Ignite North-East 2019 — Applications Now Open

TL;DR Applications for the 2019 Ignite programme are now open. The programme runs from September to December 2019 in North East England and comes with a £10,000 investment, desk space and access to the Digital Catapult NETV Immersive Lab at Proto.

Ignite launched in Newcastle back in 2011. Since then we’ve supported more than 200 companies through our accelerators and pre-accelerators across the UK, and collectively they’ve raised more than £50m.

Our next programme will be a 12 week pre-accelerator programme aimed at idea and early-stage start-ups. The programme is open to anyone who’s building (or got an idea for) a tech company, although there are some areas we’re particularly excited about seeing applications for (see below).

The programme is delivered by Ignite in partnership with the North East Innovation Fund (managed by Northstar), PROTO, Gateshead Council, and the Digital Catapult North East Tees Valley.

What are you looking for?

The programme is open to anyone with a technology start-up idea in any sector, but we’d be particularly excited to see applications from people working on the following:

Ageing

Ageing is a huge opportunity and isn’t just about supporting the elderly, but about how we help people throughout their life to ensure they can maintain a high quality of life as they age — everything from creating new ways of saving money to keeping people active.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Isolation is a huge problem in society, and especially so for the elderly. How can we use new technology to help people create new relationships and maintain existing ones?
• What does gaming look like for an older population, and how could that help with cognitive decline?
• Working isn’t just about earning money, but also helps us to find purpose and feel useful. How can we help older workers to stay in the workplace and find meaningful and engaging work?
• As we age it’s important we remember to take any medication we need, or do the exercises a physio assigns us. How can technology enable medical compliance using concepts like virtual GPs or gamification?
• Just because we’re getting older doesn’t mean we want to stop having new experiences or forget the ones we’ve had earlier in our life. How can technology help with enabling us to travel, or to reminisce?

Immersive Technology

We have only just scratched the surface in terms of the potential of immersive tech, but recent developments mean that we’re likely to see a lot more applications coming out in the next few years. We’d love to see applications from companies who are finding new and innovative uses for it, tackling challenges like:

• Sports & Entertainment; Whether you’re looking at eSports or training professional footballers, how can immersive technology create new business opportunities?
• Work & Industry; What opportunities are there for using immersive tech in the workplace to reduce accidents or increase productivity?
• Education; What does the future of education and training look like, and how can we use VR or AR to help people learn?
• Health and Ageing; Whether it’s providing therapy for those with chronic pain, or assisting an older population in the workplace, what uses might there be for immersive technology in healthcare and ageing?

What’s the deal?

• 12 week programme run by Ignite including regular workshops on sales, marketing, values, design thinking as well as mentoring and support on growth and investment
• £15,000 Convertible Loan from Northstar (there is a programme fee to be paid from this of £5,000, leaving a net investment of £10,000)
• Desk space in the Gateshead Baltic Quarter for the 12 week programme
• Access to the Ignite alumni and mentor network
• Perks including £100,000 in platform credits for AWS and Google Cloud plus discounts and credits for Stripe, Intercom, Sendgrid and Digital Ocean.
• Access to the Immersive Lab facilities at PROTO.

Who can apply?

There are only 20 places on the programme so there will be a competitive application process and we’re looking for people who’ve got the ambition to build a world-changing business.

We’ll score applicants based on the skills and experience of the team, as well as the commercial opportunity we see in the market they’re tackling. Teams that have the technical skills in place to develop and launch an MVP or prototype of their idea will score higher than those that don’t.

Applications are open to individuals and teams who are able to commit to attending the programme full-time between September and December 2019. Each successful applicant must incorporate as a limited company (if they haven’t already) and be based in the North East of England (County Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear).

What if I don’t have an idea yet?

That’s fine — we can help ambitious founders to find real problems to solve that they can build a successful business around. If this sounds like something you’re interested in then you can apply using this link — Pre-Idea Applications

What if I already have an idea?

Applications are open from now until 5pm on Friday 12th July, and just involves a short application form where you can tell us about the team that are applying and what you’re working on — Apply Here

For more information, please contact the Ignite programme team:

Gabriela Matic — gabi@ignite.io | linkedin.com/in/gabrielamatic
Wil Benton — wil@ignite.io | linkedin.com/in/fatkidonfire
Tristan Watson — tristan@ignite.io | linkedin.com/in/tristan-watson-824ab222
Alexis Long — alexis@ignite.io | linkedin.com/in/alexisjlong