European data accelerator launched

A new European-funded project aims to bring together businesses and start-ups to meet current data challenges faced.

The project, Data Pitch, will provide up to 50 European start-ups and SME’s with business support that includes up to £85,000 equity free funding, expert mentoring and investment opportunities, and access to data from established businesses and the public sector.

Professor Elena Simperl, Data Pitch project director, said: “With Data Pitch we take an established open innovation model and apply it at European scale - we pair some of the most creative entrepreneurial minds in 28 countries and help them to solve data challenges that matter - for the economy, for the environment, for science, and for society as a whole.”

The scheme aims to create an ‘innovation ecosystem’ where larger organisations will work closely with start-ups to use data as enablers to solve problems. Start-ups and SMEs can apply for a place on Data Pitch from July 1, with successful applicants selected in autumn and the first cohort joining in December. Each start-up will be on the programme for six months.

Data Pitch will begin by running both online and offline ‘datathons’ in Spring around themes such as health and wellbeing, smart cities, and food and agriculture.

The three-year project, funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme, will be delivered by the University of Southampton, the Open Data Institute, Beta-I, a Portuguese innovation company and French data marketplace platform Dawex.