First start-ups make their debut at Vodafone Boost Lab

Promoted in a consortium by Vodafone, Capgemini and Ericsson, the Vodafone Boost Lab is a test bed designed to support companies in the development of new products and services in the area of 5G and future generations of communications networks. Launched in 2023, it is part of the National Test Beds Network, designed to increase the number of commercially viable product pilots. Through the use of 5G, the most advanced technology and the sharing of experiences, its purpose is to drive the digital transition of SMEs and start-ups.

During the process, 34 start-ups and SMEs were shortlisted. Of these, the 22 that best corresponded to the objectives of the program were chosen: Balvia Ecosystems, Beyond Vision, Bluecover Technologies, CONNECTED, Enline, Ethiack, Ground Control Studios, Infinite Foundry, KBAI Research, Kropie, LikeWise Pro, Meeting The Innovation, noytrall, OMNIFLOW, PluggableAl, Sky Powerlines, TeroMovigo, Virtuleap, VisionSpace, Wakaru Consulting, Windcredible e WingDriver.inc.

The 22 start-ups and SMEs chosen will develop products and services for 5G at the Vodafone Boost Lab, the test bed that brings together Vodafone, Ericsson and Capgemini, and will also begin their participation in the Open Innovation Programme, developed with Beta-i and which will allow them to test and validate solutions applicable to 5G and next-generation technologies. From here, they will have four months to develop their pilots in the test bed, with the results expected to be publicly presented at the end of June 2024.

Until April 10, these companies will participate in the bootcamp, a phase aimed at identifying specific needs to which the projects, or the Boost Lab itself, must respond, with several online working sessions where collaboration strategies with innovators and partners are explored and defined. At the end of this phase, it is expected to present the design of pilots to be developed in the next section of the program, from April to June.

At that time, the selected start-ups are expected to develop pilot projects based on 5G and technologies such as IoT and edge computing, including virtual and augmented reality, drones, robotics, sensing, big data and cloud computing, among others, at the Vodafone Boost Lab test bed.

In contact with the partners, the 22 selected companies will be able to test and validate solutions, in a scalable and cost-efficient way, that can be implemented in Vodafone's network infrastructure, with the help of companies such as A-to-Be (Brisa Group), CUF, EDP, Galp, Infrastructures of Portugal, Lusíadas Saúde, MEXT: (Mota Engil Group), Schréder e Lince Capital.

For more information about this program, see: vodafoneboostlab-openinnovation.com.