More than 2,000 start-ups from 60 countries participated in the second selection round by the IMPACT accelerator, in which Ferrovial Services is a partner.
Ferrovial Services is a partner in the Impact Growth start-up funding and acceleration programme financed by the European Commission, which recently chose the 14 winners of the second edition. Those start-ups will receive a non-refundable grant of €100,000. Two of them will receive an additional €150,000 each, also non-refundable. The best start-ups selected for IMPACT Growth may receive up to €1.5 million in private-sector funding.
Ferrovial Services, through the Centre of Excellence for Energy and Facility Management, together with Ferrovial’s Innovation and processes department, and the Intelligent Infrastructures Innovation Centre (CI3), is leading the Smart Infrastructure and Cities area of the programme.
Apart from funds, the 14 start-ups will benefit from the support of Fundación FIWARE to integrate this technology when developing their projects. The start-ups will participate in a training programme with international experts and entrepreneurs in Madrid and Oporto, and will have access to an international network of more than 100 renowned mentors, founders and investors.
Among the 14 winners there are five Spanish companies, which presented projects related to the tourism industry, livestock, air quality and service traceability. The 14 winners, which come from 7 different countries, are as follows:
- Absolute Zero (Copenhagen, Denmark): interactive 360° live streaming enabled through VR cameras and augmented reality
- ArtuData (London, United Kingdom): platform using AI to find, attract and retain high-value customers.
- Chatnfly (Barcelona, Spain): travel chatbot 100% automated for end users and companies.
- Digitanimal (Madrid, Spain): solution for the location and care of animals that increases farm profits revenues, assuring animal well-being and traceability through the blockchain.
- e-bot7 (Munich, Germany): artificial intelligence to improve customer service.
- Freesense ApS (Copenhagen, Denmark): wireless sensor designed to be used in bioreactors.
- Fueloyal (Sofia, Bulgaria): smart IoT platform to enhance fleet efficiency.
- Pycno (Valencia, Spain): easy-to-use professional sensors for farming.
- Sensei (Castelo Branco, Portugal): AI-powered real-time video recognition solution for retailers, providing accurate in-store analytics and insights.
- Sensohive ApS (Odense, Denmark): smart wireless industrial monitoring for production purposes.
- Sentio Simulations (Copenhagen, Denmark): fast, accurate simulation solutions for manufacturing companies with no manual content creation.
- Skyx (Ramat Hasharon, Israel): autonomous and modular swarm of agricultural fumigation robots.
- Urban Clouds (Málaga, Spain): solution that offers a special map of air quality.
- WiTraC (Valencia, Spain): wireless real-time location system for Industry 4.0 based on IoT and smart sensors.
A Successful first round of Impact Growth
The 14 start-ups chosen in the first round of IMPACT Growth, launched in February 2017, have already finished their three-month acceleration phase, and are about to begin the internationalisation process offered by IMPACT.
Three of the most disruptive start-ups from the first IMPACT Growth batch (Yerbabuena VR, Farm Dog and Clarity) were chosen to travel to Silicon Valley in February with members of the IMPACT team. At the end of the month, the four best start-ups from among the 14 winners in the first round will begin the second IMPACT Growth Digital Mission, to be held in London.
