Now in its fifth cycle, the TAKEOFF Seed Fund Awards have granted a total of €100,000 to seven teams of entrepreneurs and researchers. The presentations were made by Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses Chris Cardona at the University of Malta TAKEOFF Business Incubator.
The Minister stated: "Malta's economy is performing strongly and our policies are driving steady economic growth. However, our economic future will depend on the talent we nurture today. The Government is keen on helping local talent and rewarding those who are determined to make it work. Through the TAKEOFF Seed Fund Awards, the government can truly stimulate many start-up success stories."
University Rector Prof. Alfred Vella presided over the award ceremony, which was also attended by Nancy Caruana, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses, Prof. Ing. Saviour Zammit, Pro-Rector for Research & Knowledge Transfer, Prof. Russell Smith, Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Business Incubation and Dr Ing. Anton Bartolo, Director of the Knowledge Transfer Office.
The Rector commented that "the funds granted through the TAKEOFF Seed Fund Award have already helped a number of start-ups and researchers make that step-change in taking their venture forward. We are excited to welcome the latest seven teams to the fold and look forward to working closely with them in order to turn their idea into a success story."
There were 39 submissions for the Seed Fund, and the top 13 were selected to pitch their ideas to the Adjudication Team. The final winners of the Proof of Concept category were: CRISP - to evaluate the appeal and conformity of SPEECHIE, a multi-modal device that facilitates language therapy for children both within and beyond the clinical setting. DRIFT - a wearable in-shoe temperature monitoring system that will provide comprehensive, real-time data analysis to prevent foot complications in people living with diabetes. WindCRADLE - a novel method of deployment of floating offshore wind turbines with spar-type support structures.
The winners of the Seed Fund category were: Get Hitched - a web-based matchmaking device between couples who are thinking of getting married and wedding supplies vendors. The Huskie Craft Beer Company which is looking to open up its brewery to clients wishing to have their own, limited edition, unique beer. EarlyParrot is a referral-marketing platform that enables online businesses to amplify their lead generation via referral capabilities, and LearnD - an application which offers a different form of private tuition, where students teach students.
The teams will be working closely with the TAKEOFF Business Incubator and the University's Knowledge Transfer Office over the next year in a bid to bring their ventures closer to commercialisation.
The TAKEOFF Seed Fund Award is a joint initiative between the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Business Incubation (CEBI) at the University of Malta and the Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses (MEIB), with support from TAKEOFF, the Business Incubator of the University of Malta