Start-ups to register here, period open until December 5
Euroleague Basketball, together with La Salle Campus Barcelona-URL, through its business incubator La Salle Technova, has confirmed the launch of an open call to start-ups to apply for the 2019 EB Tech Challenge, with registration open until December 5.
The call is addressed to start-up companies in their early stages or companies with radically innovative and disruptive solutions applicable to the sports industry.
Upon reception of the applications, a distinguished jury will select finalists to participate in Tech Challenge week in Barcelona from January 21 to 25, five days' worth of networking, conferences and panel discussions, amongst other events. The finalists will get full access to the Euroleague Basketball organization through mentoring sessions with members of its management. Professionals in other organizations will also be on hand to help start-ups fine-tune their solutions to satisfy current or future industry needs. The week will culminate with the start-ups pitching their solutions to the jury, which will select the winners of the 2019 edition.
"The 2018 edition of the Tech Challenge delivered results that exceeded expectations both for us as organizers and for the participants," Jordi Bertomeu, President and CEO of Euroleague Basketball, said. "This event allows us to connect with new and upcoming technologies and to tackle existing, concrete challenges, as well, so that we may think beyond now and plan for the EuroLeague of tomorrow."
"From La Salle we have the firm intention of promoting entrepreneurship, especially in the projects developed in our core fields," Josep M. Santos, General Director of La Salle Campus Barcelona-URL, said. "It is a pleasure to celebrate this new edition of the Tech Challenge in collaboration with Euroleague Basketball. After the successful first edition, we are confident that we will receive international and disruptive projects submissions that will bring innovation in the sports management area and specifically in basketball."
The first edition of the EB Tech Challenge saw 63 start-ups from 17 different countries apply to join the competition before 10 finalists were selected to participate in the Tech Challenge week in Barcelona.
Jury members include:
Jordi Bertomeu – President & CEO, Euroleague Basketball
Josep M. Santos – General Director, La Salle Campus Barcelona-URL
Xavier Bidault – Commercial Director, Basketball, IMG Media
David Hopkinson – Global Head of Partnerships, Real Madrid
Didac Lee – Board Member, FC Barcelona and Co-Founder, Galdana Ventures
Sree Varma – Founder & CEO, iSportconnect & iSportconnect Capital
Luis Vicente – Chief Digital Transformation & Innovation Officer at FIFA
Euroleague Basketball experimented with two of the 2018 finalists in real environments last season and two additional start-ups have successfully entered into a business relationship with the company.
Daniel Waiss, Founder & CEO of 2018 overall winner NFC Sound, said of Euroleague Basketball management: "They were sharing their personal thoughts in a friendly, humble way, treating us like colleagues. I would say the experience was just priceless!" Content Stadium, which specializes in the agile and automatic creation and publishing of visual content on social media platforms, is already working with Euroleague Basketball to provide its fans with a new and upgraded digital experience "It was a unique opportunity to showcase our product and develop a relationship with the biggest brands in the sports sector," Jasper Swelheim, COE of Content Stadium, said.
NGAGE, another 2018 finalist, will soon launch a project together with Euroleague Basketball based on blockchain technology. Avi Polak, CEO & Co-Founder of NGAGE Sportek, said: "The whole week was an amazing opportunity and an amazing way of getting different messages across."
