The Gerard & Anton Awards, the annual election of the ten most promising startups in the Brainport Eindhoven region, announced on Thursday, August 31, that it will create a dynamic startup community with the support of the region in addition to the annual awards ceremony.
The expansion aims to further strengthen the power of the Eindhoven startup ecosystem and to fulfill the wishes of former award winners.
Gerard & Anton Community
Since its inception in 2014, the Gerard & Anton Awards have shone a spotlight on the emerging talents within Brainport, giving them a stage to showcase their innovations.
Research by Strategy Unit and Innovation Origins has shown the success of that formula: typically, only around ten to twenty percent of start-up companies achieve long-term success. However, in the case of the winners of the Gerard and Anton Awards, this figure rises significantly to approximately 75 percent.
According to the survey, former award winners asked for the creation of a Gerard & Anton Community to stay in touch with each other and the rest of the ecosystem.
Responding to this feedback, the Gerard & Anton Community is now set to become a reality, with support from the awards’ regular sponsors.
The inaugural event on the Gerard & Anton Community calendar is the G&A Founders Dinner, an exclusive gathering at the Philips Museum.
Sylvia van Es, President of Philips Netherlands, says, “It fits into our DNA that the experienced companies help the startups where necessary. In this way, we try to further stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship in the region together. In the run-up to next year’s Gerard & Anton anniversary edition, with the 100th winner, we will therefore start an annual Gerard & Anton dinner in our Philips Museum.”
“We want to continue to invest together in the unique strength of Brainport: a finely meshed, almost invisible network of cooperating parties from the industry, education, and government. In doing so, we will continue to contribute to this extraordinarily important breeding ground for new ideas that provide fertile ground for the innovative startups of today and tomorrow, so that together we can build on what once started with Gerard Philips,” adds Van Es.
Additionally, a regular newsletter will become part of the community, featuring the successes of community members, as well as their challenges and requests.
The annual High Tech Peak Awards and monthly Drinks Pitches & Demos will have a place within the Gerard & Anton Community.
Moreover, the community’s future initiatives and activities will be determined collaboratively by its members, according to the press release.
Gerard & Anton Award
At the sold-out Gerard & Anton Event, the most recent ten award winners, recognised for their immense promise and innovation, were unveiled. These startups are:
- Antennex
- VivArt-X
- Integer Technologies
- Mantispectra
- GrAI Matter Labs
- Gilbert Technologies
- Alphabeats
- Neople
- Tibo Energy
- Fonontech
In addition to these ten awards, a special prize was granted to Pakt, a student team representing both TU Delft and TU Eindhoven. They received the Golden Lightbulb from Round One Ventures for their contributions to the region’s start-up landscape.
The Gerard & Anton Awards are an initiative of Innovation Origins, the platform for the story of innovation from across Europe.
Besides Philips, Gerard & Anton has High Tech Campus, EY, Kadans, Twice, Mikrocentrum, Holland Innovative, VO, Municipality of Eindhoven, Rabobank, and Dispatches Europe as sponsors.
Read the orginal article: https://siliconcanals.com/news/startups/gerard-anton-awards-community/
