The Demo Cup, which will take place on 1 October in Paris at the 2010 Open World Forum, is a ‘demo’ competition, open to all Open Source and free software innovators.

Twelve companies, chosen from written applications, will be nominated and invited to give an eight-minute presentation of their work to the large audience expected to attend the Open World Forum, including decision-makers with a keen interest in Open Source, and a jury of experts in innovation (investors, Open Source integrators and experts).

The Open Innovation Awards 2010 will be awarded to the top best presenters at the Demo Cup. The contest is open to all Open Source projects and solutions getting ready for commercial launch or already on the market. The jury will be looking at those projects and solutions most likely to have a significant impact on society and on the marketplace.

The Open Innovation Demo Cup is about products; it requires timed, live demonstrations; and does not allow slide presentations! In recognition of the difficulty of communicating the power and value of Open Source projects on stage in a short 8 minutes, the Demo Cup will honor outstanding presentations. Chosen for their style, passion, clarity, and sometimes for their sheer fun, these Open Innovation Awards reward a unique ability to deliver a great product and position it in the market, to show off its most compelling features, to differentiate it from other products — and along the way to entertain a tough and critical Open World Forum audience.

So this event is a three-fold opportunity for Open Source entrepreneurs: to present their company at an international event; to make contact with potential customers and partners; and for the winners and finalists, to enjoy the recognition that comes with a prestigious award which reflects the fact that their product has successfully convinced a demanding panel of judges.

Last year’s Open Innovation Awards, organized according to slightly different arrangements, were given to five companies: BonitaSoft, Kaltura, ScaleDB, SonarSource and Ulteo.

To enter the Awards, all you have to do is to submit your entry, before 31 July 2010, in the form of a five to ten-page executive summary (in English, given that this is an international competition) along with an initial draft of the storyboard for the demo that would be presented during the final, to the following address: 

democup@openworldforum.org.

You can also use this address should you have any other questions about the contest.

The 2010 Demo Cup is organized by the Open World Forum, with operational support provided by the Open Source Software Special Interest Group at the Systematic competitiveness cluster.

For more info, visit: https://openworldforum.org/connect/awards/awards