IT consultancy giant Capgemini is marking its 50th anniversary with a competition which will see five winning start-ups securing $50,000 of investment.
The French firm is inviting early stage start-ups from across the world to enter InnovatorsRace50, a chance for them to showcase the potential of their products, services or innovative uses of technology to disrupt businesses and organisations.
It says the competition “celebrates the spirit of innovative entrepreneurship and builds on the life and times of Capgemini’s founder, the late Serge Kampf, who created his very own start-up 50 years ago”.
“Digital disruption is redefining all industries and innovation is its lifeblood,” said Lanny Cohen, group chief technology officer and member of the group executive committee at Capgemini.
“Navigating the start-up scene is at the very heart of what we do for our clients. It’s a privilege to work with emerging entrepreneurs and witness some of the most advanced and radical thinking that is transforming businesses today.”
Businesses have until February 28th to enter in one of five categories: Govtech and Social Enterprises, Fintech and Mobility, Consumers and Well-Being, Digital Processes and Transformation, and Data and Security.
Ten companies will be chosen in each category and hold personal meetings with a panel of experts, who will then nominate two finalists per category.
These finalists will then meet with tech and industry experts in person in five of Capgemini’s Applied Innovation Exchanges in London, San Francisco, Munich, Mumbai and Paris, experiencing what Capgemini calls an “immersive and transformative environment for further exploration, discovery, testing and application of their innovation”.
They will also benefit from access to an extensive network of experts to help them work on their proposals and prepare their final submission.
The five winners, to be announced late in the year, will each secure $50,000 of equity-free funding, access to extensive networking opportunities and industry experts, participation in international tech events and the opportunity to become a Capgemini partner.
Meanwhile BusinessCloud is conducting its own search for the UK’s top 150 technology start-ups.
Currently welcoming nominations, the list will be broken down into 12 regions while our panel of judges will also select an additional six entrants for special awards, with the full list appearing in the May edition of BusinessCloud.
It follows publication of the magazine’s inaugural 100 Women Role Models of Tech, which reached more than two million people on Twitter and was widely praised.