IDB - Demand Solutions Miami

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The Challenge

The IDB and Miami Dade College are launching an open call to select the most innovative startups from Latin America, the Caribbean and South Florida in the following categories of the creative and cultural industries:

DESIGN WITH SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Urban, interior and industrial design, graphic arts, illustration and toys. Wearable technology, accessibility and cultural identity expression. Co-creation between craftsmen and designers.

GASTRONOMY AS AN AGENT OF TRANSFORMATION

Recovery of ancestral and native recipes. Fusion cuisine, environmentally-minded restaurants and chefs.

MULTIMEDIA TO SAVE THE WORLD

Videogames, support media for digital content, virtual reality, 3D printing and interactive audiovisual content.

SUSTAINABLE FASHION

Intelligent clothes, organic clothes, accessories.

STEREOTYPE-FREE MUSIC

Cultural and ancestral preservation, music as an education and language preservation tool.

The Awards

A total of 17 startups from Latin America, the Caribbean and South Florida will be selected. These startups will participate in Demand Solutions Miami. The IDB will subsidize airfare and accommodation for the 12 most creative startups from the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

At Demand Solutions Miami these 12 startups from Latin America and the Caribbean will compete for the following prizes:

1st PLACE US$D 30,000
2nd PLACE US$D 15,000
3rd PLACE US$D 7,000

The 5 startups from South Florida will compete for the following prize:

US$D 15,000

REQUIREMENTS FOR ELIGIBILITY

Participants must be over 18 years old as of March 1st, 2017 and be founders or co-founders of the startup.
The startup must be solving a challenge that improves lives.
For startups operating in Latin American and the Caribbean, participants must be citizens of one of the IDB borrowing member countries. For startups operating in south Florida, participants can be from anywhere in the world.
Applications must be registered through the YouNoodle platform.
Applications can be filled out in any of the IDB official languages (Spanish, English, Portuguese or French).
The startup must have at least one year and no more than three years since it began operating and it should be legally registered.
Startups and representatives that have participated in a former Demand Solutions event will not be eligible

Video: 2 min pitch

Specifically made for this call
The video must be in "pitch" format
It should last no more than 2 minutes
It must show all team members
It should answer the following questions:
a)What business opportunity does the startup address?
b)How have you proven the validity of the product and what is your market?
c)What is the composition of your team?
d)What are your growth plans?
e)Why should your startup be selected?

Letters of Recommendation
Startups must present 2 letters of recommendation:

One from an outside collaborator or client vouching for the startup's work.
One from an organization or institution familiar with the work of the startup and its achievements

* The letters of recommendation may not be signed by relatives or members of the founders or co-founders

Read the complete guidelines for this call for proposals.

About Miami Dade College
Miami Dade College (MDC) is the higher education institution with the largest undergraduate enrollment in the America, with more than 165,000 students. It is also the nation’s top producer of Associate in Arts and Science degrees and awards more degrees to minorities than any other college or university in the country. The college’s eight campuses and outreach center offer more than 300 distinct degree pathways including several baccalaureate degrees in education, public safety, supervision and management, nursing, physician assistant studies, film, engineering, biological sciences, and others. In fact, its academic and workforce training programs are national models of excellence. MDC is also renowned for its rich cultural programming. It is home of the Miami Book Fair, Miami International Film Festival, the MDC Live Arts Performing Arts Series, the National Historic Landmark Miami Freedom Tower, a major sculpture park and large art gallery and theater systems. MDC has admitted more than 2,000,000 students and counting, since it opened its doors in 1960. For more information please visit www.mdc.edu.

About the Inter-American Development Bank
The IDB works to improve lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Through financial and technical support for countries working to reduce poverty and inequality, we help improve health and education, and advance infrastructure. Our aim is to achieve development in a sustainable, climate-friendly way. With a history dating back to 1959, today we are the leading source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB provides loans, grants, and technical assistance; and conducts extensive research. Additionally, it maintains a strong commitment to achieving measurable results and the highest standards of increased integrity, transparency, and accountability.

The Bank´s current focus areas include three development challenges – social inclusion and inequality, productivity and innovation, and economic integration – and three cross-cutting issues – gender equality and diversity, climate change and environmental sustainability; and institutional capacity and the rule of law.