The Academic Startup Competition is an initiative of the ‘Vereniging van Universiteiten (VSNU), Techleap.nl and AcTI, the Netherlands Academy of Engineering. “The Academic Startup Competition fits perfectly the ambition of becoming the fastest growing ecosystem for (academic) startups in Europe’, said VSNU-chairman Pieter Duisenberg.

This year the competition will give the startups the unique opportunity to get in contact with serial entrepreneurs and members of the AcTI association through a tailor made program including workshops, peer2peer sessions and a coaching period with dedicated mentors. 

The ten winners will win a personalized trip to the United States, offered by The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. The startups are introduced to the academic ecosystem and the network of local (Dutch) entrepreneurs, (international) investors and companies. They will learn about the latest innovations and technologies in their focus area, as well as doing business in the United States. In the US the entrepreneurs will accelerate their growth and help them scale from a startup to a potential scaleup.

Meet Mariliis from Confocal.nl, one of the winners from last year’s edition of the Academic Startup Competition: “This competition gave us the opportunity to meet and learn with startups in similar growth phases, got us a broader view on our target market and how to sell our product and much more. It gave us the publicity we needed: I definitely suggest everyone to participate. There’s a lot to experience and learn, and nothing to lose!”   

Are you part of an academic startup? Deadline of registration is March 15. We will select 25 startups to be part of a two-day program on April 22nd and June 17th. 

More information about the Academic Startup Competition:
https://academicstartupcompetition.nl/