On 23 December 2010, Poland for the first time held the semifinal of the Eurecan European Venture Contest, the contest for young innovative companies from the ICT, biotechnology and clean technologies industries. Ten winners have a chance to qualify for the finals in Barcelona (December 2010) and to compete for the âŹ90,000 prize.
The equally ranking semifinalists were Ammono Sp. z o.o. (clean technologies, Poland), Columb Technologies (ICT, Poland), Customer Alliance Management UG (ICT, Germany), eBroker.pl (ICT, Poland), Filmaster (ICT, Poland), Genomed (biotechnology, Poland), Informatix (ICT, Hungary), Mo-BRUK (clean technologies, Poland), NaviExpert (ICT, Poland) and Outbox (ICT, Poland).
In the second part of the evening, the Board of MCI awarded the Everest prizes to its top portfolio companies. This year’s laureates were ABC Data (in the category âTransaction of the Yearâ), Navi Expert (âBoard of the Yearâ) and Genomed (âMost Dynamic Growthâ). The double victory of Navi Expert and Genomed, endorsed by the votes of two independent juries, confirms the strong position, good condition and excellent prospects lying before them.
The Polish edition of the EEVC semifinals was jointly organized by MCI Management SA, the National Capital Fund and the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Honorary patrons of the event included the Vice Prime Minister, the Minister of Economy, Mr. Waldemar Pawlak and Mrs. Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, the President of Warsaw. Partners of the event where ATM SA, Eficom SA, PKF Consult Sp. z o.o., Europe Unlimited, New Europe Events, the Polish Chamber of Information Technology and Telecommunications, the Polish Private Equity Association, the Polish Association of Listed Companies, the Association of Individual Investors and Technology Parks.
The event took place on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The official part included two discussion panels with the participation of renowned representatives of the business world: investors, financial specialists and strategic specialists. In the following sections, the companies, which have qualified to the semifinal in Warsaw, had the opportunity to present themselves before a panel of international experts including numerous representatives of the best and the biggest investment funds from around the world. It was a unique opportunity for the contestants to appear in the spotlight before European investors and key figures on the market and to raise additional capital and market prospects.
EEVC is an event, which has been developed in Europe for the last few years, aiming to identify leaders among innovative technological companies (life science, ICT and clean tech) at early stages of development. The competition identifies judges and awards innovative businesses, characterized by adequately large growth potential and level of technological advancement of products and services offered, which will cause them in the future to have a significant influence on their industry and contribute to increased competitiveness and economic growth in Europe.
The organizers aim, in addition to seeking out prime picks among the most innovative companies from the ICT, biotech/lifescience and clean tech industries, to promote Polish companies and Polish entrepreneurship and innovativeness abroad, boost the attractiveness and competitiveness of the Polish capital market and to transform this event into a cyclical event covering the whole region of Central Eastern Europe (Central Eastern European EEVC semifinals), which will help Warsaw become the financial center of Central Eastern Europe.
For more information go to www.eevc.pl