Support for Companies Creating a Smarter Curaçao

The Ministry of Economic Development, (MEO), and Curaçao Innovation & Technology Institute, (CITI), recently announced a program entitled, Start Up Launchpad during an informative press meeting at MEO’s headquarters. The Minister of Economic Development, Mr. Steven Martina, kicked off the start of the program by pressing a virtual button to officially open registration.

The Launchpad offers businesses in the start-up stage that contribute to the development of Curaçao as a Smart Nation, an opportunity to participate and win Technology, Knowledge and Support, vouchers for a total of up to ANG 50,000 to be invested in the
startup. In addition, the program offers extensive mentoring and coaching to increase the
chances for success. The exposure in the local media will also provide a welcome boost. The winner will go on to compete on an international level. The list of rewards is considerable and certainly a great help to any startup.

Knowledge, Technology and Funding Steven Martina urged the companies with
great tech innovation ideas that could potentially serve to help our island become more
effcient, to register and compete, to make use of the help available from LaunchPad with the ultimate goal of becoming a successful tech startup. He suggested, “Think of apps that can increase effciency; or help us find where to park our cars in Punda; or anything that helps the community by implementing technology. And it should be something that can then be applied to other countries.”

A total of ffteen start-ups will be selected to participate in the program. Their participation
will be based on their pitch to a jury, to earn a spot to participate in this launch pad, which is competitive in nature.
Round 1: In the frst round all ffteen start-ups will enjoy comprehensive Business Model
Support and Pitching Support. This will lay a solid basis for any start-up regardless of securing a spot in the next round or not.
Round 2: Five start-ups will be selected to continue on to the second round with a chance
to win Knowledge Vouchers of up to ANG 5,000 and Technology Vouchers of up to ANG
15,000.
Round 3: From these 5 start-ups, only 2 will continue to the third round and grab up to
ANG 20,000 in Technology Vouchers and tailored support to accelerate their business.
Winner: Only one of the start-ups will come out as the winner with a chance to compete
on an international level and will receive up to ANG 20,000 in support, which will surely
increase their chances of succeeding abroad. More importantly, the winner will contribute
in the effort towards making Curaçao a Smart Nation.

Smart Nation
The initiator’s goal is to play an active role in facilitating organizations and initiatives that
help Curaçao become a Smart Community.
Smart cities are mostly identifed as a community that applies innovation, plans better,
applies a participatory approach, has higher effciency, provides better transport solutions
and makes intelligent use of information and communication technologies. MEO and CITI
envision a smarter Curaçao with:
• Improved productivity
• Improved access to venture capital for local start-ups and entrepreneurs
• Lower cost of doing business and cost of capital
• Solved administrative bottlenecks
• Increased job opportunities
• Improved safety & security

Investing in the Economy
The launchpad was made possible by funding from the European Union, OCTA Innovation
(80%), and by the Ministry of Economic Development and CITI (20%). Monique
Raphaela, Director of CITI, and Fiona Curie, Innovation Manager at MEO, expressed their
relief at having met all the prerequisites that EU funding requires; a process that started
since 2014 and challenged the team’s tenacity. They intend to use the experience to keep
improving on ways to make this process easier to continue to offer solutions for local
companies. Raphaela was especially satisfied with these results saying that,” We are proud to say that this is one of those projects in which the bulk of the funding goes directly to the entrepreneurs. They have to work hard for it and fight for it. It may seem that this only helps a few companies, but in these tech initiatives you just need one star to rise up and you have more than ROI on the funding involved. The economic effects are big and even when the contestants don’t win they will remain cherished and supported projects for us.”