Business
Startup with IBM Accelerator Sweden now released
June 16, 2020 | Written by: Urban Roth
Categorized: Business | Innovation
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A digital release
On, Tuesday, May 26th, 2020, a virtual event took place, which included startups, corporate peers, and industry hubs. When the release of Startup with IBM Accelerator Sweden was finally here, we were thrilled. Sharing how we contribute to the industry during tough times and welcoming more collaborations, was something we had been looking forward to for a while.
The accelerator fuels B2B startup journeys with the power of IBM behind them. Accepted companies have a dedicated contact person in the accelerator Sweden team to assist and connect with other parts of IBM during the 12-month program.
A bottleneck for startup companies is to have the bandwidth to receive the help offered to corporate accelerators. Therefore, we offer our activities for a whole year and each startup is offered a customized program plan. Here overall goals and initial activities are laid out and serves the purpose of a morally, but not legally, binding agreement.
At the event, we were fortunate to be joined by a few valued friends and true heroes in the industry. Ignite Sweden who every month help corporates and startups connect. Bizmaker who brings new technology and the Swedish forest industry closer together. Norrsken who have made social impact startups and investments in Sweden a reality. Things Stockholm who put the spotlight on tech startups ready for the industrial landscape. And finally, a valued accelerator member, Greenlytics, who is on a quest making sustainable energy production easier with data and AI.
In the audience, people from different organizations participated. Among the 80 startups, corporates and partners looking to collaborate were brands recognized for innovation such as; Coop, Alfa Laval, Sony, mobilityXlab (CEVT, Ericsson, Volvo Cars, Volvo Group, Veoneer & Zenuity), WeWork, Next47(Siemens) and Swedbank.
Feedback from a current accelerator member
”We are surprised to be treated with so much interest, respect, and enthusiasm by a big corporation like IBM. We think this is very rare in companies of the size of IBM in fact, we thought we would need to fight for our ideas as a small company, but IBM is very open and perceptive to what we want to achieve. We have been introduced at many different levels at IBM”, says Cecilia Ryegård, CEO and founder of FoodChain By Blockchain. One of the member stories featured on the accelerator web site.
Accelerator members get enterprise-ready with IBM Public Cloud
The accelerator’s purpose is to enable startups to be ready to meet enterprise requirements as they move from pilots to commercialization. Part of that is meeting technology requirements in resilience, security, and availability. IBM Cloud is trusted by several Fortune 500 companies and built to be a foundation for enterprise services. It is made from open-source technologies and provides the app- and data protection needed. Our only ask from accelerator members is to leverage this using IBM Public Cloud either in their service development or service delivery to a full or large extent.
Providing help in both tech and business
What sets the Startup with IBM Accelerator apart from other cloud provider programs, is the local dedicated team and the focus on both tech and business. We put substantial efforts into helping these businesses accelerate their journey and a big part of that is business and sales. Paying forward our own hard-earned sales experience working towards large corporations and help with introducing clients. We are happy to provide two of the essential ingredients to venture progress, tech, and business help. If the IBM brand and the collaboration with us helps create extra credibility to startups, we could not be happier.
Calling out startups and collaboration partners!
Startups:
We focus on helping seed-stage startups in Sweden with B2B solutions. With the aim of providing an established industry with a radically smarter approach to do business or make an impact on UN sustainability goals. You are welcome to read more and apply to the program here.
If you are earlier in your venture or situated outside of Sweden you can always apply and enter the global Startup with IBM program and fast-track your development!
Future corporate and startup industry partners:
Let us help each other, be better together, and improve our innovation efforts!
You are welcome to reach out and initiate a dialogue about IBM Accelerator at urban.roth@se.ibm.com
Head of Startup with IBM accelerator Sweden
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