As Latin America’s ‘startup hunters’, with the autumn season upon us here in South America, of course we have our permits in order and are ready for open season to begin.
We wanted to take this time to highlight a few of the competitions, contests and programs that are currently open and primarily targeted towards Chileno startup founders, tech entrepreneurs and social innovators (although there are a few things geared towards ALL entrepreneurs).
We encourage ALL Chilenos in all phases of their entrepreneurial endeavors to get out there to gain real hands on experience, test your ideas, develop your pitch, launch your idea faster, expand your skill set and diversify and build your network.
As AndesBeat mission is to promote entrepreneurship as an extreme sport and help entrepreneurs have more fun in the process, before we announce the competitions, we wanted to share this video of the fastest man on earth ‘flying’ uninhibited at 250 mph !!! Hopefully after watching this, you’ll be ready to make the jump and fully immerse in the whole experience these competitions can bring to you.
You might notice in the below video, before every jump he states he is afraid/terrified although he has done lots of background work before getting to “the moment”!
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/32875422[/vimeo]
Geek Fantasy Camp (Startup Sleepover)
Who should participate: Any entrepreneur, lawyer, investor, design creative, developer, visionary or freelancer who wants to test their skills, talent and discipline in an unrehearsed environment.
When it closes: Final days – get your apps in ASAP!
What is it: Co-produced and hosted by IncubaUC, DICTUC and U.S. based 3DS (3 Day Startups), Geek Fantasy Camp is back for its second tour! This event brings together a mashup of people (entrepreneurs, business managers, lawyers, designers, hackers, visionaries, marketers, etc) who essentially are up for the challenge of building a startup in 3 days and 2 nights (bring your sleeping bag to sleep over for the night)!
The teams are organized and built organically, with people from the audience supporting the pitched startup ideas that seem most interesting to them. I am still not sure how it all works out, but in October 2011 when I attended the event, I just know that everything worked out perfectly! The top teams (several are selected) are eligible for a spot in the IncubaUC incubator and also win a trip to incubate their business in Silicon Valley for a month.
Apply here now and for more information please contact:
Luis Duarte Romero, [email protected] or [email protected]
Start-Up Chile
Who should participate: Any adventure seeking and visionary entrepreneur, developer or designer from anywhere in the world who is up for the challenge of bootstrapping their business for 6 months in Chile.
When it closes: Hurry! Applications close Monday, April 2, 2012.
What is it: Open to both Chilean and foreign startup founders, Start-Up Chile is a program created by the Chilean Government, executed by Corfo via InnovaChile, that seeks to attract early stage, high-potential entrepreneurs to bootstrap their startups in Chile, using it as a platform to go global.
Startup Chile provides up to 100 startup teams (during each selection process) with US$40,000 of equity-free seed capital, and a temporary 1-year visa to develop their projects for six months, along with access to the most potent social and capital networks in the country.
Santiago Startup Weekend
Who should participate: Any entrepreneur, developer or designer who has been procrastinating about launching their startup.
When it closes: April 8th, 2012
What is it: No talk. All action. Launch a startup in 54 hours.
Startup Weekend is a global network of passionate leaders and entrepreneurs on a mission to inspire, educate, and empower individuals, teams and communities. Come share ideas, form teams, and launch startups.
More deets and apply here: Santiago Startup Weekend
Applicate – A Techolab Challenge
Who should participate: Any entrepreneur, creative or developer interested in social entrepreneurship, social innovation and the mobile development space.
When it closes: April 22, 2012
What is it: Each quarter Techolab creates a unique competition around a question (with no apparent solution) that seeks to raise the quality of life for those living at the base of the economic pyramid (approximately 2/3 of the population in Latin America).
Co-sponsored by Movistar, Singularity University and Un Techo Para Chile, Applicate is the newest Techolab challenge (applications close 22 April 2012). The current challenge is seeking Chilean based visionaries, developers and entrepreneurs to pitch ideas for social utility mobile applications for those living at the Base of the Economic pyramid and address issues such as managing qeues in public places, money transfer and shopping online.
JumpUC – Ideas de Negocios
Who should participate: Any college or university student in Chile.
When it closes: April 30, 2012
What is it: A business ideas pitch contest that is open to any ideas related to Science & Technology; Global; Social and Arts!
The winners (three for each topic) are going to receive US$ 2,000 to get their idea started and a business tour in Brazil (Innovation Award sponsored by Ideal).
Learn more:
www.jumpuc.cl, www.redie.uc.cl, or [email protected]
Dell Social Innovation Challenge
Who should participate: Any college or university student (ages 16 and up) from anywhere interested in social innovation/social entrepreneurship. As of this post, there are only 2 projects that have been submitted from Central and South America!!! So get your application in if you are developing something or thinking of developing something.
When it closes: May 13, 2012
What is it: The Dell Social Innovation Challenge identifies and supports promising young social innovators who dedicate themselves to solving the world’s most pressing problems with their transformative ideas. We provide university students with world-class teaching and training, as well as with start-up capital and access to a network of mentors and advisors.
The 2012 challenge will present 27 awards, more than $140,000 in cash prizes and more than $500,000 worth of in-kind prizes. The finalists will also fly to Austin, TX for a weekend of mentoring, workshops, and other activities as part of the DSIC Global Awards Event. Semi-Finalists are also matched with mentors for one-on-one coaching and feedback.
Submit your genius idea for saving the world now!
English language scholarships
Who should participate: Any Chileno (located in areas near the Region’s capital cities), who is not one of the 1 in 5 people in Chile who are now speaking English uber fluently, thanks to Shoni, jejeje. If you don’t think Chilenos have mastered English because of their time spent with me, then look at Co-Founder Boy’s first posts on AndesBeat and tell me how is it possible that he can now edit my work :-P
When it closes: The application deadline has been extended to April 5th
…meaning they are most likely looking for more submissions thus your chances should be good for getting accepted, O-B-V-I-O!
What is it: A program that offers two courses for Chilenos to learn and/or improve their English. One course is 100 hours and the other 200 hours, of which the candidate must choose according to their time availability.
With the support of the tuition scholarship, recipients need to only pay $ 100,000 pesos for the 100 hours course and $200,000 for 200 hours. In this sense, Corfo covers the remaining 80% of the cost of the courses.
All information and details are available in Becas de inglés Website
or call 600 631 8222 (Chile)
Did I miss something or know something else that is coming up soon???
Send us your updates to tips(at)andesbeat(dot)com
Featured image credits: lowerlighter
