Rice Straw Startup Europe Accelerathon will announce its winner on June 30
The winning team will choose a grant of up to 2 million euros to develop their project through the Life program of the European Commission.
Brussels, June 26, 2020 – Next Tuesday, June 30 at 5:00 pm, the final and virtual award ceremony of the Rice Straw Startup Europe Accelerathon will take place, organized by the Finnova Foundation and the City Council of Coria del Rio (Seville). The objective of this project is to find innovative solutions that focus the treatment of rice by-products as a resource and not as waste, thus promoting the circular economy.
Throughout these weeks, the five finalist teams have been working and training online on Life+ projects thanks to the experts from the Finnova Foundation. The most innovative ideas have been the following:
- Rice straw for sustainable construction material;
- Rice straw for electric power generation;
- Rice straw as additive for packaging and paper;
- Rice straw for gas and bioethanol production;
- Innovative uses of rice husk.
During the awards ceremony, each team will present their project with an elevator pitch, which will be evaluated by a jury of experts (80%) and also by the public (20%). After the jury’s verdict, the winning team will obtain a European acceleration ticket awarded by Startup Europe Accelerator to present the project on July 14 to the Life program of the DG ENVIRONMENT of the European Commission. Subsequently, the winning project will participate in the Startup Europe Awards and will also be present at the Smart Agrifood Summit to be held in Malaga on September 24 and 25. The latter constitutes an industry leading event for the creation of innovative ecosystems within the European agri-food sector.
Rice Straw Startup Europe Accelerathon has been the first open innovation competition on the circular economy of rice straw. It has been promoted by the Finnova Foundation and the City of Coria del Río (Seville). This initiative is supported by Startup Europe Awards and the DG CONNECT of the European Commission, which allows the winning project to qualify for a grant of up to 2 million euros through the Life program.
Coria del Río
Coria del Río is a town located 12 km from the capital of Seville, located on the banks of the Guadalquivir. With thousands of years of history, this riverside municipality keeps under its streets the remains of important civilizations that settled there, such as the Tartessos, the Romans and the Arabs, who made Coria del Río a place to promote culture, the social development and the economy through services such as livestock, agriculture, and fishing. Over the years, the Corians developed new techniques, promoting riverside carpentry or sturgeon fishing, and it became the only place in Western Europe to have a caviar factory. It is also worth noting the close relationship that this town has with Japan since 1614, when the Keicho Embassy led by the Samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga landed here, which united both cultures and left a legacy that more than 400 years later continues in more than 700 Corians who they have inherited the surname “Japan” from this expedition. Currently, Coria del Río has more than 30,000 inhabitants and a tourist offer that makes thousands of visitors travel to the municipality every year. Tourists are attracted by its gastronomy, its rich landscapes, its history, its festivals, and its peculiar relationship with Japan.
What is the Accelerathon?
Accelerathon is an open innovation program promoted by the Finnova Foundation within the framework of the Startup Europe Awards of the European Commission that encourages public-private collaboration and the application of a multidisciplinary approach to the challenges set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. This methodology of the Finnova Foundation combines the hackathon with the principle of acceleration; It seeks to find solutions and European financing through an online system of applied open innovation that brings together different actors in the innovative ecosystem. The Accelerathon is oriented to the LIFE Program of the European Commission and supports programs that are linked to the fight against COVID-19, legionella, among other common problems.
What is Startup Europe Awards (SEUA)?
It is an initiative of the DG CONNECT of the European Commission implemented by the Finnova Foundation and supported by the European Parliament. The SEUA present a methodology for startup awards at local, regional, national and European level that encourages open innovation and collaboration between the different actors in the European ecosystem through public-private partnership to support entrepreneurs.
Finnova Foundation
Finnova is the European foundation for financing innovation. Its objectives are to promote public-private cooperation by transferring the best low-cost technology solutions available. Its objective is to tackle social challenges such as employment, entrepreneurship, the United Nations SDGs, the circular economy, the recovery of waste, sustainable tourism and the fight against climate change.
The Finnova Foundation promotes green employment, economic recovery and training and youth employment. http://finnova.eu/
What is Startup Europe Accelerator?
It is a European accelerator specialized in supporting incubation programs for regional, national, and vertical / sector entrepreneurship so that startups have access to the resources offered by the European Union to internationalize their project. Thanks to Startup Europe Accelerator, they can access the market, internationalize, carry out European projects, have mentoring, networks, and have legal defense, legal advice and international communication..
Information of Interest:
-Registration to the final web: https://bit.ly/3dBZ5zI