The WMF, International Trade Fair and Festival on Tech and Digital Innovation, has been a reference for entrepreneurial culture, igniting opportunities and connections within the international innovation ecosystem, for over 10 years.

During the WMF, the annual appointment with the World Startup Fest takes place - a major event for global startups, scaleups, and investors, which in the past edition registered more than 36,000 attendees and more than 1,300 startups and investors from 49 countries.

Among the many events, the largest International Startup Competition in Southern Europe, now in its 11th edition, witnesses every year the engagement of leading international players from the entrepreneurship and innovation fields.

The final of the Startup Competition will be held on the Mainstage during WMF 2023, scheduled for June 15, 16, and 17, and will be streamed worldwide.

Fill out the form below and submit your startup to the competition! The call closes on April 2, 2023.

Startups will have the opportunity of great visibility and raise awareness on their project within one of the largest international competitions for innovative projects, presenting their reality to an audience of major players in the digital sector, investors, entrepreneurs, and experts in the innovation, an audience who may actually decide to support the growth of a great business idea.

From the call for the Startup Competition, 6 startups will be selected to enter the Final on the Mainstage, and another 120 startups will be given a chance to take the Startup Stage, to present their pitch to the audience in attendance, and to representatives of major incubators and accelerators.

In addition, startups selected from the call will have the opportunity to access the following:

• to all the other World Startup Fest events, including B2B meetings with international investors;

• to the Startup District, the exhibition area dedicated to startups from around the world;

• to the WMF International Roadshow, the international project that connects startups and investors from all over the world;

• to the WMF's global network, with the possibility of being involved in related initiatives all year round.

Winners of previous editions include TOMMI, Friendz, PatchAI, FitPrime, Isaac, Yape, light science, FlowPay, Recornea, and MyLeg, as well as Golee and AerariumChain thetwo winning projects of the WMF2022 Startup Competition. The total value of prizes to date has been more than 3.3 million euros, with more than 4,300 startups applying.

Once the call is closed, and the candidates evaluated, the Festival's Innovation Team will announce the 6 startup finalists that will have the opportunity to present their pitch to the jury and the attendees on the Mainstage of WMF2023 (Rimini Expo Centre and Online, from June 15th to 17th). Each team will have 3 minutes to present the key elements of their business idea. The jury of investors, incubators, and big players will then have another 2 minutes to ask further questions. A round of votes at the end - both from the jury and the public - will then announce the winners.

Read the instructions

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 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

Apply now to present your startup at the 2023 edition of WMF - We Make Future