Applications for Starter Business Acceleration, the global accelerator for energy startups, are now open and available online until May 24th. The program that integrated EDP's various instruments to support entrepreneurship, reinforces its position this year as a business accelerator, with startups and SMEs.

The Starter Business Acceleration will take place in a virtual format and the selected participants will go through three phases: first, through an Online Pitch; then, they will be involved in a Global Module and finally, they will reach the Grand Final, where the winner, who receives a 50 thousand euros award, will be announced. Of the total applications, 30 startups will be selected to participate in the Online Pitch and, from among them, only 10 will be chosen to join the program and compete in the grand final.

Throughout Starter Business Acceleration, the participating startups will have the opportunity to present their solutions for the energy sector to the different business units of EDP, EDP Spain, EDP Brazil and the EDP Renováveis, which together serve 12 million customers and are present in 20 countries. 

In line with EDP's strategic areas, Starter Business Acceleration seeks projects in seven categories: customer solutions, digital innovation, energy storage, clean energies, smart grids, access to energy and innovative internal processes. During the program, startups will also have access to various supports and benefits, such as the advice of experts in innovation, energy, among others.

"Starter Business Acceleration is EDP's call to startups and SMEs around the world, who have developed innovative products, services or business models, aligned with our strategy to accelerate energy transition. In 2020, we had the challenge of transforming the program into a virtual format, which eventually allowed us to reach more startups and engage more EDP innovation experts, throughout the process. We were very pleased with the results and the possibility of continuing to generate impact through open innovation initiatives, also at a distance, "explains Carla Pimenta, EDP's Innovation Director.

The North American Yotta Energy, which developed a scalable and decentralized solar energy storage solution, was the winner of the latest edition of Starter Business Acceleration, which attracted more than 800 startups from 74 countries.

It is not only the winner of each edition that benefits from this program: EDP already has 15 pilot projects confirmed, from startups that participated in the 2020 program, and 18 more to be evaluated, as well as two innovative investments completed by EDP Ventures, which brought new innovative solutions to the various business areas of the company, in different geographies.

Applications can be submitted until May 24th at: www.theenergystarter.com.

Starter Business Acceleration is an EDP open innovation project, managed by Beta-i, a collaborative innovation consultant based in Lisbon.