Future Innovators Program

Passionate about building disruptive ideas that can change the world?

Become an entrepreneur with the support of Unicorn Factory Lisbon.

The Future Innovators Program, developed by Unicorn Factory Lisbon, is seeking university students who want to develop a problem-solving mindset. This journey consists of a three-phase Innovation Program that takes you from a concrete, real-world challenge to the development of a business idea.

The initiative, carried out in partnership with José de Mello, Sonae, Claranet and .pt, to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among university students, has the support of the PRR, and is divided into three phases: a digital academy, regional hackathons and a pre-acceleration program.

In the first stage of the Future Innovators Program, participation is individual and consists of training in e-learning format on topics such as "the ideation, validation and development phase of new solutions". Participants also have the opportunity to learn from a group of experts such as Cristina Fonseca (Indico Capital Partners), Miguel Santo Amaro (Coverflex and Shilling VC) and Jaime Jorge (Codacy).

Students can choose between the challenge of "reinventing education", a theme proposed by Sonae and José de Mello; "transforming the physical and digital experience in shopping centers, proposed by Sonae Sierra; or "innovating the smart city experience through the development and modernization of applications", created by Claranet. The winner of this phase gets a cash prize of 2,000 euros and the students with the ten best scores get direct entry to the hackathons and a Pro subscription to DIG-IN for 12 months.

The second phase consists of two hackathons to be held in Lisbon and Porto, based on challenges set by partner companies. University students who have completed the academy can form teams of between two and five people, inviting other interested parties from outside the program. The three winning teams from each hackathon will receive prizes worth a total of 4,000 euros and will have direct access to the pre-acceleration program to continue developing their projects.

The final phase, which takes place in September and lasts a month, includes various training and mentoring sessions, as well as validation of their project on the market, and will culminate in a Demo Day, where participants will have the opportunity to present their projects to partners and potential investors. The overall winner of the initiative will receive a final prize of 10,000 euros.

Know more here www.futureinnovators.pt