18 Mar Andorra Sports Startups Challenge is back! Andorra Research + Innovation, Andorra Business and GSIC powered by Microsoft launch the second edition

• The aim of the challenge is to look for innovative solutions that improve the user’s experience and loyalty to de-seasonalize the sports and tourist offer in Andorra.

• The call will be open from March 21, 2022, to May 1, 2022. The 10 selected startups will be able to present their proposals to the jury at the final pitch event.

• The winner will get the possibility to run a pilot project with Andorra stakeholders, participation in an industry event together with Andorra Research & Innovation and Andorra Business, accommodation, and meals + tourist visit for 2 people for 5 days in Andorra and 1-year free membership to the GSIC powered by Microsoft.

• There also will be additional prizes for the winner and the two startups with special mentions.

Madrid, March 21, 2022 – Andorra Research & Innovation, Andorra Business and the Global Sports Innovation Center powered by Microsoft (GSIC), with the support of SPSG Consulting, are joining forces to identify the most disruptive solutions and the latest technologies worldwide through a startup competition in the following areas:

• Improvement of safety and accessibility for cyclists’ routes.
• Improvement of sustainability and social impact in sports events organized in the country.
• Improvement of fan and consumer engagement and experience with NFTs, fan tokens and metaverse for sports events organized in the country (before, during and after the event).
• Improvement of educational methods through gamification platforms.
• Compilation, visualization, and analysis of data in order to create a 360º profile of the users and tourists visiting Andorra.

“We are looking forward to this international open innovation call that will help us detect solutions and technologies like customer data platforms, data analytics or augmented reality. These kinds of solutions will allow sports entities in Andorra to engage with the customers, know their preferences and in the end, contribute to the economic growth of Andorra, as well is to continue positioning the country on the sports tech innovation ecosystem map”, said Iris Cordoba, the General Manager of the GSIC powered by Microsoft.

The Minister of Presidency, Economy and Business of Andorra, and president of Andorra Business, Jordi Gallardo, informed that “This second edition will once again show that working together with some of the best professionals guarantees the goal of finding innovative solutions to deseasonalize Andorra’s sports and tourism offer and, in return, boost the country’s economy. All this with very clear premises: sustainability, loyalty, security and use of Big Data. As previously said, our partnership with the Global Sports Innovation Center, this is another step towards positioning Andorra as an international benchmark in the sports and innovation industry.

Hermann Winkler founder at Snow51 (2021 Andorra Startup Competition winner) added “Winning the first GSIC Andorra Startup Competition last year was a fabulous experience for our Snow51 team, and we were extremely proud and thankful to receive this award from the Minister himself. Especially the trip to Andorra gave us great insides into this attractive sport destination; the meetings with the GSIC team and the Andorra officials as well as the exchange with participating startup companies have been extremely inspiring. I can encourage all ambitious startup companies to participate in the second edition: no matter the final result, you will definitely be benefiting from this professional and motivating environment.”

The call will be open from March 21, 2022.

Up to 10 projects/startups will be selected as finalists to pitch at an online event, where 1 of them will be selected as winner and there will be 2 special mentions. Experts in the areas of technology, sport, business, innovation, investment, entrepreneurship, and financing will analyze and deliberate the winner. Further info on the timing & format of the final pitch event will be appropriately communicated to the finalists.  The winner will get the possibility to run a pilot project with Andorra stakeholders, participation in an industry event together with Andorra Business, accommodation, and meals + tourist visit for 2 people for 5 days in Andorra, 1-year free membership to the GSIC powered by Microsoft and 1-year free membership to the Andorra Cluster.  Additionally, the winner and the two startups with special mentions will receive: Special mention in the Andorra Sport Entrepreneurship & Investment Guideline that will be published by GSIC in 2022, 1-hour mentoring session with a member of the jury and onsite award reception during the Andorra Sports Innovation Summit

CALENDAR

• Applications Opens: March 21, 2022
• Applications Close: May 1, 2022
• Finalists’ announcement: May 9, 2022
• Final pitch: May 25, 2022
• Winner announcement: May 27, 2022

Andorra Research + Innovation

Andorra Research + Innovation is the agency in charge of developing and promoting R&D&I in Andorra in strategic sectors such as Mountain and Sports, among others.

More information: Andorra Recerca + Innovació (ari.ad)

About Andorra Business

Andorra Business is Andorra’s economic promotion and development agency. Promoting key sectors for the diversification of the economy, attracting and accompanying foreign and local investment, supporting Andorran companies to become more competitive, and facilitating the landing of new companies in the country, are some of its priorities.

More information: Andorra Business – Invest in Andorra

GSIC

Global Sports Innovation Center powered by Microsoft (GSIC) is a business cluster powered by Microsoft Sport Team that gathers all kind of sports entities (clubs, federation, associations), institutions, tech-companies (from start-ups to enterprises), research organizations, investors and key figures of sport industry to improve its value chain. To do so we focus our activities and services on 6 main points: entrepreneurship, networking, applied research, showcase, Microsoft Partners Solutions and digital transformation advisory services. More than 450 companies from 40 different countries have already received support from the GSIC through different activities, as well as from their ambassadors and network of professionals of the sports industry.

More information at: http://sport-gsic.com/