- The project has been launched under the European Union’s EU-LAC Digital Alliance aimed at supporting human-centric digital transformation.
- The EU-LAC Digital Accelerator provides a matching platform where corporates will have the opportunity to connect with innovative startups to improve production processes.
From July 17th to 18th, the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean states (CELAC) held their 3rd Summit in Brussels. One of the outcomes was the endorsement of the EU-LAC Digital Alliance flagship initiative of Global Gateway, which is rooted in a human-centric approach for digital transformation. As part of this project, representatives from the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator attended Business Roundtables to explore synergies and collaborations between both regions and launched their first Smart Production Call for Challenges.
The EU-LAC Digital Accelerator is an international project financed by the Neighborhood, Development & International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI-Global Europe) with a strong commitment to bridging the digital gap and fostering partnerships to generate digital business opportunities. A consortium of 10 partners from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean led by TECNALIA Spain offer a multi-sided platform that connects business opportunities from corporates to startups and innovative SMEs. Their objective is to support these joint ventures until an investment-ready stage and provide specific benefits to each of them.
The EU-LAC Digital Accelerator connecting Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean has an expert team that will provide customised acceleration services up to €40K. In Europe, the consortium includes EBN, EBAN, IESE Business School, and Expertise France. Meanwhile, Wayra Hispam, Caribbean Export Development Agency, Tecnalia Colombia and IBD Lab represent Latin America and the Caribbean.
Seising the opportunity to undergo a digital transformation through open innovation
The EU-LAC Digital Accelerator has designed an open innovation methodology focused on connecting corporates and startups to boost digital transformation. On this very first level, the initiative is looking for corporates with an established business willing to face the challenges of digital transformation through open innovation and collaboration with startups. Once the challenges have been identified, the accelerator will connect them with selected startups that match the challenges to improve, renovate and/or diversify, leveraging the opportunities of digital technologies.
Among the opportunities offered by the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator to the corporates willing to participate, it is worth highlighting the following:
- Identification of challenges to face digital transformation
- Partnership with selected startups to improve, renovate and/or diversify their business
- Greater access to international collaborations
- Development of a customised business roadmap from highly-qualified experts
- Establishment of venture-client collaboration with top startups
- Connection with investors and funding institutions
Supporting the digital transformation in smart production sectors
The digital transformation of productive sectors is generating a true revolution. Digital technology gives rise to new production and business models, reshaping value chains and redefinition of markets and the relationship with customers.
In this first round of challenges identification, the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator focuses on supporting smart production sectors. This has been decided after running a thorough research based on field interviews with relevant stakeholders.
Smart production spans across a variety of sectors, from primary production activities such as agriculture, fishery, mining and forestry to manufacturing productive sectors including food, automotive, chemistry, pharma and construction. Therefore, the project covers the following economic sectors in which the production processes can be digitally transformed.
Call for Challenges: how to apply?
The EU-LAC Digital Accelerator is calling corporates based in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean to share their digital transformation challenges and let them be solved by innovative startups and SMEs.
The initiative has put in place a matching platform to facilitate and promote the connection between corporates and startups. The corporates must submit their challenges into the platform before the startups start presenting their solutions.
Interested applicants are invited to contact the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator directly or find additional information in the dedicated webpage.
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