The winner of Estonian largest business ideas contest Ajujaht 2013 (Brain Hunt) is Kids OS, which designed a smart App to position and monitor kids at all times. Ajujaht is Estonia’s leading entrepreneurial competition, with over 250 business ideas competing for cash prizes and a chance of being crowned as the best business idea in the country.
Last October, the panel, comprising crème de la crème of Estonian entrepreneurs, narrowed down 25 most promising ideas from the lot to participate in Ajujaht’s development programme where the teams had a chance to learn about business model selection, product development, and sales and marketing. The teams were also paired with mentors and idols.
In late March 2013, the teams were narrowed down further to 10 quarter-finalists, who continued to compete in the weekly TV show on Estonia’s national public television station, ETV. The format was to give each team a weekly tutoring session, followed by an assignment, which ranged from selling overpriced bread to creating a commercial for their product.
The contest was initiated by Enterprise Estonia and financed by European Social Fund. The winner, KidsOS is a mobile helper for parents that allows to help children to use their mobile devices such as mobile phone or tablet remotely. “Our goal is to create a mobile operating system for kids that is far from being a toy. The intention is to develop fully functional product with ecosystem around it. That will allow parents to help, guide and keep children safe while using their mobile devices,” said the team behind it. The winning team received a grant of 17 000 EUR for their development work.
Jomi Interactive, a solution reminding you of possible dehydration, won a second prize with 10 500 EUR. The Jomi band will remind you to drink more water. You attach it around your water bottle and it monitors your fluid intake, reminding you, with sounds and LED indicators, that, perhaps…its time to drink more water.
Third place was taken by baby shower seat called PESA. PESA child shower seat was created to address the problem of the lack of special equipment to care for infants in public places with showers – swimming pools, medical facilities and SPA-centres. PESA is designed for children of 2 to 12 months old.
Bikeep, a mobile application to park a bicycle, was granted with a special award by Tallinn Enterprise Board and Technopolis Smart City, as it creates comfort and value for local cyclists. Bikeep ensures that a bike is locked to a steel bar by a mobile phone call.
Tartu Centre for Creative Industries awarded the e-Reciept project with 1500 EUR grant. They will receive additional free of charge mentoring from Tartu City incubator.
I like the Bikeep idea. The article says the Brain Hunt contest is funded by the European Social Fund. How much funding did they provide?