The Big Booster Accelerator Program Now Enters Its Selection Phase

LYON, FRANCE--(Marketwired - Oct 1, 2015) - The Big Booster call for candidates is now closed. In 2 months, this brand new program has received over 400 applications from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Big Booster is the first non-profit international accelerator program organised between Lyon and Boston and aimed at startups working in cutting edge innovations in the health, digital, environment and sustainable development sectors.

The call for candidates opened on July 9th and closed on September 23rd; it imposed two conditions for the startups keen to take part: they must have an innovative solution at the proof-of-concept stage and have international ambitions. The startups in the health, digital and environment sectors were particularly targeted by this program echoing Lyon and Boston's sectors of excellence which are: biotechnologies, digital and clean technologies.

More than 400 startups applied over the space of 11 weeks, from France (50%) and around the world. 50% of the project where digital, 30% health and 20% environmental.

Among these 400 applications, 100 startups will be selected to take part in the boot camp -- intensive support program -- in Lyon from October 27th to October 29th 2015, which will take place at the same time as BlendWebMix Lyon.

In total, for each application to be reviewed three times, we have involved over fifty expert judges from all three sectors (health, digital and environment), while the inter-sector selection will be validated by a committee of co-presidents:

• Jean-Marc Bally, Associate Manager at Aster Capital
• Patrick Bertrand, President of Lyon FrenchTech and Managing Director of Cegid
• Nathalie Garçon, Managing Director of BioAster
• Hugues Hansen, Managing Director of Start'In Post
• Claire Houry, Associate Manager at Ventech
• Philippe Lagrange, President of Tubà & Local Authorities Director at Veolia
• Karine Lignel, Venture Capital Director at CM-CIC Capital Innovation
• Benoît Pradet, Senior Vice-President at Capgemini, Head of Lyon Office
• Marie-José Quentin-Millet, Chief Operating Officer Sanofi Pasteur
• Stéphane Régnier, Senior Vice-President at Capgemini

"The number of applications received reflects the ambition we set for this project. It confirms Lyon's place on the world map of startups and innovation," emphasized Karine Dognin-Sauze, Vice-President of Lyon Metropole for innovation, smart cities and digital development.