Bonjour Startup Montréal, Desjardins, and Google Canada are launching Post-COVID, a virtual competition intended to find innovative solutions to societal issues resulting from the pandemic in Québec.
Interested teams must address a real need in healthcare, education, or employment sectors.
The competition, open to entrepreneurs, students, and all citizens and organizations, will roll out in three smaller challengers through the month of May. Each challenge is designed to address a need in healthcare, education, or employment sectors. Each winning team will receive prizes valued at over $100,000, which includes coaching, mentoring, and workspace.
“Every sector of the economy is having to deal with the consequences of this crisis, and affected companies will have to change their ways of working,” the organizers said in a statement. “With the
Teams interested in participating in the challenge must choose one of the three challenges when submitting a proposal. The education challenge asks participants to develop a solution that will help teachers evaluate students through technical approaches such as gamification.
The healthcare challenge is focused on methods to improve human connections with senior citizens. The employment phase will invite teams to find a way to use technology to strengthen health and safety practices in public and private spaces.
The prize package includes access to Google services, acceptance into Desjardins’ Startup in Residence program, and an opportunity to develop a pilot with a Québec-based business, among other opportunities.
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Applications will open May 1 and close midnight on May 15. Participants will be selected to proceed to the second phase of the challenge on May 20. The teams will then develop a business plan, present projects to a panel.
Fifteen projects will be selected to proceed to the third phase. Phase three will consist of prototyping for the selected startups with support from industry experts, and the final pitch and winner selection will take place on June 2.
Bonjour Startup Montréal aims to accelerate the creation, growth, and public exposure of Montréal startups. Other organizations collaborating on this challenge include Real Ventures, Techstars Montreal, and Notman House.
Image source Unsplash. Photo by Michael Beener.