Largest startup competition in the world comes to Portugal

Four municipalities from this country will participate looking to solve problems with mobility

Building Global Innovators (BGI) will organize, in Portugal, ‘Get In The Ring’, the largest competition for startups worldwide. This is the first time that the Iberian country enters the contest involving a total of more than 200 cities.  

This competition offers the opportunity for entrepreneurs to present their disruptive solutions, responding to the challenges in terms of urban mobility proposed by the municipalities of Braga, Abrantes, Angra do Heroísmo and Fundão. They will work simultaneously with leading partners in the sector and promote exclusive meetings with investors. The competition will lead to the implementation of pilot projects in the four cities.  

Each municipality presents its own particular set of challenges

For example, the Municipality of Braga launched the challenge to all those who promote technological solutions that enhance greater road safety and explore solutions to make roads and routes more friendly to pedestrians and cyclists, without congesting daily traffic. In a way, the authorities seek to implement an inversion of the traditional model that favoured development around the convenience of motorized vehicles.

For Miguel Bandeira, councillor of the Municipality of Braga, responsible for the areas of mobility, “this is an initiative to stimulate young entrepreneurship and that will contribute to the affirmation of Braga as a Living Lab, insofar as the knowledge is territorialized and applied. It will also make it possible to affirm Braga as a city of knowledge”.

The BGI initiative has the support of the Municipality of Braga, through its relationship with universities, and Startup Braga (the innovation hub of InvestBraga) in the mapping and identification of innovative solutions that correspond to the previously identified challenges.

Abrantes is looking for ways to make a new public transport service more sustainable, and in Angra do Heroismo the goal is to make it more efficient in order to avoid the running of empty buses.

Focusing on the urban mobility program, the competition counts with the support of the EIT Urban Mobility (a European Commission entity that promotes mobility innovation in Europe) as the main partner of the program, and Vodafone Power Lab in support of the proposals presented.

In the end, the Portuguese winner will win a € 5000 prize and access to the global final (Global Meetup, to be held in a yet unannounced city) where it will become part of the Get in the Ring network of companies, partners and investors.