Fourteen New Startups Join InnovationsLab in Spring 2021

The InnovationsLab (iLab) at Central European University recently welcomed 14 teams as part of its new Spring 2021 cohort, which was chosen from a record number of applications (71 teams) and includes a total of 41 team members. Five of the teams are comprised of CEU students or alumni, while an additional nine consist of external participants.

This new cohort will be supported by the iLab management team as well as by 14 external mentors. Sixty-four percent of the external mentors are CEU or iLab alumni, while the remaining mentors belong to the iLab network. Women comprise 38% of the team founders, and three of the teams are of Roma background.

“The first step in the one-year CEU iLab incubation program is a three-day onboarding session that the teams have just undergone,” CEU iLab Director Andrea Kozma revealed. “Following the session, I can say that this cohort seems exceptional in terms of the strength of its teams and the visions behind their projects. I wish the teams an excellent journey and hope to see them all standing on their feet a year from now.”

Founded in 2016, the InnovationsLab (iLab) is a business incubator that provides resources in the form of individual and group startup mentoring, physical workspace at CEU’s campus, business-relevant academic courses, legal advice and an array of workshops on topics such as design thinking, sales strategy, financial planning or brand management.

A number of the incubator’s previous “graduates” have gone on to achieve success, including Talk-A-Bot, one of the first teams to join the iLab, as well Brokerchooser and Plantcraft.

The new teams who make up the Spring 2021 iLab cohort are:

• Community Energy Service Company (CESCO) - a sustainable solution for solar energy collection and redistribution  
• Contactless Pill Dispenser Systems (CPDS) – an IP-protected solution for hospitals and nursery homes to provide contactless medicine dispensation

• SMarket – an app-based solution for providing healthy grocery shopping lists based on analyses of customer shopping behaviors  
• BodyWork – providing traumatized women with a healing community and methods for coping
• Structurama – a digital scriptwriting collaboration solution for television writers
• PhaseGrowth - a logistics optimization system using open-source data from space systems
• Dentrip - a solution to assist dental tourism to Hungary  

• Ethnic Talents - a film casting agency to provide Roma and minority talent for films
• Festivize – a digital festival platform for collecting festival data in Hungary and beyond. It features a smart festival app solution (ticketing, payment, venues, services)
• Hygo – a recyclable hygiene kit for travelers 
• Motocozy – an IP protected 2in1 baby stroller and balance bike
• RaePop - artistic digital wrapping for online gifts

• RomaSme – a platform for Roma small businesses
• ProJog – Legal Tech that integrates digital solutions used by lawyers into a single digital platform

In addition to the incubation program, CEU iLab also offers a two-week summer program called the Global Startup Bootcamp for those with a general interest in entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the next cohort in the one-year CEU iLab incubation program will kick off in September 2021. To apply for any of the programs, please click here.

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