Fusióni3 Valle Innovation Voucher: 26 challenges faced by SMEs seek solutions from partner universities

26 new challenges, from 19 MSMEs benefiting from Fusióni3 Valle, were uploaded to the Fusióni360 platform to participate in the Innovation Voucher Invitation, an initiative that will give entrepreneurs access to up to $18,000,000 pesos to generate innovative, new or improved products or services, with the support of the universities allied to Fusióni3 Valle.

This time, universities will have the opportunity to contribute their experience and capabilities to help companies achieve innovative results through the technical and commercial validation of these challenges. This process will be carried out through a paid service model, without the need for alliances, intellectual property agreements, or co-development activities, as is the case in other initiatives.

To participate, universities must apply as solvers of the challenges identified as Voucher Fusióni3 Valle, which are registered on the Fusióni360 platform, before November 25, 2024, the date on which the call will close.

Para participar, las universidades deberán postularse como solucionadores de los retos identificados como Váucher Fusióni3 Valle, que se encuentran registrados en la plataforma Fusióni360, antes del 25 de noviembre de 2024, fecha en la que cerrará la convocatoria.

These are the steps to perform an effective registration:

1. Create a user account at www.fusioni360.voltea.co:

Access the Fusióni360 platform. If you don’t have a registered account, create a new one and link it to the account of the university you’re applying to. Currently, the five universities partnered with the project are already on the platform.

2. Submission of the solution by the universities providing the service:

Select the Challenges option from the main menu and, in Search, type “Váucher Fusióni3 Valle” to filter the participating challenges.

3. Provide a solution:

Once you have reviewed the challenges and selected the one you wish to work on, click the +Contribute a solution button and fill out all the required fields on the form. Additionally, you must attach the corresponding quote in the Documents section.

Among the challenges presented on the platform are commercial validations of new food products, the creation of digital platforms for internal, external and training use for SMEs, and the search for sustainable solutions for sectors such as health, agriculture and ICT.

Eliana Briceño Clavijo, coordinator of Strengthening MSMEs at Fusióni3 Valle, extended the invitation to allied universities to participate.

“ We know that, working hand in hand with universities, we can boost innovation in the SMEs benefiting from Fusióni3 Valle, leveraging and highlighting the capabilities of higher education institutions. Therefore, we encourage them to participate, to learn about the challenges on the platform, and to be part of this new opportunity for collaboration.”

Key dates

November 25, 2024 will be the deadline for submitting solutions.
From November 26 to 29, 2024, the Fusióni3 Valle team will review compliance with the requirements of the challenges submitted by the SMEs.
On December 11, 2024, the challenges that will benefit from the Innovation Voucher will be published.
Between January and February 2025, contracts will be signed with the universities that will provide services for each challenge.
The services will begin to be implemented between February and March 2025 .