Guidewire Group's Innovate!100 Winners Gain Access to Over $1M in Prizes

SAN FRANCISCO, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovate!2010 is a global  competition launched by Guidewire Group, the world's leading analyst firm focused exclusively on startups and emerging markets, to identify and promote the 100 most promising technology startups from around the world. The winners will form the Innovate!100 – an elite listing of startups poised to receive not only global recognition and validation but also to compete in challenges worth over $1M in value of rewards and prizes.

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The Innovate!2010 Challenges, sponsored by a variety of leading technology firms, regional development agencies and industrial companies, are Open Innovation exercises that bring together leading startups that need resources with the most innovative global players and government agencies seeking to embrace and support startups. These include:

• Symphony Development Leverage Challenge: Up to four Innovate!100 finalists will have the opportunity to leverage Symphony Corporation's development resources and client base via a USD$250K development services package.
• Microsoft Windows Azure Challenge: Five Innovate!100 finalists that deploy compelling cloud applications on the Windows Azure Platform will receive a minimum of  USD$5,000 of in-kind awards, including usage credits, architecture consulting and co-marketing benefits. The best of these startups will receive a cash prize of $10,000. 
• DifferenceEngine Seed Funding Challenge: Two Innovate!100 finalists will win seed-stage investments of 20K pounds Sterling and participation in a 16-week business acceleration program.
• Guidewire Group Connections Challenge: The most promising startup at each pitch slam will receive free membership in Innovate! Connections Program (a USD$5,000 value), which provides pre-qualified introductions to Innovate! Validation Partners including dozens of potential partners, investors, customers and acquirers.
• SWIFT/Innotribe Challenge: Five startups delivering disruptive solutions in banking, finance and cloud computing will win the endorsement of SWIFT's Innovation Team and the opportunity to present at Innotribe @ SIBOS, SWIFT's annual conference that gathers 8,000 banking executives and technologists. The value for this kind of visibility in front of so many banking and financial industry leaders is beyond measure for an early-stage company.
• Zaragoza Studio G Challenge: Five startups will win tuition waivers valued at USD$10,000 each to participate in a year-long acceleration program consisting of four quarterly Master Class workshops that will help technology innovators develop critical business innovation skills.

To learn more about the challenges, please visit: http://www.innovate100.com/program/challenges/

Innovate!2010 comprises over 20 regional 'Pitch Slam' events spanning across Europe , North America and later around the globe. At each Pitch Slam, startups are evaluated by a panel of expert judges using Guidewire Group's G/Score™, a market leading assessment methodology that has been proven as a reliable predictor of market success and business viability. The full schedule and further information on the Innovate!2010 program can be found at www.Innovate100.com.

About Innovate!2010

Innovate!2010 is a global competition to identify and promote the top 100 global technology startups. The program enables the most promising startups to gain access to resources and opportunities to accelerate the growth of their companies. Innovate!2010 also enables its partners, including technology and telecommunications vendors, government agencies, professional services providers, technology scouts and investors, to identify and engage hundreds of highly vetted, fast-growing startups and raise their brand profile in the global startup community. Innovate!2010 sponsors and partners include leading organizations like Alacatel-Lucent, BestBuy, Cisco, Comcast, DifferenceEngine, EMC, HP, HSBC, Hearst, IBM, LaPoste, LG Electronics, Microsoft, O2 Litmus, PWC, Quickstart Global, PayPal, RIM, SAP, Silicon Valley Bank, Sun Microsystems, Sony, SWIFT, Turner Broadcasting, Verizon, and the City of Zaragoza; as well as European and U.S. economic development agencies, and dozens of leading angel and venture capital investors.

About Guidewire Group, Inc.  

Guidewire Group is a global market intelligence and advisory firm passionate about technology entrepreneurship. Our exclusive focus on early-stage companies and emerging technology markets drives insight and opportunity to our clients and community. At the heart of our offerings is the G/Score™, a proprietary assessment tool that brings clarity and focus to the art of transforming ideas into successful enterprises. Developed over the course of more than 20,000 startup interviews, the G/Score has proven a reliable predictor of startup viability and promise. Our G/Score data helps technology investors, customers and platform vendors rapidly qualify and respond to startup deal flow from even thousands of startups. Our G/Score assessment tools help startups, investors, service providers and government agencies to identify and benchmark competitive strengths and weaknesses, and our Studio G business acceleration programs helps startups achieve their growth objectives with clarity of purpose, speed and efficiency.

For more information, contact Vanessa McDonald, [email protected], +44 (0)754 032 5319.

SOURCE Guidewire Group, Inc.