Deadline: 7 February 2025
Applicants are now invited to submit applications for GIST Innovates South Caucasus, an 8 week program of accelerated, intensive training in the Lean Startup process.
GIST Innovates South Caucasus is an 8 week program of accelerated, intensive training in the Lean Startup process. The program focuses on using agile customer discovery to identify and evaluate scalable opportunities, allowing participants to make informed decisions on the best approach for moving forward with commercialization of their innovation. Through the training, participants will be encouraged to engage with and understand the perspectives of potential customers in order to apply customer insights to the design of a product and/or business model.
The program is geared towards entrepreneurs that have achieved a proof of concept, but have little to no revenue (less than $100k), and are still defining their value proposition or refining their product/service.
Benefits
- Benefits of attending the program are as follows:
- Comprehensive training and support to accelerate their growth and pathway to commercialization
- Access to experienced business mentors, both instructors experienced in the region as well as leading U.S.-based venture development experts
- Modest travel stipend for participants traveling to Tbilisi.
Eligibility Criteria
- Program applicants must meet all of the following criteria to be eligible to participate in the 2025 GIST Innovates South Caucasus program:
- The applicant must be a citizen of Armenia, Azerbaijan, or Georgia.
- The application must be complete (described below in Application Instructions).
- All applications must focus on science or technology solutions with market potential in the South Caucasus.
- All applications must include TWO individuals. Individuals applying alone will not be considered. The entire training which includes the in-person launch, virtual participation, and the in-person close of the workshop should be attended by TWO team members. BOTH team members should meet the eligibility requirements.
- Startups led by women, and startups that directly advance the interests of women in the countries where they operate are particularly encouraged to apply.
Ineligibility Criteria
- Applications that fall under the following categories will not be accepted:
- Research projects with no demonstrable commercial potential.
- Teams based at a charity or foundation (not-for-profit) organization.
- Participants in previous in-person GIST activity such as CATALYST pitch competitions, 2024 Innovates South Caucasus, or previous GIST startup training.
- Teams based at organizations that buy and resell technologies and other goods.
- The applicant must be at least 18 years old and can be through 40 years old on February 16th (application deadline), and must be able to both read and speak English proficiently.
- All materials submitted must be the original work of the applicants.
For more information, visit GIST.
