The RAPID Challenge **APPLICATION DEADLINE**

The RAPID Challenge is a competition aimed at helping entrepreneurs and early stage businesses commercialise their hardware projects.

 

By joining in The RAPID Challenge journey, you’ll benefit from a series of workshops with advice and insight from a range of experts to help develop your project and business plan. The projects with the best plans stand to share in the £50,000 prize package and the opportunity to present in front of investors.

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT IS THE RAPID CHALLENGE

 

Why it has been set up?

 

​Commercialising a hardware product is difficult, that’s why The RAPID Challenge aims to help you develop your product and accelerate your progress. 

 

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The RAPID journey

 

By joining in The RAPID Challenge journey, you’ll benefit from a series of workshops with advice and insight from a range of experts to help develop your project and business plan. The projects with the best plans stand to share in the £50,000 prize package and the opportunity to present in front of investors. 

 

 

Who is behind The RAPID Challenge?

 

The RAPID Challenge has been created through the collaboration of contributing partners who share a desire to support and promote early-stage hardware businesses. We believe The RAPID Challenge can be a catalyst for the development of exciting new hardware projects with commercial potential and provide a rewarding journey for applicants. The RAPID Challenge is run by Prodrive Ventures, the hardware investment arm of Prodrive. 

 

​Learn more about the partners 

 

 

The Prize Package

As well as receiving the workshop content, the best projects will share the £50,000 prize package consisting of:

• £5K cash prize

• £10K engineering services from Prodrive

• Business advice services from KPMG

• £10K Patent advice services from The IP Asset

Partnership

• £20K Cloud computing credits for 12 months

• Early business legal advice package from Clayden Law

• Microsoft Surface Book

• 20% Discounted listing fees on Crowdcube

• Access to NatWest accelerator hub on a 6 month

programme

• 12 months accounting software license

• Bing credits for finalists

 

contact@therapidchallenge.com

 

PROCESS

 

Stage 01 – Workshop – October

Projects matching the entry criteria will be invited to attend

a range of workshops. These sessions will include valuable

advice and insight from our challenge partners to help you

build and develop the business plan for your project.

Following the workshop, applicants will be asked to submit a

pitch deck including their business plan in order to reach the

interview stage.

 

Stage 02 – Interview – October

The business plans will be reviewed by a judging panel

consisting of industry experts representing The

RAPID Challenge Partners. Five successful submissions will

be invited to the interview stage to present their project and

business plans in more detail and answer questions from the

judging panel. The best 3 projects will proceed to the Finals

event.

 

Stage 03 – The Finals – November

The final event will provide the best 3 projects with the

opportunity to present their project to a wider audience of

RAPID Challenge partners, affiliates, invited guests and

investors where the winners of the prize package will be

announced.