PHEE, WiserSense Bilgi and Ottobo Robotik the winners of BoostUp! South East 2023 Competition

The Grand Final of BoostUp! South East 2023, drew its winners! The first edition of EIT Manufacturing’s signature event for South East Europe, was held on November 29th in Athens, Greece. Awarded PHEE (first prize), WiserSense Bilgi (second prize) and Ottobo Robotik (third prize) stood out of the competing 8 finalists for their innovative and impactful solutions!

EIT Manufacturing South East had the pleasure to host the Grand Final, at the Divani Palace Acropolis, in Athens, were startups mostly from Turkiye, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria, were selected to present their innovative solutions. During the keynote speeches, Dr Dimitris Mavrikios, COO of EIT Manufacturing and Dr Niki Kousi, Managing Director EIT Manufacturing South East, shared EIT Manufacturing’s breakthroughs in Europe and the South East region, while Marta Kaczmarek, Director of the EIT Community Strategic Regional Innovations Cluster, EIT Health InnoStars shared how EIT RIS unlocks Europe’s innovation potential. Finally, Dr Elli Diakanastasi analyzed Elevate Greece and its role in the national startup ecosystem. 

Followed by the pitching session, the prestige jury committee of Dr Spyros Arsenis, Head of Business Innovation and Development – NBG, Dr Mara Chachamidou, Management Executive Unit B1 – Ministry of Development, Dr Elli Diakanastasi, Executive Director and Board Member – Elevate Greece, Mr. Alexandros Noussias, Managing Director – Envolve Entrepreneurship, Dr Styliani Petroudi, Head of Research Office – CYENS Center of Excellence, Mr. George Saperas, Partner and CFO – Unifund, Dr Konstantinos Smyrniotakis, Sustainability & European Funding Senior Manager – Sidenor Group, and Prof Panagiotis Stavropoulos, Division Director at the Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems & Automation (LMS), University of Patras, evaluated the startups, shared their expertise and insightful remarks while their constructive feedback shaped the outcome of the competition. 

Closing the award ceremony, Luke Incorvaja, EIT RIS Director and Dr. Konstantinos Georgoulias, EU Affairs and RIS Director of EIT Manufacturing, addressed the importance of initiatives that spotlight innovative solutions and foster entrepreneurship and growth in RIS regions.   

All finalists are winners and will receive exclusive “growth packages” of dedicated Access-to-Market support services provided by the EIT Manufacturing Business Creation team, aiming to support their internationalization strategy and foster their growth. EIT Manufacturing’s pan-European innovation network will also enhance their visibility and international publicity through its dedicated communication channels. The prize money of €7.500, €5.000 and €2.500 will support the three top startups in their European go-to-market strategies. 

PHEE presented an unconventional and economically viable, low-embodied carbon and zero waste, circular manufacturing process for the production of thermoset biocomposite architectural surfaces that won the 1st prize, while WiserSense with its cross-sectorial smart machine health monitoring solutions for Industry 4.0, leveraging AI for data analysis and Digital Twins, won the 2nd. Finally, the collaborative autonomous robots boosting warehouse and manufacturing plant operations, gave the 3rd place to Ottobo Robotics.