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Why apply?

CONNECTIONS

Winners get 1-to-1 coaching & personal introductions with potential investors, partners and clients.

Connect with industry experts, investors & fellow entrepreneurs at our Global Summit.

Join our Deep Tech Pioneers community for all-year access to a global network.

VISIBILITY

Receive the Deep Tech Pioneer recognition & get a chance to be featured in our reports and invited to speak at future events.

Pitch or showcase opportunities in front of renowned industry leaders & investors.

Get spotted by international media, with interview opportunities.

FUNDING

€100K Grand Prize, €30K 2nd prize and €20K 3rd prize – all equity-free, no strings attached.

Advertise your open fundraising to our active international investor network.

Join our Investor Day for 1-on-1 meetings with 150+ renowned VCs and CVCs.

Our 2024 Finalists

Looking for the best early-stage deep tech startups across industries & technologies

Explore the tabs to discover more about the different tracks

AEROSPACE

SUPPORTED BY

Journeying through the skies and to outer space

Cosmic Aerospace (United States) Building an all-electric aircraft with unprecedented efficiencies

Evitado Technologies (United States) Building an automation platform for airport operations to mitigate risk and increase safety and efficiency

ION-X (France) Developing a new type of small satellite propulsion with an ionic liquid electrospray thruster

Orbital Matter (Poland) Making manufacturing in space possible with 3D printing technology to be used in orbit and on the moon

Quantum South (Uruguay) Bringing efficiencies to cargo logistics with quantum computing technologies

Zero-Error Systems (Singapore) High reliability semiconductor integrated circuits that optimize performance, cost and power consumption

ADVANCED COMPUTING & ELECTRONICS

SUPPORTED BY

Bringing the best out of the binary world while anticipating the quantum revolution

Aligned Carbon (United States) Enabling the semiconductor industry to enter its new material age by unlocking the power of carbon nanotubes

FononTech (Netherlands) Reshaping 3D microelectronics with ultra fast printing resolutions

Mignon Technologies (United Kingdom) Energy-efficient semiconductor architecture enabling truly powerful and explainable intelligence on any device

Phanofi (Denmark) Building sustainable optical interconnect solutions for datacenters and high-performance computing

Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech (Spain) Building analog quantum application specific solutions to bring quantum benefits today

QPT (United Kingdom) Next-generation power electronics for high-power electric motors

VitreaLab (Austria) The brightest and most energy-efficient laser-based displays for AR and VR

INDUSTRY & MACHINES

Harnessing the power of machines for sustainable growth

Descycle (United Kingdom) Creating innovative metal recovery & recycling methods with eco-friendly chemicals

FabNS (Brazil) Empowering nanotechnology through nanoscale imaging and characterization

InSpek (France) Improving bioprocesses through real-time monitoring with optical microchip sensors

Photosynthetic (Netherlands) Enabling mass production-speed additive manufacturing at the micro-scale

Sensemore (Türkiye) Designing AI-powered tools to analyze machine health and predict malfunctions

Terecircuits (United States) Next gen materials supporting microassembly and mass transfer for displays and advanced electronics

XtaLight (Singapore) Developing a novel optical microscopy inspection technique tailored for all metal- and alloy-related industries

SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION & INFRASTRUCTURE

SUPPORTED BY

New materials and technologies to improve the sustainability, security and productivity of the construction & infrastructure industry

Adept Materials (United States) Developing climate-regulating construction materials for more sustainable buildings

ClimAd Technology (Netherlands) Optimizing energy use with smart glass films that enable heat and light management in buildings

ecoLocked (Germany) Turning buildings into carbon sinks

Kestrix (United Kingdom) Using mass thermal image capture and AI to scale building retrofit

Mimicrete (United Kingdom) Developing self-healing concrete solutions that autonomously repair cracks

Photio (Chile) Using nanotechnology to simulate the photosynthesis process on any surface

Ultra High Materials (United States) Ultra-low carbon high-performance concrete delivering 80-90% less CO2 and better durability at lower cost

ENERGY

SUPPORTED BY

Facilitating a low-carbon energy transition

Aquature (United Kingdom) Creating clean fuels and green chemicals from liquid waste

Bspkl (New Zealand) Solving manufacturing challenges to help clean hydrogen achieve scale and affordability

eightinks AG (Switzerland) Scalable manufacturing platform to unlock mass production of breakthrough battery materials and designs

HSL Technologies (France) Innovative hydrogen carrier that transports and stores hydrogen safely like any conventional liquid

ICODOS (Germany) De-fossilizing chemistry and shipping via lowest cost e-methanol production

Mantel (United States) Developing the first molten salt-based carbon capture technology

Tozero  (Germany) Bringing lithium-ion battery waste to zero

ENVIRONMENT & BIODIVERSITY

SUPPORTED BY

Prevention, repair and mitigation of human impact & regenerating the environment

Advanced Bacterial Sciences (United Kingdom) Using natural microorganisms to replace harmful chemicals across industries

Algal Bio (Japan) Cultivating algae’s potential to bring novel solutions to health, food supply and global warming issues

Archireef (Hong Kong) 3D-printed reef tiles with eDNA for quantifiable marine restoration

Carbon Atlantis (Germany) Low-cost electrochemical approach for Direct Air and Point Source Capture

