Microsoft Innovation Center Brussels

Brussels, 16 June 2015 - The final of the 7th and 2nd Boostcamp MIC Acceleration program of Microsoft Innovation Center Brussels (MIC Brussels) were held today and the winners have been named. The MIC Boostcamp is a 4-month coaching program designed for “first-time entrepreneurs” launched in 2011, which helps entrepreneurs turn their ideas into feasible projects ready to be launched. This program offers six weeks of introduction, fifteen thematic workshops as well as meetings with experts and individualized monitoring.

The Acceleration Program was launched by the MIC in February 2014 in partnership with Lifetech and Software clusters in Brussels, Impulse.brussels and Microsoft. It is a new coaching program for more advanced startups.

“This program is fully integrated in the activities of clusters and allows us to monitor the participating companies to assist them in their acceleration. Thanks to our experts, we contribute to the sustainable success of projects supported by the MIC”, says Juan Bossicard, ICT and Creative Industries Business Manager at Impulse.Brussels and recently appointed Chairman of MIC Executive Committee.

New this year 2015, the MIC Brussels and lifetech.brussels have launched a division within the acceleration program to support a growing number of e-Health focus startups in the Brussels Region.

4 years after its launch, the MIC Brussels has already welcomed more than 10,000 people in networking and coaching activities. MIC Brussels issued 602 certificates to job seekers and nearly 200 entrepreneurs received coaching via the MIC Brussels Boostcamp, 45 of whom have already started their company in Brussels. Furthermore, 210 jobs were created through the Boostcamps, the free preparation sessions to MIC certifications and the coaching internships organized by Evoliris, Bruxelles Formation, Cefora and MIC Brussels.

The MIC has recently sealed its strong partnership with Impulse.brussels by signing a Memorandum of Understanding for mutual and complementary collaboration to support startups in the Brussels Region.

“We must demystify the fear of failure. Every failure is an opportunity to progress and thus a small step closer to success. There is obviously no guarantee that everything will unfold exactly as you had envisioned. But if you never try your luck, you can probably never start your business. We must dare to undertake” said Brussels Minister for the Economy, Employment and Training Didier Gosuin.

Winners of the 7th Boostcamp and 2nd MIC Acceleration Program

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

On this edition, the public was also able to vote and elect their favorite candidate for each category (Boostcamp and MIC Acceleration Program).

In the category “Boostcamp”:

- Yves Berquin won the Boostcamp Grand Prize for his project Make It Real, given by Nicolas Harmel, Cabinet Attaché of Didier Gosuin, Minister of Economy and Employment of Brussels Region, and Sebastian Serrano, Scientific Advisor at Innoviris.

Make It Real helps companies developing medical equipment to structure their documentation, in order to facilitate the achievement of the required certifications (ISO and FDA). An intuitive, user friendly application in the cloud, Make It Real operates worldwide and has clients in the US, France, India and Switzerland.

The Grand Prize winner was awarded an Innoviris Prize of € 3,000. The winner also received a free month subscription at Betagroup Coworking and half a day with a Cloud Consultant at RealDolmen.

- Pierre Moens won the Boostcamp Prize of the Brussels Capital Region for his Project Buddy, awarded by Juan Bossicard, ICT and Creative Industries Business Manager at Impulse.Brussels and President of MIC Brussels Executive Committee, and Laurence Janssens, Public Sector Director at Microsoft Belux.

Buddy is a connected dog necklace that tells you your dog’s life via mobile, by placing sensors at different locations in your home, garden or neighborhood. When your pet, equipped with a Buddy necklace, is close to one of them, the intelligent system records its position and reports what he is doing, either individually (via an app) or publicly (via social networks). In addition, the collar helps follow the dog through a built-in GPS and to know physical activity instantaneously

The winner received through this award a free month of Betagroup Coworking, half a day with a RealDolmen Cloud Consultant and half a day with a consultant offered by Impulse.

- Julie Cruyt won the Boostcamp Audience Award for her project SpaceFiT, awarded by Frank Maene, Managing Partner at Volta Ventures, & Barbara Roose, Senior Investment Manager in SRIB.

SPACEFiT App allows you to exercise for 5 minutes wherever you are, whatever you are doing. SPACEFiT is designed by physiotherapists, for every area of ​​life and every situation you are in, to help you be fitter and healthier in just 5 minutes.

The winner received through this award a free month Betagroup Coworking, and a half-day with a Cloud Consultant at RealDolmen.

In the “MIC Acceleration Program”

- Vianney Veyrat won the Acceleration Program Grand Prize for his project Ouat!, presented by Nicolas Harmel, Cabinet Attaché of Didier Gosuin, Minister of Economy and Employment of Brussels Region, & Ervan Pouliquen, COO at Microsoft Belux.

Ouat! is a web application that allows intuitive configuration of complex production processes in the biopharmaceutical industry. It includes a virtual reality plug-in that allows complete immersion in the production unit, previously created in 3D.

The winner received through this prize of a ticket to attend the Conference LeWEB’15 Paris in December 2015 and a half-day with a Cloud Consultant at RealDolmen.

- Vincent Wautelet won the Acceleration Program Prize of the Brussels Capital Region for his project FeasyMotion, awarded by Bruno Wattenbergh, COO at Impulse.Brussels, & Cedric Donck, Business Angel and Founder of Pimento Map.

FeasyMotion is a spin-off project of the VUB and ULB financed by the strategic platform from Innoviris on the field of physical rehabilitation. It is designed for people suffering from paralysis, a stroke or multiple sclerosis, by using games with a 3D camera.

The winner receives through this prize a free coaching day offered by Impulse Brussels on a topic of their choice (Marketing, Sales, Finance …).

- Jonathan Rubinstein won the Acceleration Program Audience Award for his project Cocoon, awarded by Azèle Mathieu, Manager Cluster lifetech.brussels at Impulse.Brussels, and Tom Vanhoutte, CFO at Capricorn Venture Partners.

Cocoon is a geo-located application that connects people who share the same interests, with a nice, user friendly interface.

The winner also receives through this award a free month Betagroup Coworking, and a half-day with a Cloud Consultant with RealDolmen.

Ready for the 8th edition of Boostcamp!

The MIC Brussels will launch mid-July the 8th edition of Boostcamp, which will start with two days of Kick-Off and will run until mid-December. During these four months the participants will work on their Business Model Canvas, the Lean methodology, the pitch and the steps to validate and test the potential of their business project.

In January 2016 the MIC will host in its internship program twenty IT students of Social Promotion and of the High Schools of Brussels (IPL, HEB-ESI, EHB…) During the 4 months of the program, students will work on projects of startups and the SMEs of MIC. Students will be supervised by a senior consultant of the MIC.

About MIC Brussels:

Created as a public-private partnership, the Microsoft Innovation Centers are regional economic development tools, which are intended to facilitate the creation of enterprises in the technology sector and to follow the development of these starters. Today there are 110 MIC worldwide, including 30 in Europe.

In Belgium there is a MIC in Mons (since March 2009), a MIC in Brussels (launched four years ago, in September 2011), and 2 MIC in Flanders: in Genk and Kortrijk. Each month, the MIC Brussels offers entrepreneurs coaching activities, networking and technical sessions for developers on Windows Phone, HTML5 and Cloud Computing. Since January 2013, MIC Brussels regularly hosts groups of trainee developers who work at Brussels SMEs and startups. In 2016, MIC Brussels will host and monitor students of Social Promotion and of High Schools of Brussels such as IEPSCF Uccle, IEPSCF Evere, Institut Paul Lambin, HEB ESI and HELB.