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Press release
13/12/2024

ASFin, CuiICO Tools, Gambooza, Recomenda.app and TWOM close Open Madrid presenting their solutions to secure the future of traditional businesses in Madrid

PATIO Innovation & Startup Campus, the leading campus in sustainable innovation, puts the finishing touch to Madrid Open with the celebration of his Demo Day, an event in which the five startups promoted during the acceleration program will present their innovative solutions to the founding corporations of PATIO Campus, funds and investors and the Community of Madrid.

Madrid Open It's the PATIO Campus's first major open innovation initiative for the public sector promoted in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Employment of the Community of Madrid. The objective of the initiative has been to promote the generation of ideas and services that help guarantee the succession of traditional and family businesses in the Community of Madrid, thus encouraging the generation of employment and wealth in that territory.

Over the past year, Madrid Open has carried out a pioneering innovation exercise with the objective of ensuring the continuity of more than 1,500 SMEs with more than 50 years of experience in the Community of Madrid. ”Open Madrid represents PATIO's first step in its commitment to bring Corporate Innovation strategies to the public sector. From the Community of Madrid, we proposed this challenge to PATIO to generate a real positive impact on society.”, said Daniel Rodríguez Asensio, Deputy Minister for Economy and Employment, in his presentation.

An innovative and participatory process

‍Madrid Open was built on the basis of an in-depth research process in which, over 8 weeks, more than 2,000 interviews and surveys were conducted with businessmen, associations and citizens. From this analysis, five key challenges faced by traditional and family businesses in the region emerged:

  1. Generational talent management: concentrated leadership and flawed dynamics that hinder succession and business continuity.
  2. Digitalization and innovation: immobilist mentalities and lack of resources are holding back digital and strategic transformation.
  3. Implementation of automatic processes: Bureaucratic barriers, lack of time and administrative complexity make it difficult to automate processes.
  4. Financing vehicles: SMEs can opt for lines of credit, crowdfunding and/or public aid to face inflation, high rents or possible defaults.
  5. Re-identity and brand: Communicating purpose and values is key to standing out in a saturated market.

After an open call in which 212 startups were submitted, 135 underwent an evaluation process according to their strategic fit with the challenge, team and innovative idea, 18 of them participated in the Jury Day phase and only 5 of them were selected for the acceleration process: ASFin, CIICO Tools, Gambooza, Recommend.app and TWOM.

For this selection, PATIO Campus had a team of external and professional evaluators, including Darío Méndez (The Fork), Sofía Silva (Gobe), Nacho Sánchez (Slide Hackers), Nina Alastruey (Demium) or Esther Checa (T2o).

The innovative solutions that each of them proposed around the five challenges identified are:

  • ASFin (Challenge #4: Financing vehicles): financial advice platform for SMEs. Founders: Julio Ois and Margarita Villegas.
  • CIICO Tools (Challenge #2: Digitalization and Innovation): digital tools to optimize commerce and restaurants. Founders: Carolina Barceló and Domingo Llull.
  • Gambooza (Challenge #3: Automatic processes): Tool that reduces food waste in the supply chain. Founders: Antonio Díaz de Aguilar and José Vallejo.
  • Recommend.app (Challenge #1: Talent Management): SaaS platform that facilitates the digitalization of freelancers with a turnkey solution. Founder: Samuel Sesmilo.
  • TWOM — The Way of Makers (Challenge #5: Re-identity and brand): methodology and SaaS to define the strategic vision and build the action plans (innovation, resources, finance and marketing) to make it a reality. Founder: Rubén Hervás.

The Open Madrid Demo Day marks the closing of this first initiative, reaffirming the commitment of PATIO Campus and the Community of Madrid to innovation, impact generation and the creation of employment and wealth for the region.

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