Connect Day 25

13 May 2025 | Vienna, Austria

Apply
Apply
Apply

Connect Day 25

ADMISSION CRITERIA

Admission to Connect Day 25 is open to all individuals interested in Startup and Corporate collaborations, meeting specific criteria (see below). Following application, your profile will be evaluated by the joint controller team, based on the criteria below. Please note that applications may be approved or declined, this may take 7 to 14 days.

ONLY approved/activated applications will be able to attend Connect Day 25!

Corporates / SMEs

  • Corporates/SME seeking innovative products and/or services

  • Corporates/SME willing to engage in cooperations with Startups like:

    • Pilot-projects / use-case projects,

    • Joint research and development,

    • Distribution partnerships,

    • Strategic partnerships and investments,

    • and cooperations, where Startups act as suppliers.

Non-target group

  • Corporates/SME who primarily want to sell their products and/or services to

    • Startups

    • Other corporates

  • Corporates/SME who are primarily engaging as consulters for Startups and/or corporates (e.g., tax consulters, management consulters, growth consulters, coaches, etc.).

Startups

  • Young companies with less than 250 employees,

  • At least one self-developed product or service,

  • At least a prototype or minimal viable product (MVP) in place,

  • Competitive advantage through a technological leap (high grade of innovation),

  • Scaleable / highly scaleable,

  • Existing proof of concept (depending on the degree of innovation: patents, awards, test customers, first paying customers or significantly scaling sales).

  • Team should:

    • Have relevant experience / training in the areas required to implement the Startup, (including leadership positions),

    • be divers (age, gender, origin),

    • ideally have existing founder or deep industry experience.

  • Pitch deck: for evaluation purposes, each Startup is required to upload a pitch deck during registration. Even if the Startup only wants to attend and not take advantage of the pitching opportunities.

    • Upload PDF slides maximum 20 MB size

    • It should include: product / service, proof, business model, market/target customers/competitors, team, timeline (incl. previous funding and grants), capital/support requirements (incl. use of funds).

These are no hard criteria. All Startups will be evaluated by an expert jury who decides if they are fit for Connect Day 25. In case of doubt, contact your respective controller in the Contacts subsection.

Non-target group

  • Companies with no self-developed technology

  • Companies primarily distributing or implementing third party products / services

  • Companies who are primarily consulting and/or developing solutions for others on order

Investor

Business Angels, VCs, CVCs, family offices and other organisations or individuals investing in Startups, who are interested in joining the Connect Day / participating in the matchmaking sessions with selected Startups.

Research Institutions

Private and public research institutions and companies that

  • actively engage with other organisations, and industries to share findings and enhance innovation.

  • have access to funding for research through grants, endowments, or governmental support.

  • aim to participate in national/international calls and are looking for consortium partners.

Consultants

If you do not belong to the other categories or one of the non-target groups and would like to attend Connect Day 25 to take advantage of the matchmaking sessions, this is the right ticket for you.

Other

If you do not belong to any of the above categories and are still interested in the program, please choose this category. "Others" have limited options when requesting meetings during the matchmaking sessions.