Telefonica Brasil : The Provincial Council of Bizkaia and Telefónica launch two new challenges with The Cruces University Hospital and Dibal to support technological transformation

• The hospital seeks a technological solution to promote healthy lifestyles.

• The company based in Zamudio seeks to remotely install, manage and maintain the weighing devices it manufactures.

• The Bizkaia Open Future_ programme is an initiative by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and Telefónica to assist in the transformation of industry in this region

• The call, open to entrepreneurs, startups, SMEs and organisations and institutions, will remain open until the 27th of February at www.openfuture.org.

Bizkaia, 11 January 2017.- Two new challenges to contribute to transforming industry in Bizkaia and boost entrepreneurship have now been launched as part of the Bizkaia Open Future_ programme. The Cruces University Hospital, which is seeking a technological solution to promote healthy lifestyle habits, and Dibal, a company based in the town of Zamudio which aims to remotely resolve the installation, management and maintenance of the weighing equipment it manufactures, have joined their challenges to this initiative promoted by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and Telefónica.

One of the specific objectives of the challenge of the Integrated Health Care Organisation OSI Ezkerraldea Enkarterri Cruces (Cruces University Hospital) is to identify the population with unhealthy behaviours, in order to improve their habits and their future quality of life and thus seek out measures which lead to beneficial practices for their health. In short, the challenge aims to raise awareness of the importance of reacting to the first symptoms so that diseases do not become chronic, helping patients to manage their health and the lifestyle changes they need to make.

For its part, Dibal, a company created in 1986 and with 150 employees, wants to make its weighing scales more technologically advanced, and its goals include certain solutions to offer remote management services for its customers' weighing devices, along with automatic gravity-dependent adjustments, the creation of remote installation and maintenance systems and management of weighing data.

Its challenge further seeks results which will make it possible to offer new functions thanks to the technological capabilities of its instruments.

The proposals launched by the Cruces University Hospital and Dibal under the auspices of Bizkaia Open Future_ are aimed at entrepreneurs, startups, SMEs and organisations and institutions, who can present their solutions at www.openfuture.org until the 27th of February 2017 following the opening of the call for proposals on the 14th of December. For each challenge, between 5 and 10 projects will be selected, and they will participate in the Bizkaia 4.0 Immersion Trip, a three-day trip around Bizkaia and the rest of the Basque Country. During that time, they will be able to speak directly with those in charge of these companies to find out about the objectives and the problems of the challenges, visit bellwether institutions in Bizkaia, meet with representatives of industry and the entrepreneurial and innovation network, as well as enjoy cultural activities and the cuisine. Subsequently, the winner and finalists will be chosen, who will be able to access the Bizkaia Open Future acceleration programme, which lasts for four months.

As part of their prizes, the two winning projects, one for each challenge, will have the possibility of carrying out a real pilot project at the corresponding company, economic support from the Provincial Council of Bizkaia in the sum of 20,000 euros, and, if they meet requirements, access to the grants provided by the Region's Council for the creation of innovative companies and project innovation and internationalisation.

Three challenges launched by Bizkaia Open Future_

With these two new challenges, a total of three proposals have now been launched by Bizkaia Open Future_ following the Velatia Challenge, which was won by DeciData-Kunak, an alliance between a company from Bizkaia and one from Navarre. The initiative of the Bizkaia Provincial Council and Telefónica to support the industrial sector in the Historic Territory of Bizkaia in its transition towards Industry 4.0. is aimed at industry in general, with particular attention to the priority sectors in Bizkaia: aerospace, the automotive sector, energy... Bizkaia Open Future­­_ aims, moreover, to position itself as the pivotal linkage between new digital entrepreneurial talent, both local and international, and the industrial companies in the region.

Bizkaia Open Future­_ has both a physical space and a virtual space. The physical space, called Crowdworking Ilgner, located at the facilities of BIC Bizkaia Ezkerraldea (formerly CEDEMI), in Barakaldo, aims to become a bellwether space under the innovative concept of an Open Innovation Garage which promotes Industry 4.0 technological projects, with an open and international orientation. A place where numerous activities take place so that startups and entrepreneurial talent can develop and promote their initiatives, SMEs can get to know new business models to help them grow, and pivotal companies can acquire new knowledge and technologies which will help their businesses to improve and evolve.

About Telefónica Open Future_

Telefónica Open Future is Telefonica´s global platform designed to connect her to entrepreneurs, startups, investors and public and private partners around the world to capture innovation and business opportunities. Its goal is to support talent at all stages of growth through a comprehensive model for acceleration that is designed to connect talent with organisations, investors and companies. The programme incorporates all of Telefónica Group's open innovation, entrepreneurship and investment initiatives (Think Big, Talentum, Crowdworking, Wayra, Amérigo and Telefónica Ventures) through a global network that is open to participation by external partners that wish to develop their own entrepreneurial and investment strategies, and connect to large corporates. To date, more than 50,000 proposals have been analysed, over 1,500 startups have been accelerated and 690, invested. Telefónica Open Future_ is present in 17 countries and has committed to investment, with its partners, a total of 445 million euros. More info: https://www.openfuture.org/en

For more information:

Aitziber Diez, Press Department at Provincial Council of Bizkaia

Mail: aitziber.diez@bizkaia.eus

Rafael Ossa, Press Department at Telefónica

Mail: rafael.ossaateaga@telefonica.com

Press Department at Cruces University Hospital

Tel.: 946006428

@OpenFuture_Biz

Bizkaia Open Future_