Three experienced researchers at the University of Cyprus won the 2nd
place (out of 44 participating teams) in the Cyprus Startup Weekend competition.
The competition was held for the first time in Cyprus between 6 and 8 December
2013 and with a 54 hour work program. 54 hours. The Startup Weekend is a
non-profit organization with headquarters in Seattle, USA and aims to provide
an opportunity for participants to translate their ideas into a business plan
within 54 hours. The Startup Weekend has so far taken place in more than 100
countries with thousands of enterprising teams taking part.
The team of the
three researchers called "smart@home" consists of Dr. Vasos
Vassiliou, Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Dr.
Pavlos Antoniou, Researcher and Member of the Special Teaching Staff in the
Department of Computer Science, and Dr. Zinon Zinonos, Researcher at the KIOS
Research Center.
The
"smart@home" team was awarded for its business plan on the smart
management of home appliances energy consumption through an innovative money
saving tool.
Their business
plan was evaluated by a team of 10 expert judges among whom were investors and
individuals of the business sector both in Cyprus and abroad (e.g. USA ,
Holland , Greece). The prize
included entrance to the world famous competition
Startupbootcamp in Amsterdam, through which more than 70% of the participants
receive a subsidy from investors for the implementation of their business plan.
Startupbootcamp is Europe's leading accelerator program for startups and provides an opportunity for promising entrepreneurs to present their ideas to more than 350 investors
from all over the world. Among the principal sponsors of the Startupbootcam are
Amazon Web Services, AxiCom, Vodafone and PWC.
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