The BioSense Institute has invited innovative startups from the IT and agricultural sectors to participate in the third edition of the accelerator, thus continuing the good practice of supporting innovative entrepreneurs in the development of ideas that will contribute to the digital transformation of agriculture. The application deadline is February 1, 2023.

 

The BioSense Accelerator is the first in this area exclusively aimed at domestic technologically innovative companies, which link their further development to the agriculture and food sector.

 

Through intensive training, personal mentoring and access to BioSense research resources, the BioSense Accelerator will provide IT entrepreneurs with the opportunity to contribute to the digitization of agriculture through the development of new solutions, as well as the improvement of existing ones.

 

 

 

The program will gather more than 20 mentors from the country and abroad, who will use their expertise, experience, contacts and ideas to help new technological entrepreneurs to test the feasibility and sustainability of their business idea and digital solutions, and to turn their ideas and products into a sustainable business venture.

 

The improvement compared to previous editions, in addition to the significant improvement in the resources available to startups and the support provided by the H2020 ANTARES project, is also reflected in the support the accelerator receives this year from the ICT Hub’s Serbia Innovates project, funded by the USAID.

 

“Although the previous editions of the accelerator have proved to be very successful, we constantly strive to improve the program and the quality of the support we provide to startups. The program will continue to rely on the extensive BioSense expertise in the field of digital agriculture, the resources of the BioSense Institute available to participants, as well as an intensive training program. In addition, this year we joined forces with the USAID-funded Serbia Innovates project, and the access to resources provided by the central place of the project – the Supercluster – will be a significant added value to the accelerator,” says Milica Trajković, head of the Center for Innovation and Business Development of the Biosense Institute.

 

The program will be implemented during a three-month course in the spring of 2023, in the period from March to June, and is intended for startups that:
• Deal with the development and implementation of innovations and IT solutions for agriculture and the food sector;
• Solve a real problem on the market by working on improving existing solutions or digitizing previously analog solutions.

 

Up to ten startups will be selected to participate in the program and will have two weekly workshops (live and online) held by experienced experts. Thematic meetings and other events will also be important part of the program. In addition to mentoring support, the teams will also have scientific support from the BioSense Institute in transferring knowledge, access to necessary data sets, scientific research equipment, and/or test farms – resources they need for the development of digital products.

 

The best teams will have the opportunity to participate in a large regional final event (Demo Day), where they will present their idea to an international audience and network of investors. Applications for the BioSense Accelerator third generation are open until February 1, 2023.  A pitch deck of 10 slides and a completed application are required to apply. You can find more detailed information about the BioSense program and the application process itself on the accelerator’s official website. The BioSense team also supports potential applicants during the accelerator application preparation process.