HORIZON-EIC-2023-iCapitalPrize - The European Capital of Innovation Awards
EU Prizes: Application form (prizes) The European Capital of Innovation Awards: V1.0 – 08.03.2023
pitch and very often raise investment from participation. In March 2023 seven Startups pitched f or €6.5 million and to date, over €25 million investment has been raised in the past 10 years.
The celebration of High Growth Startups acknowledges the success and growth of some of the companies that CorkBIC have worked with and invites them to participate in this event to encourage others to join on the Entrepreneurship journey.
CorkBIC Partners in Europe & Internationalisation
CorkBIC is globally connected but regionally focused. CorkBIC understands how important it is for Startups to have an international focus to grow and expand their businesses and works with them to ensure businesses can achie ve a ‘soft landing’ in key international markets. CorkBIC is a certified EU|BIC, member of the European Business and Innovation Centre Network (EBN). EBN is the leading international, non-profit association of quality-certified EU Business and Innovation Centres (EU|BICs), incubators and other innovation brokers and business support structures (i.e. accelerators, clusters, investment funds). CorkBIC is a member of EBAN, (the European Business Angels Network) which is the pan-European representative for the early-stage investor community gathering over 100 member organisations in more than 50 countries. In 2022 CorkBIC organised the European Business Angel Network (EBAN) Annual Congress in Cork where 350 business angels, entrepreneurs and business leaders attended, making it the second-largest angel congress in the world in 2022.
The CorkBIC International Security Accelerator
This World Class Security Accelerator invests in early-stage disruptive companies in the security industry including, Cybersecurity, the Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, AI, Health & Bioinformatics, Defence, Critical Infrastructure, Financial Services & Logistics. The International Security Accelerator, managed by CorkBIC, based in Cork, is an intensive 13-week program of mentoring and in-depth workshops with a focus on the team, technology, business model, market opportunity and investor readiness. To date, CorkBIC has run 3 cohorts of the Accelerator. The companies are now valued at €92.3m post -money valuation, has raised € 37.5 million in investment and created 134 jobs (end of 2021).
Cork City’s Republic o f Work
Cork City’s Republic of Work co -working hub, which is situated in the very heart of the city, is one of five regional strategic partners for the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC). This €17m contract sees the Republic of Work, in collaboration with its network of partners, deliver a mentorship-driven accelerator and pre-accelerator programmes as well as pre-seed funding to entrepreneurs across Ireland, investing in globally focused, high-impact start-ups, to create internationally scalable Irish companies. These accelerators are part of a very important and effective ecosystem that stimulates and accelerates the growth of highly innovative start-ups and SMEs in Cork City.
INNOVATIVE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
Development of Social Enterprises - Cork City Council
In 2022 in collaboration with Rethink Ireland, Cork City Council sought to develop Cork City’s Social Enterprise Sector. What followed was the development of strategic partnerships and initiatives which sought to put social enterprises in connection with potential procurers of their goods and services. The highlight of this was when Cork City Council hosted the #BuySocialIRL event in Cork City Hall intended to encourage social enterprises to display their services and products for sale, highlight their work and allow potential purchasers of their wares to interact and meet. The meet and greet event. Cork City Council and the Local Enterprise Office have committed to where possible, procuring from Social Enterprises for future events throughout the year. Our societies face pressing challenges when it comes to the Green and Digital transitions, to meet these challenges Cork City Council has realized the importance of innovative public procurement to unlock the creativity and potential of our people and local businesses to solve the issues we face.
Unheard Voices Project
Citizen engagement projects are central to the smart agenda. An example of this is the Unheard Voices project that Cork City Council in collaboration with Fingal County Council (Dublin). This project used an
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