Norway. The country responsible for such (at the time) mind-boggling scientific and industrial breakthroughs including the postage meter, the paper clip, and the cheese slicer to naturally, slice brown cheese. They also gave us Edvard Munch and object-oriented programming, but as art is always subjective, I’ll leave you, and you alone, to make the call on these last two items.
However you want to slice it, invention and innovation are as steeped in Norwegian culture as the Viking lore of years gone by. And once you’ve seen your first bunad, you’ll be quick to realise that maintaining cultural heritage and traditions alive is quite important in Norway, one of them being this entrepreneurial spirit.
Now if there’s one thing these centuries-old traditions of entrepreneurship have taught the Norwegians, it’s that to make money, you need money, a lesson they’re gladly sharing with the world at the Oslo Innovation Week event this coming September 26-29.
Working in conjunction with CrowdWorks, a connector of companies with minds and capital from startup communities, mentors, corporates, and Investors, applications are now open. However, with a deadline of July 25th, as the saying goes: you snooze you lose.
Oslo Innovation Week and DNB want to hear from you before June 30th. Specifically, via a video pitch lasting no longer than 3 minutes, with the caveat that it will be reviewed by jury members and investors.
Judges will then pour over the video submissions and weed out the weakest contenders, with the successful applicants listed on the Oslo Innovation Week website in due course.
As for stage two, the weeding becomes a bit more intense, with a final 8 selected to present before the final jury in Oslo on the 29th of September. But lest we forget, pitch competitions are decided by only one set of judges; the top 8 pitches will also have the ear(s) of a roomful of investors, all also scouting for their next portfolio company(s).
In addition to the 200,0000 NOK that will be awarded to the winner by day's end, each team will receive a pitch training workshop sponsored by DNB.
Further criteria as stipulated by DNB and Oslo Innovation Week and jury information:
- Eligible companies must be seed-stage and/or investor-ready.
- Startups must identify at least one UN Sustainable Development Goal they are addressing
- All presentations and slides must be in English
- The jury is gender-balanced and will include:
- an investor
- a corporate executive or innovation expert
- an entrepreneur
Contributing to a better world, pitching to a room full of investors, and the chance to walk away with 200,000 NOK? lykke til!
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