For over 10 years WMF, Certified International Fair, has been spreading entrepreneurial culture and creating development opportunities for the Italian and international innovative ecosystem, aiming to facilitate a flow of opportunities between Italy and abroad.

Within WMF, the World Startup Fest takes place - the international reference event for startups, scaleups, and investors. In the previous edition, it recorded over 60.000 attendees from 89 countries, including more than 2.000 startups and investors.

Among its many initiatives, WMF also organizes the largest International Startup Competition, now in its 12th edition, with the involvement of major international players in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship. The Competition's finale will take place on the Mainstage during WMF 2024, scheduled for June 13th, 14th, and 15th, and will be globally live-streamed.

The call for the WMF 2024 Startup Competition will open soon: fill out the form below to receive the opening notification.

The call is dedicated to startups and businesses - made up of individuals or teams - with innovative projects or ideas regarding the digital/technological sector. Innovative projects aimed at generating a positive impact on territories and society will be considered with particular interest.Applicants will be selected according to the following criteria:

• Skills of the team, knowledge of the sector, the feasibility of the project;

• The development stage of the product/service;

• Degree of innovation and its defensibility;

• Positioning in relation to competitors;

• Consistency with market and customers’ needs and potential outreach;

• The business potential of the idea;

• Completeness of the documentation presented.

The Festival's Innovation Team will announce the 6 finalist startups, selected from both Italian and international participants, who will present their pitches during the Finale on the Mainstage. During the finale, hosted by Cosmano Lombardo and Diletta Leotta, the finalists will present their projects in front of a panel of investors, industry players, and incubators, as well as the Festival audience, both in the venue and online through the WebApp wmf.ibrida.io.

Each team has 3 minutes to present the key elements of their idea. The jury will then have an additional 2 minutes to ask follow-up questions. At the end, both the jury and the audience will cast their votes to determine the two winners, one chosen by the jury and one chosen by the audience.

Read the instructions

The elevator pitch is a brief presentation where you describe your business venture in a nutshell. A solid elevator pitch needs to convey the business idea in a concise manner, so as to attract the audience's attention quickly.

> Download the support material

> Watch the winning pitches from past editions

Fill the form to receive the notification of the Startup Competition 2024 opening.