32 start-ups and 33 trailblazing companies to drive 44 new projects in the III BIND 4.0 programme

• The BIND 4.0 accelerator programme led by the Basque Government, the SPRI Group and the main companies of the Basque Coutnry is being run for the third time on 11 January 2019.
• The 40 trailblazing companies involved in BIND 4.0 have been actively involved in the selection process. They analysed and assessed the 524 candidate start-ups and pointed those they are interested in, and then negotiated the terms and conditions and the scope of the project to be run during the Programme.
• The latest edition of this successful programme will have a total of 32 start-ups taking part and they will be working with 33 international trailblazing companies.
• During the 6-month programme, the start-ups and trailblazing companies will work together to implement 44 new projects based on the new Industry 4.0 technologies.
• One new feature of the III edition is the incorporation of the Health Technologies sector, in line with the priorities established by the Basque Government in its Smart Specialisation Strategy – RIS3. Thus, 8 trailblazing companies from the Basque health sector will work with 7 start-ups on 10 innovative projects.
• The accelerator programme is run in cooperation with the BIC – Innovation and Companies Centres and the Provincial Councils, and with the backing of leading technological partners such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Siemens.
• The successful public-private accelerator is a powerful open innovation platform that fosters the development of start-ups in the Basque industrial eco-system and contributes to the digital transformation of industrial companies established in the Basque Country.

The III BIND 4.0 programme, the Basque private-public start-up accelerator specialised in Industry 4.0, has completed its selection process where the partner companies have selected a total of 32 start-ups, with which they will work on a total of 44 projects, from the 524 applications received from 64 different countries. The selected projects are in the field of advanced manufacturing (23), energy (11) and health (10). Special mention should thus be made of the important number of projects in the health field, which has been included for the first time this year.  This brings the programme in line with the priorities established by the Basque Government in its Smart Specialisation Strategy- RIS3.

The different projects can be broken down according to their field of technology as follows:  Internet of Things (11), Big Data (11), Additive Manufacturing (7), Cybersecurity (6), Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality (3), Artificial Intelligence (2), Wearables (2), Infrared Spectroscopy (1) and Energy charging (1).

Out of the 32 start-ups selected in this latest edition of the programme set up and managed by the Basque Government’s Ministry for Economic Development and Infrastructures and the SPRI Group, 19 are from the Basque Country (59%) and 13 from outside it (41%). As regards those from outside it, 8 are from the rest of the Spanish State (2 from Barcelona, 2 from Valencia, 1 from Málaga, 1 from A Coruña and 1 from Asturias) and 5 are foreign, from Germany, the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, India and Turkey.

The list of the selected start-ups is: ADDILAN, ATELEI, BEAD TECHNOLOGIES, BIOSCAN RESEARCH, CTECHNANO, DIFFERENGIN, EAVE, BETTERGY, ENGIDI, FLYTHINGS, HDIV SECURITY, IDDO TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS, IMMERSIA, IOMED, JAKINCODE, LUDUS, NARU, NEOSENTEC, NEURON SOUNDWARE, NICEVERI SYSTEMS, OPENCLOUD FACTORY, ORETEK, OSASEN, PATIA, PERSEI VIVARIUM, SAMYLABS, TUMAKER, TYRIS SOFTWARE, VELTIUM, VIXION, WITRAC and XABET.

The start-ups participating in the III BIND that begins on 11 January will work with 33 of the 40 industrial companies involved: ABB, AERNNOVA, ALCOR, ARCELOR MITTAL, BATZ, BRIDGESTONE, BTI, CAF, CIE AUTOMOTIVE, CIKAUTXO, DANOBAT GROUP, EGILE, EUSKALTEL, FAES FARMA, FAGOR EDERLAN, GESTAMP GROUP, GRUPO ELECNOR, IBERDROLA, IMQ, KERALTY, MAIER, MERCEDES BENZ, MICHELIN, MONDRAGON BDC, ORONA, QUIRÓNSALUD, REPSOL – PETRONOR, RPK, SENER, SIDENOR, TUBACEX, ULMA and VIUDA DE SAINZ

The BIND 4.0 programme

Bind 4.0 is a 24-week accelerator programme where the start-ups, apart from developing a project renumerated up to €150,000 with one of the industrial partners, have a intensive support services programme and activities.

BIND 4.0 has a twofold objective: From the point of view of the start-ups, apart from the standard services offered by any accelerator (work spaces, training, mentoring, subsidies, financing, etc.), BIND 4.0 allows start-ups to begin to operated in a customer-supplier format (with a remunerated contract), with one or more of the programme partners.

From the point of view of the partner companies, the programmes offers them the opportunity to discover the most innovative start-ups of Industry 4.0 worldwide, so that they can contract their talent, technology and/or solutions in order to improve the competitiveness of their company.

The Basque Country, a benchmark in advanced and technological entrepreneurship

BIND 4.0 is a nation-building strategic commitment that seeks to place the Basque Country on the world map of advanced entrepreneurship. The  Basque Business Agency (SPRI) coordinates this programme for the Basque Government’s Ministry of Economic Development and Infrastructures, with the cooperation of the BIC-Innovation and Companies Centres and the Provincial Councils. BIND 4.0 stands out from other start-up accelerators due to its private-public nature and is, furthermore, the first accelerator worldwide that guarantees the start-ups access to top-tier industrial customers.