Commercial Open Source Software

Open Innovation Awards 2010: The Demo Cup

The Open Innovation Demo Cup – a contest open to all open source projects and solutions getting ready for commercial launch or already on the market – will be held at the next Open World Forum on the 1st of October.

While last year a jury of experts awarded the most promising project in terms of innovation, use of open source technologies, and value creation potential – included companies like Bonitasoft and Kaltura – this year 12 companies chosen from written applications will be nominated and invited to give an 8 min presentation.

The Open Innovation Demo Cup is about products; it requires timed, live demonstrations; and does not allow slide presentations! In recognition of the difficulty of communicating the power and value of Open Source projects on stage in a short 8 minutes, the Demo Cup will honor outstanding presentations. Chosen for their style, passion, clarity, and sometimes for their sheer fun, these Open Innovation Awards reward a unique ability to deliver a great product and position it in the market, to show off its most compelling features, to differentiate it from other products — and along the way to entertain a tough and critical Open World Forum audience.

So this event is a three-fold opportunity for Open Source entrepreneurs: to present their company at an international event; to make contact with potential customers and partners; and for the winners and finalists, to enjoy the recognition that comes with a prestigious award which reflects the fact that their product has successfully convinced a demanding panel of judges.

To enter the Awards, all you have to do is to submit your entry, before 15 July 2010, in the form of a five to ten-page executive summary (in English, given that this is an international competition) along with an initial draft of the storyboard for the demo that would be presented during the final, to the following address: democup@openworldforum.org.

The 2010 Demo Cup is organized by the Open World Forum, with operational support provided by the Open Source Software Special Interest Group at the Systematic competitiveness cluster.