Microsoft Innovation Center Brussels

Brussels, 16 December 2014 - The winners of the 6th Microsoft Innovation Center Brussels (MIC Brussels) Boostcamp edition were appointed during the final which took place today at the MIC Brussels.

The 3 winners were distinguished on the criteria of business potential, the maturity of the project and the quality of the presentation. For the Grand Prize winner, project innovation was also rewarded.

The 3 winners are:

• Jonathan Guzy for its CarASAP project (CarASAP is a legal on-demand mean of transportat service that connects users (retail and corporate) with trained license holding professional car drivers (SLC) thanks to a validated technology. CarASAP offers a service that is affordable, comfortable and reliable. The first CarASAP vehicles will circulate in Brussels and the Brabants in February Reservations are made via mobile, computer or phone), which won the Grand Award from Didier Gosuin, Brussels Minister for the Economy, Employment and Vocational training. The Grand Prize winner was awarded also with Innoviris Price, € 3,000 awarded by the Minister and Scientific Advisor of Innoviris Sebastian Serrano. The winner also receives through this award a free month Betagroup Coworking and half a day with a Cloud Consultant at RealDolmen.

• Edoardo Camilli, for its project Hozint (Hozint helps “country risk analysts” following the stability and security of states around the world. The experts consult and select thousands of sources in different languages to provide customers with relevant information that meet their needs) that received the award of the Brussels-Capital Region, presented by COO brussels Bruno Wattenbergh and Lionel Anciaux, Entrepreneur, Coach and President of Cluster Software in Brussels. The winner also receives through this award, a free month Betagroup Coworking, a half-day with a Cloud Consultant RealDolmen and half a day with a Branding Consultant, offered by Impulse.

• Brieuc Thoumsin and Vasileios Vallas, for their project Odyseed (Odyseed is a connected inside greenhouse that will cultivate all kinds of organic fruits and vegetables in an automated and controlled environment. Cook and cultivate fruit and vegetables will become more playful with Odyseed; The application of Odyseed allows users to control and monitor their remote plants, and also brings a series of descriptions and advice on plants, their uses to feed the intellectual curiosity of each user) which received the Expert Award, presented by Baldwin Urban, Public Sector Director at Microsoft Belux and Jury President, and Gilbert West, Partner at Greenamity and Expert in Boostcamp. The winner receives through this award a free month Betagroup Coworking and half-day with a Cloud Consultant RealDolmen.

Apart from these three winners, 6 other Boostcamper startups participated on the 6th edition Boostcamp Final Award Ceremony:

• Thanh Hoang, David Boyker, Joelle Barthel and Bouchra Kostet with Ambelle.
• Marie Gillet and Marion Pirazzi with Ethik Style.
• Jérémie Melchior with UsiDistrib.
• Grégory de Walque and Brahim Ammarkhodja with Team Challenge.
• Raphael d’Aligny with Ultreiya!
• Sébastien Goldberg, Nicolas De Wael and Kevin Dethoor with Next Happy Hours.

About the MIC Brussels:

“I want to highlight an effective partnership between the public and the private sector. Between the Brussels Region and Microsoft. A partnership that helps stimulate socio-economic development on the sector of technology information and communication in Brussels. A great potential sector.” explained the Brussels Minister for the Economy, Employment and Training Didier Gosuin.

3 years after its launch, the MIC Brussels has already received nearly 8107 people in networking and coaching activities. The MIC Brussels also issued 464 certificates to job seekers and nearly 200 entrepreneurs received via the MIC Brussels Boostcamp thorough coaching, where 38 of them have already started their company in Brussels. Also note that 177 jobs were created through Boostcamps, free preparation sessions to MIC certifications, coaching trainees organized by Evoliris, Bruxelles Formation, Cefora and MIC Brussels.

Apart from that, the MIC Brussels and lifetech.brussels cluster will launch early February 2015 a new 4-month accelerator program for startups e-Health in the Brussels region. The objective is to support the business and the development of a growing number of startups e-Health in the Brussels Region. (50% of entrepreneurs coached by lifetech.brussels in 2014 developed an e-Health project). Startups participating in the program will receive technological support, individual support, coaching group sessions as well as preparations to pitch and investor meetings.

In this program, the MIC Brussels brings IT component and support for Microsoft’s Health teams, while lifetech.brussels the expertise component of the sector. That way, both support start-ups with their complementary networks, with specific contributions being particularly useful in multidisciplinary areas such as e-Health.

The 27^th February, 28^th February and 1^st March 2015, the Cluster lifetech.brussels, in partnership with the EAHSA (the European network of nursing homes and care) and Startup Weekend, with the support of MIC Brussels, and the Foundation king Baudouin will organize the first Startup Weekend theme “Ageing population”. This weekend startup will be an opportunity to raise awareness and to help entrepreneurs and generate ideas and projects to meet the challenge of an aging population.

Apart from that, in middle February 2015, the MIC Brussels will start a coaching program for advanced startups: the “BizSpark Accelerator“. The objective is to support startups coming out of Boostcamp, or startups that are generally at a more advanced projects that Boostcamp stage. The MIC Brussels will support a greater number of IT companies wishing to start and accelerate their business in Brussels. Candidates for this program will be selected by a panel of experts and receive an advanced coaching, mentoring and a high-level and technical support to the development of a prototype.

ALREADY IN THE PRESS :

• Regional IT : http://www.regional-it.be/2015/01/19/hozint-monitoring-des-risques-politiques-et-securitaires/
• Solutions Magazine : http ://www.solutions-magazine.com/sixieme-boostcamp-du-mic-les-laureats-ont-ete-nommes/
• Le Soir : http ://www.lesoir.be/736849/article/economie/entrepreneuriat/2014-12-17/carasap-un-concurrent-belge-legal-uber-va-debarquer-bruxelles
• L’Echo : http://www.lecho.be/nieuws/archief/CarAsap_la_solution_de_mobilite_qui_tombe_a_pic.9580291-7499.art
• Regional IT : http://www.regional-it.be/2014/12/17/carasap-laureat-boostcamp-mic-bruxelles/
• Tiny news : http://www.tinynews.be/18/appli-carasap-debarque-bruxelles/
• Solution Magazine : http ://www.solutions-magazine.com/le-health-bruxellois-se-developpe/
• La DH : https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=B8C7DDC28498AA86!1966&authkey=!ADZtbyC2ArvVpx8&ithint=file%2cpdf
• Bel RTL : http://www.rtl.be/videobelrtl/video/519399.aspx?CategoryID=947
• Curq.be : http://www.curq.be/carasap/ …