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We found a champion that is heading to the Grand Final of PowerUp! Challenge
21. 05. 2020
PowerUp! Challenge is open to innovators in fields of energy, smart technologies and mobility. The aim is to find the best startups, scale-ups and small and medium enterprises that revolutionize these areas and are able to contribute to sustainable development. The financial reward that successful startups will receive is only the imaginary tip of the iceberg. The competition opens up access to mentoring for companies from the best people in the industry, offers an expansion of the network and can help raise money from venture capital funds, angel investors and InnoEnergy itself.
Czech startup Pocket Virtuality succeeded in the nationwide competition held on May 19, won a chance to take the overall first place in the competition. The company is developing augmented and virtual reality technology that specializes in real-time remote communication. Especially in the fields of engineering, medicine and smart cities. Thanks to this technology, the on-site worker can connect with an external expert who sees a virtual representation of the environment and can fully assist from a distance. Find out more at the Pocket Virtuality website.
"We are proud that we won the Czech round and will represent the Czech Republic in the Grand Final. The competition was, of course, influenced by the well-known global situation. The transformation from physical events to online space, I think, ultimately succeeded, although it did not go without complications. Before the start of the competition, we didn't know much about what to expect. Although we mention the use by power plants as the main use case of our platform, it is a general system with a wide range of uses. Other solutions presented in the final had a clearer and more direct connection with energy. All of them were, by the way, very interesting and we will be watching with interest how their business will continue to thrive. Perhaps this difference also helped our victory, which we greatly appreciate. We believe that even on the international scene, our unique platform will not be lost, we will represent our country well and PowerUp! Challenge will help in the further development of our business and the search for new partners," says Lucie Brešová, COO Pocket Virtuality.
The startup won in the competition of seven other successful Czech projects: Ibatt.energy, BatteryCheck, ENMON Technologies, UptimAI, Topíte.cz, Skymaps.cz and Mileus - the winner of the Audience Award. These finalists emerged from a total of 23 applicants. In the end, the best of the best was decided by an expert jury composed of experts from the startup world, and the whole competition took place relatively untraditionally through video conferencing. The organizers decided to respond to the current pandemic situation.
A pandemic will not stop progress
"The pandemic has slowed down many things in the world, but life goes on and with it, innovators whose work and commitment may be needed more in the current situation than ever before. That's why I'm glad that competitions like PowerUp! The challenges were able to find a way to continue their activities despite the difficult conditions of mobility within Europe. I am convinced that Pocket Virtuality will be a truly dignified and dangerous opponent in the competition for other European startups. The win is within reach, ”says Jan Kubalík, CEO of DEX Innovation Center.
