Small startups, massive disruptions

Small startups disrupted massive cognitive industries with cognitive solutions at LAUNCH Festival 2016, the world’s largest startup event!

LAUNCH by the numbers:

• 15,000 Attendees
• 200 Startup Solutions
• 250 Speakers
• 500+ Angels & VCs

Attendees had the opportunity to experience any of our 60+ meetings with startups and founders, the IBM Global Entrepreneur program at the IBM Lounge, IBM Bluemix and IBM SoftLayer demos, and more. Expert IBMers were on hand to offer 1-on-1 mentor sessions and office hours.

IBM SmartCamp, powered by LAUNCH

Startups gathered from across the globe to compete with one goal: Change the world. IBM SmartCamp gave them the tools to build, network, and pitch their solutions, but only 1 team could be accepted into the LAUNCH Incubator with a $25k investment prize, and become IBM Global Entrepreneur of the Year!

• Finalist bquate provides cloud solutions for artists, labels, and managers with sales, digital distribution and more in one place.
• Finalist gridComm provides systems and devices that transform electricity grids into smart grids.
• Winner CarForce uses connected car telematics to give dealerships updates on consumer vehicle health.

Learn more at smartcamp2015.com and sign up for GEP at developer.ibm.com/startups.

Tournament Grand Finale in Barcelona

One year after IBM and 4YFN first agreed to partner together, the grand finale of the Global Mobile Innovators Tournament took place at 4YFN 2016 in Barcelona! IBM was the main sponsor at 4YFN and the Tournament finale was one of the major activities along with a vibrant IBM Booth, a keynote, two workshops and multiple networking receptions. See the action at ibm.co/20ZJDAd.

• 12,000 Registrations
• 5 Demo Days
• 15 Finalists
• 3 IoT Challenges

Healthcare
GrindBit // USA // @grindbitapp
This headband + app aids users in tracking their teeth grinding patterns at night.

Homes + Buildings
InnerSpace // Canada // @InnerSpaceHQ
Everything you need for indoor locations, all in one product. They’re on a mission to power all indoor experiences.

Travel + Transport
Brainstat Studio // Indonesia // @dodyqori
Monitors driver health and conditions in the transportation industry.

Big winners, bigger numbers @ Koding

Koding and IBM combined forces once again to make this year's hack.summit( ) Virtual Hackathon better than ever. Congrats to the ecosystem of developers who participated and gave their all.

• 1200+ Projects Submitted
• $150K Total Prizes
• 98K Registrations
• 4M+ Lines Coded

Team Apptension took home 1st prize, $100,000, with their project: Propsy. Focused on productivity, Propsy is a tool for developers to track their professional progress, as well as their people skills. Devs rate their team members and are rated by them. Monitoring scores over time allows them to narrow learning focus and encourages self-development.

Try it out yourself, along with the other winners at Koding.

Learn more at koding.com/blog/2016-winners.