By Emeka Aginam, in Barcelona, Spain

Cisco, Deutsche Telekom and Intel have announced Challenge Up,  a joint Internet of Things (IoT) accelerator for start-ups from the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

The program which was announced at the ongoing Mobile World Congress holding in Barcelona, Spain is expected to help innovative IoT start-ups   to accelerate the -market faster through joint projects, mentoring, high-value networking and corporate assets. Selected companies would also be opportune to receive strategic investment and support commercializing their product or service for global markets.

´Challenge Up´ is designed for early-stage startups creating solutions for the Internet of Things/Everything (IoT/IoE) and related areas, including connected and smart solutions (smart home, smart city, smart energy, connected cars, wearables, Industry 4.0), information security, big data, analytics, connectivity and cloud computing.

Key elements of the program are acceleration week which will be sponsored by Cisco EIR, Intel Business Challenge Europe and hub:raum, and a tailor-made, 4-month incubation program (July to October) taking place in Krakow, Berlin and Vienna supported by Cisco, Deutsche Telekom and Intel.

Startups selected for the program participate for free with no equity required and keep their own intellectual property.

Senior Vice President in charge of Europe B2B at Deutsche Telekom, Elias Drakopoulos, who spoke on the new development said that “With Challenge Up! We are giving a great signal to the startup world, bringing together the resources and know-how of three corporations. We will use our combined experience for the benefit of the Challenge Up! Program and the support of the startup community”.

Also speaking,  Corporate Vice President and General Manager Europe, Middle East and Africa at Intel, Christian Morales, said “We are looking forward to the creative ideas for new products and services from across the region to improve how we live and work together. By giving startups access to the complimentary resources of our three global companies we can help them accelerate their ideas into commercial success”.

For  the Vice President of Data & Analytics at Cisco, Mike Flannagan,  “With an expected 50 billion things connected to the Internet by 2020, the Internet of Everything opens up great opportunities. To help better address these opportunities, Challenge Up! brings together the best of the technology world in an ecosystem of open innovation”.

The program unites resources and experience from the startup initiatives of the individual companies, including Cisco Entrepreneurs in Residence (Cisco EIR), Intel Business Challenge Europe and hub: raum powered by Deutsche Telekom.