additionally, the work teams will have access to a large pool of experts and mentors who will advise them and accompany them through new rounds of financing and ensure they are given visibility at major sector events such as GMSA Mobile World Congress and 4YFN. 

The Collision Weekend: two days to discover, observe, define and design

The first phase of the project kicks off on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 November with The Collision Weekend. The selected scientists and entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to get to know each other and begin to develop the structure of their future startups. A packed programme of workshops and information sessions has been lined up for the weekend, among which the inspirational talk by Jaume Rey, CEO and co-founder of NEXIONA, one of the larding startups in Spain for IoT solutions, and dynamics in which the participants will have to create a prototype based on an idea and sell it to a real public.