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IMAGINE IF! is a leading global competition and pre-acceleration program for science-based ventures*. IMAGINE IF! provides early-stage science startups with extensive opportunities to take your venture to the next level: tailored mentorship, the potential to secure non-dilutive capital, free advice from leading professional service companies and rapid networking across the Innovation Forum’s platform.
*Start-ups based on a genuine, novel scientific idea which has a significant impact on improving human or animal well-being (e.g. new medicines, medical devices, digital health, cleantech, etc)
The Innovation Forum has a proven track record of supporting early stage scientific entrepreneurs realise their vision. We connect you with a community of like-minded scientists and entrepreneurs as well as experienced and supportive industry professionals who can really impact the progression of your idea to commercial reality.
The IMAGINE IF! offers:
Local winners will have the guaranteed opportunity to pitch in the global final at the annual conference, where they compete to win a non-dilutive cash prize.
Watch our video below to hear the value that IMAGINE IF! brought to previous participants:
” We are absolutely thrilled to receive these funds from IMAGINE IF! Accelerator. Along with the mentorship and advice offered by the Innovation Forum, these funds will enable us to develop a working prototype of the NG:Safe cassette. Ultimately IMAGINE IF! helped NG:Safe get into the clinic faster and help us to realise our goal of avoiding accidental death by nasogastric tube misplacement sooner.
John Cassidy, Co-founder and CEO of NG:Safe”
As healthcare science start-ups stem from a broad spectrum of scientific fields, they are not always easily categorized. Therefore, we encourage applications from all R&D fields with ideas which can be applied to healthcare.
Participation in the IMAGINE IF! pre-accelerator is free, and we do not take any equity stake in your company. Furthermore we will introduce selected teams to venture capital firms, multinational companies and other key stakeholders to enable the rapid acceleration of their business.
Any questions about the IMAGINE IF! process?
Email [email protected]
All applications are made via our online submission portal. You can apply either via one of our branches (you will need to be physically present to pitch should you be selected for the local finals) or via an independent stream using the global pool option.
IMAGINE IF! local competitions provide mentorship and support, and are recommended to all teams that are based proximal to an Innovation Forum branch (https://inno-forum.org/branches/). Local judges will award first-stage prizes and provide feedback on the quality of your application. If your team is not based nearby an Innovation Forum branch, you can apply via our online independent stream.
All local Top 10 teams are announced and start working with mentors locally and globally.
The 2021 program is composed of locally and globally- organized events.
Global program timeline (regularly updated):
Local activities vary depending on each branch and will be organized by the local teams.
By the end of this phase, all teams need to submit a finalised business plan and a 3 minutes video pitch.
To take part in the Local Finals (Demo Days) the local Top 10 teams will have to submit a 3 minute recorded video pitch. At this stage the teams will also have the opportunity of re-submitting their initial business plans. Based on a live pitch, the submitted video and the final business plan, our experienced judges will select the local winners and runners up.
At this point, only the companies in the healthcare stream will proceed to the next phase.
Local winners secure their spot among Global Top start-ups to pitch at the Global Final.
All other teams from the local Top 10 pool and applicants from the independent stream enter the “Best of The Rest” pool from which remaining spaces in the Global Top 15 are filled.
After undergoing several months of training and mentoring, the selected companies will resubmit their final business plan to the IMAGINE IF! judges for consideration prior to the Global Finals.
Our annual global conference will take place in Barcelona in October 2021 and will also host the final pitching competition from our globally selected startups.
A judging panel of industry champions will award a non-dilutive cash prize to the winning pitch. This is non-dilutive and the package also provides multiple benefits to aid the rapid development of your company.
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