The first Open Call of the PARSEC Accelerator ended on the 3rd of January 2020 at 17.00. We are proud to present you the profile of the 348 innovators willing to fuel their ideas with Earth Observation.

PARSEC Accelerator attracted contenders from 36 different countries, including all the countries of the European Union (EU) and half of the eligible countries outside the EU. Four out of five applicants are based in one of the EU Member States, with the highest numbers of applications coming from Spain and Germany. Given this wide geographical spread, we are excited to note the great potential for cross-border partnerships to be developed in the first stage of the accelerator.

We are equally satisfied that the prospects of cross-sectoral synergies within the PARSEC Accelerator ecosystem are very strong as the pool of applicants includes entrepreneurs with and without Earth Observation expertise. Moreover, submissions constitute a well-balanced representation of candidates from Food, Energy and Environment sectors. Nevertheless, innovators identifying themselves as primarily having an Environmental focus stand out as this sector provided the largest number of applications.

What are the next steps?

Currently applications are going through the peer-to-peer evaluation process to determine the 100 winners of the PARSEC Accelerator Open Call 1. These beneficiaries will have access to €10.000 equity-free funding and first stage business support services. The first important rendezvous for the 100 winners will be the PARSEC Accelerator bootcamp taking place from 27 to 29 March 2020 in Stuttgart, Germany. The bootcamp will launch the first stage of the accelerator and generate or boost the innovations proposed by all the different entrepreneurs. During the three-day event, PARSEC Accelerator Open Call 1 winners will meet their peers, receive mentoring and coaching from PARSEC experts and start working on a proposal for a new product or service for one or more of the focus sectors. After the bootcamp, the complete list of PARSEC Accelerator first stage beneficiaries will be published. The bootcamp will also mark the start of preparations for the PARSEC Accelerator Open Call 2 that will be launched in Spring 2020.

Full PARSEC Accelerator timeline is available in the Applicants section of our website.