In the next three years, Robot Union will select 40 start-ups that will develop projects, in the field of robotics, which are linked to the manufacturing, agri-food, health and civil infrastructure industries. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland will be the technical coordinator and lead over 50% of the project activities with FundingBox.
VTT johtamaan teknisenä koordinaattorina 8 miljoonan euron hanketta
There is a clear need to stimulate European start-ups and SMEs in the robotics sector to develop novel and innovative technology with the potential to open new markets at the international level. The aim of the Robot Union acceleration program is to discover, support and fund innovative projects in the robotics industry.
Robot Union will address the two major barriers that hinder the development and market uptake of robotics technologies for entrepreneurs and start-ups: the elevated setup costs and the lack of awareness of potential benefits of robotics.
This is a unique opportunity for the SMEs to use robotics and enter the world of artificial intelligence. "The Robot Union accelerator will bring the top researchers and entrepreneurs together to stimulate new robotics innovations in Europe", says the Technical Coordinator of the project Ali Muhammad at VTT.
The 20 start-ups and SMEs, selected in each of the 2 open calls, to be launched by Robot Union, will enter into an acceleration program of 6 to 12 months.
Each selected company will receive up to 223,000 euros equity free for its initial funding stages.
The best performing companies participating in the programme, will obtain an additional 1 million euros of private investment from the Chrysalix Venture Capital and Odense Seed & Venture.