Geolabe (United States) Building the first system able to monitor most emitted methane at a global scale

Morfo (France) Restoring native, resilient forest ecosystems with machine learning, computer vision and forest engineering

FOOD & AGRICULTURE

SUPPORTED BY

Feeding the Earth’s population while protecting our planet

Agrobiomics (Denmark) Harnessing the power of soil bacteria and metabolites as new biostimulants for better crop production

Biocentis (United Kingdom) Developing eco-friendly genetic solutions to safely control the world’s most dangerous insect species

Esencia Foods (Germany) Seafood without fish, created using mycelium biotechnology

NoPalm Ingredients (Netherlands) Making palm oil without palm trees, through the fermentation of sustainable microbial oils

Perfat Technologies (Finland) Offering food producers a new kind of solid fat with a superior nutritional profile

Pheronym (United States) Creating an all-natural, highly effective insect control leveraging pheromone spray

Yeastup (Switzerland) Upcycling the by-products from beer-brewing processes into high-quality, nutritious ingredients

INDUSTRIAL BIOTECH & NEW MATERIALS

SUPPORTED BY

Designing renewable and advanced materials, compounds and catalysts that benefit our industries & society

Alt Biotech (France) Paving a new path for bioproduction

Cambrium (Germany) Creating novel material building blocks with previously inaccessible functionalities

Cascade Biocatalysts (United States) Catalyzing greener and cheaper chemical manufacturing with longer lasting enzymes

GuaTecs (France) Natural latex derived from guayule plants producing stronger, softer, and non-allergenic products

Naturbeads (United Kingdom) Biodegradable, sustainable and cost competitive cellulose microparticles to replace plastic microbeads

Origin by Ocean (Finland) Getting rid of harmful algae in the oceans and turning it into everyday goods

TopoLogic (Japan) Developing innovative electronics using topological material

Digital Health & Medical Devices

SUPPORTED BY

Harnessing digital technologies and engineering for better patient care and outcomes

Cellectric Biosciences (Austria) Developing a platform for automated, electromagnetic cell manipulation to empower faster precision medicine

Clarity (France) Developing a non-invasive neuromodulation medical device to slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease

Concr (United Kingdom) Solving data to enable precision medicine for all

Imaginostics (United States) Non-invasive, quantitative imaging technology to assess vascular structure and function anywhere in the body

inHEART (France) Developing an AI-enabled digital twin of the heart for image-guided ablations

MetSystem (Denmark) Developing a platform to predict cancer metastasis and determine the best treatment

Robeauté (France) Developing a microrobot for novel therapies in hard-to-reach areas of the body

MEDICAL BIOTECH & PHARMACEUTICALS

Biotechnologies and chemistries enabling the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases

Axolotl Biosciences (Canada) Providing high quality reagents for 3D-printing human tissue models

Jurata Thin Film (United States) New packaging to allow long-term storage of vaccines and biologics at room temperature or higher

Narval (United States) Designing synthetic antibody mimetic proteins to replace conventional antibodies in novel therapeutics

Neobe Therapeutics (United Kingdom) Breaking down tumors through engineered live biotherapeutics

Orakl (France) Leveraging tumor avatars that combine biology and clinical data to identify and optimise new cancer therapies

Psylo (Australia) Psychedelic-inspired medicine to treat mental illness

WhiteLab Genomics (France) Leveraging AI to accelerate and de-risk gene and cell therapies

Previous Winners

Winners & finalists have gone on to raise more than $3B

Discover the 2023 winners

Thanks to the credibility and increased visibility from the Global Challenge, we’ve raised $1.5M right after and been able to scale up, join a famous accelerator in China and create a 2nd generation of our scanner.

ADEBAYO ALONGE, CEO & CO-FOUNDER OF RXALL

Sweetch Energy, France

Expanding the frontiers of renewable energy with osmotic power

Discover the Project

Atlant 3D Nanosystems, Denmark

A revolutionary atomic layer 3D printing technology.

Discover the project

Agora Energy Technologies, Canada

A CO2 redox flow battery: grid scale battery technology sequestering CO2.

Discover the project

RxAll, Nigeria/USA

A portable nanoscanner to detect fake drugs in real-time.

Discover the project

Saathi, India

Biodegradable sanitary pads made from banana fibre.

Discover the project

Lilium, Germany

Electric, vertical take-off and landing aircrafts.

Discover the project

Dendra Systems (previously Biocarbon Engineering), UK

Mass reforestation using automated drones

Discover the project

Onward (Previously GTX Medical), Switzerland

Implant therapy to make paralyzed people walk again.

Discover the project

Jury members

Get hand-picked by the best

An international and interdisciplinary committee of leading scientists, industry specialists, successful deep tech entrepreneurs and renowned VCs help us to select the best startups in each industry track. Below are some of the jury members from the 2023 edition.

Challenge eligibility

Am I eligible to apply?

We welcome startups that are:

  • In the early-stage of development or the beginning of their commercialization phase (up to series A)
  • Based on a new technology, a scientific discovery or a complex engineering process
  • Addressing an industrial, societal or environmental unmet need or creating a new market
  • Composed of a team of at least 2 people
  • Not a subsidiary or spin-off of an existing company