Applications for the innovation support program end this week

Micro and small companies with innovative projects have a chance to get the idea off the ground and expand their business. This is the last week to register for the fifth call of the Ideiaz Program, which aims to help innovative small business projects for free. Applications run until April 2.

In partnership with the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services (MDIC) and the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), the National Association of Entities Promoting Innovative Enterprises (Anprotec) is choosing up to 300 ideas to receive entrepreneurial training, mentoring and technological support for ten weeks.

Companies across the country can apply. Assistance to the chosen businesses will be provided free of charge by the incubators and accelerators of companies associated with the Ideiaz Program – Powered by InovAtiva. The network, which operates in all states, aims to democratize technical assistance to innovative companies, expanding the national reach of businesses that receive technical assistance.

This will be the fifth and final call for the Ideiaz Program. In previous cycles, the program helped 696 projects, which received free training and technological assistance. In this call, the program has 33 accredited incubators and accelerators.

Procedures

Entrepreneurs with projects in the creation or ideation stages can register, that is, whose product has not yet been commercialized or whose business model has not yet been implemented. About a third of the vacancies will be allocated to ideas from the North, Northeast and Midwest regions. Another 20% will go to projects with a positive socio-environmental impact.

Proposals will be evaluated by a selection committee made up of representatives from the Sebrae System, Anprotec and the MDIC’s Secretariat for Industrial Development, Innovation, Commerce and Services. Also participation of choice partners such as development entities, investors, specialists in the productive sector and university professors. With the approximately 300 ideas selected in this call, the program intends to complete the activities reaching the goal of 1,000 projects attended.

Each selected project will be forwarded to a ten-week service, completely online, with one of the accredited incubators or accelerators at Ideiaz. The developments will receive at least 18 hours of support for their development. Of this total, at least 10 hours will be of individualized care, which will cover the following activities:

● Mentoring;

● Organizational consulting;

● Technological support;

● Support for formalizing the business;

● Entrepreneurial qualification.

After the training process, the projects will be monitored and must meet the following goals: have a business model designed and validated, present a prototype of the product or service developed and evaluated by customers and constitute a pitch (discourse) for sales and defense ready business.

Each project must have at least two members to participate in the ten weeks of assistance. The training will go beyond the 18 hours of service. Anprotec recommends that team members dedicate at least part-time per day to perform the activities necessary to achieve the minimum results. The time required may increase, according to the team’s level of knowledge and the maturity of the project.

More information can be obtained in the announcement, available on the Ideiaz Program page on the internet . Questions can be forwarded to the email [email protected].