777 startups from 76 countries around the world sign up for the Basque Government's BIND 4.0 entrepreneurship programme

• Fifty percent propose sustainable technologies and 25% use AI.
• Among the candidates for the 8th edition, 560 are international startups and 35 are from the Basque Country.
• They will be selected by the 70 partner companies of the acceleration programme, which includes Mercedes-Benz, ITP Aero, CIE Automotive, Erhardt, Danobatgroup, Iberdrola, GH Cranes, BTI Biotechnology Institute and Eroski, among others.

The open innovation platform, BIND 4.0has closed the call for the eighth edition of its acceleration programme with 777 applications, the highest number ever recorded in its eight editions. Startups from 76 countries are applying to the programme to develop innovative projects in four areas: smart industry, clean and sustainable energy, and food and health technology.

 To participate in this eighth edition, the startups will be selected by the 70 partner companies of the acceleration programme, including Mercedes-Benz, ITP Aero, CIE Automotive, Erhardt, Danobatgroup, Iberdrola, GH Cranes, BTI Biotechnology Institute and Eroski, among others.  As the main innovation in this edition, these companies have proposed 12 use cases for the candidate startups to propose concrete solutions to these needs.

 Sustainability and AI are the headliners of the eighth edition

50% of the registered startups have proposed innovation projects aimed at creating a more efficient and sustainable industry, proposing improvements in environmental impact and CO₂ reduction. 43% propose to respond to the use case of digitisation and optimisation of internal processes. Thirdly, we offer solutions for traceability, monitoring and integration of production processes.

 As for the main transformative technologies in the sector, 25% of the startups are committed to Artificial Intelligence, followed by IoT, with 10% of applications, as well as Big Data, immersive technologies, robotics and additive manufacturing.

Among the sectors of activity in which the startups can apply their solutions, it is worth noting that 60% of the candidates in this edition have potential application for smart industry and, in second place, 43% do so for clean energy and sustainability. 23% apply their solutions to the health sector and 21% to the food sector.

 Startups from the world's leading innovation hubs choose BIND 4.0

Regarding the origin of the startups, a trend that has been observed in recent years is that emerging companies from the world's main innovation hubs choose the BIND 4.0 programme for their growth. This year BIND 4.0 has solutions from Germany, Italy, UK, Israel and the USA, all interested in developing their projects in Basque industry.

 Also noteworthy was the large number of international startups, with more than 560 applications registered, representing 84% of the total.  Of this percentage, 50%, the equivalent of 390 nominations, came from Europe, with the Americas accounting for 19% of submissions, followed by Asia with 13.5%. In addition, for the first time in eight editions, BIND 4.0 receives applications from Oceania, with five startups of Australian origin.

 4.5% of applications come from the Basque Country, with 16 startups from Gipuzkoa, 14 from Bizkaia and 5 from Alava. The remaining 11.7%, 91 nominations, come from the rest of the state.

 With its eight editions, BIND 4.0 has become one of the benchmark initiatives to boost the digitisation of industry through collaboration between large companies and innovative startups. A successful model that has led it to accumulate, to date, more than 200 accelerated startups and more than 300 projects developed, exceeding 7.7 million euros in turnover. All this, thanks to its three initiatives, which are: BIND 4.0, the acceleration programme aimed at large corporations; SME Connection, to innovate with SMEs; and the third, BIND 4.0 GovTech, to boost digitalisation in public companies.

 About BIND 4.0

BIND 4.0 is a public-private open innovation platform for smart industry, created by the Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and Environment through the SPRI Group and its UpEuskadi platform of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Basque Country. Currently, it has the collaboration of more than 70 of the main reference companies in the sector based in the Basque Country, such as Angulas Aguinaga, Iberdrola, ITP Aero, Mercedes-Benz, Siemens Gamesa, Quirónsalud or Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, among others. This initiative was created with the triple objective of accelerating the development of startups in the Basque industrial ecosystem, promoting the digital transformation of companies and positioning the Basque ecosystem as a hub for advanced industrial entrepreneurship. Since 2016, BIND 4.0 has different initiatives that have boosted more than 200 startups and developed 300 projects. For more information: www.bind40.com