The Executive Committee of the Consortium has today approved the entry of these initiatives in the Blue Economy high-tech incubator that closes the first phase of the call
An evaluation team made up of relevant external professionals in entrepreneurship and the blue economy has assessed these six startups out of the 8 that participated in the call
The Futuralga, Home+, M&Hayka, Welogsea, Your sustainable destination and Smart Shipping join the Incubazul ecosystem with innovative and technology-based ideas applied to areas such as fuel savings in navigation, sustainable waste treatment, engineering and architectural design, social networks or blue tourism, among others
Those selected will begin incubation on April 5 and will have the full support of the team of mentors from Telefónica Open Innovation, which will develop a personalized work plan for its promotion, growth and consolidation in the business fabric
Incubazul is co-financed by the European FEDER Funds within the 2014-2020 Operational Program, A way of making Europe, through the INCYDE Foundation
Cádiz, Thursday, March 31, 2022
Six new innovative initiatives have become part of Incubazul, the technological incubator of the Blue Economy that develops the Free Trade Zone of Cádiz and that has the co-financing of ERDF Funds. The Executive Committee of the Consortium has ratified today the decision of the evaluation committee of this call that has approved the entry of these six startups of the eight that attended in the presentation period.
To this end, the evaluation committee, made up of external professionals with a background and experience in entrepreneurship and the blue economy, held a session on Tuesday where the shortlisted ideas and companies were able to tell about their project and see what the acceleration program of this incubator, which has the experience of Telefónica as a company in charge of dynamization.
The selected projects are: Futuralga, Home+, M&Hayka, Welogsea, Your sustainable destination and Smart Shipping. All of them represent technology-based concepts and services that can be applied in the multiple subsectors covered by the Blue Economy: from the manufacture of biodegradable and compostable disposable containers made from seaweed; the treatment of urban and industrial waste without emissions; blue tourism; fuel savings in navigation; engineering and architectural design; or the application of social networks to nautical services, among other subsectors.
These six new projects join the technological incubator ecosystem of the Cádiz Base Zone project and in which projects such as Trahspeak, a startup that manufactures surfboards from recycled plastic collected on the coast, are already working; Productos La Salá, which treats and markets fresh salicornia, also known as sea asparagus, and various products through the production processes of this plant; and Zero Risk, which provides technological solutions connected to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to blue tourism.
The six new ones selected will begin next Tuesday, April 5, the first phase of the incubation that will last for 4 months in which, with the added value of the tutoring and mentoring of the Telefónica Open Innovation team, they will lay the foundations and work on the idea construction. After an assessment of the evolution and use of the services and resources available to you, your stay may be extended.
In all phases of the program, the team of mentors and advisors will help the incubated projects with a training plan and personalized work to boost the business, offering legal support, marketing, branding, presentation of the idea, internationalization, search for financing channels to guarantee the viability of the startup, access to own or third-party research infrastructures or provision of services that facilitate the day-to-day running of the startup, along with networking sessions and conferences aimed at establishing contacts between the different groups of interest associated with them.
It should be remembered that the Incubazul acceleration program began in order to be able to attract all the talent around the Blue sector and strengthen its competitiveness and employability in the market while the physical incubator for the Cádiz Base Zone project is being built, in the plot of the former Ibérica Aga, an innovative project for which the Free Trade Zone is speeding up all the processing and which is a symbol of the circular economy in itself from a conceptual point of view, since it is made up of recycled shipping containers, which usually have a service life of 10 to 15 years.
In fact, meeting the deadlines and developing the project is being carried out with all the meticulousness that comes with being an initiative that was born thanks to the support of the European Union, which co-finances it, through the INCYDE Foundation, 80% by the ERDF within the 2014-2020 Multi-Regional Operational Program within axis 3: Improving the Competitiveness of SMEs, Thematic Objective 3 Improving the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, and the 3rd investment priority Fostering entrepreneurship , in particular, by facilitating the economic exploitation of new ideas, and promoting the creation of new companies, also through incubators.
In this sense, the State delegate in the Free Zone of Cádiz, Fran González, has positively valued the arrival of these initiatives to the Incubazul ecosystem and has stressed that "it reinforces us in our commitment to the Blue Economy, to the sea as a an inexhaustible source of wealth, for an innovative and sustainable industrial model that generates opportunities for the business fabric in thriving sectors, these are already important employability niches in the province of Cádiz and throughout the country”.
“We thank these six projects for their trust and encourage them to take advantage of this incubation time from the conviction that they join the INCYDE Foundation's national network of High Technology incubators in which they will be nurtured with differentiating elements and guarantees for advance in the transfer of R&D&i to their projects”, explained González.
Selected by an evaluation team
The approval today by the Executive Committee of the Consortium was preceded by the supervision and validation last Tuesday of all the projects presented by an evaluation team, made up of multidisciplinary experts such as Marcia Maciel, director of Madrid Open Future, Telefónica Open Innovation; María Gálvez, as European Climate Pact Ambassador in Spain; José Ignacio Morales, Telefónica Innovation Consultant; Francisco Batanero, sales director Switzerland, Italy, Mediterranean Telefónica Business Solution; Pilo Martín, CEO Young promises and mentor of persuasive communication/oratory at Incubazul; Lola Rueda, mentor of the Talent Rescuers program of the Princess of Girona Foundation; and Taite Cortés, coordinator of Incubazul and chief of staff of the Cádiz Free Trade Zone.
Each initiative presented its project and subsequently underwent a round of questions from the members of the evaluation team, who delved into all the indicators and requirements contained in the spirit and in the bases of the incubator, analyzing the needs for each business plan and validating entry into the business acceleration program.
With the entry of talent and new projects in Incubazul and with all the potential that the province of Cádiz has in the blue sector, the Cádiz Free Trade Zone reaffirms its commitment to marine resources and opens the door to technological talent that wants to grow in this sector and that places Cádiz as a benchmark in the sector where they will find the best scenario to develop their project, combining job growth with a privileged environment.
The call to become part of Incubazul is permanently open and all interested parties can register and obtain all the information through the web www.incubazul.es.
