brigkAIR
Accelerator

The startup incubator brigkAIR is calling for startups in the field of Cloud Computing to apply for the brigkAIR Accelerator Program. In 6 to 9 months, the selected startup will be intensively supported with workshops and coaching sessions. Thus, it will be optimally prepared for further financing rounds.

Intro

Envision a world where someone would pull the plug and the Internet, and your network is not available anymore.

All of your apps, services and solutions are offline. But there are things, which still need to run to secure our safety. In being able to communicate with each other, even in a disaster case, the military forces made the foundation with the ARPANET of our modern Internet.

A current example of such sudden disasters are the floods in Germany, Belgium and Netherlands in July 2021. Small rivers turned into torrential currents that destroyed entire villages. Dams threatened to break while electricity, internet and cellphone networks were shut down in what became one of the region’s worst natural catastrophes in recent generations. To set the course for better preparation for any disasters that may occur, we created the brigkAIR Accelerator Program.
We are looking for startups and entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, such as IT, cloud and hybrid computing or software development, to tackle the problem.

In 2022 it’s time to push the original ideas of the ARPANET to the next level. The challenge is to develop a solution that is operational on-the-fly and offline. Setting up automatically a private scalable and state-of-the art next level cloud approach. Fully operable in a minute and with an automated setup independent from having administrators onsite. And yes Containerization, M2M Protocols and Robust Services as well.

Overview

If you find yourself attracted to at least one of the following characteristics of this vision then you should participate and apply to this program! We know that you can’t provide all points and that the final solution may look total different, but we want to give you some good starting points for your creativity!

01 Legacy Hardware

02 Self-Reliance

03 Transparency

04 High agile Cloud

05 Reliability

06 Setup

07 Datastreams

01 Legacy Hardware

Most of the already existing legacy hardware and its components are not as well connected or smart as the future solutions will be. Can you help us to get the best out of the existing stuff or get it upgradeable? Help us to find out what are the minimum requirements for systems to be part of this cloud infrastructure and what capabilities we can achieve with. Use your innovative spirit to bring this solution further than existing approaches.

Scaling and Swarm

It is not always obvious from the very beginning which requirements hardware has to meet in order to fit into the environment. We need your disruptive support to answer following questions: How must a system be built to dynamically adapt to the environment in real time. How can several hardware devices organize themselves, independently in swarms even without the existence of a centralized instance?

Hardware Optimizations

The smallest member in the network is of particular interest. Bring your innovative ideas into play and find out what capabilities does the smallest member need and what is its contribution? Can it adapt itself energy-efficiently and in real time? Is it stackable or can it be aggregated to a bigger unit with more power?

02 Self-Reliance

Today’s approaches on the software side mostly trust a centralized authority in a connected setup. This tells the other participants how to behave. We are looking for your innovative approaches how self-sufficient systems would organize themselves with their services and protocols adapted perfectly to the current situation.

Self Organisation

How could cloud services and nodes organize themselves depending on what is available and what is happing around them? Can they organize and interact like bird swarms? Find new approaches and disrupt the future.

03 Transparency

Modern systems communicate within milliseconds. Humans typically can’t filter out in real-time what’s happening in a modern complex communication or cloud setup. In the end, you often only see the result and have no clue what was happening in between the services. We are looking for ways to improve replicability and transparency in these processes.

Graphic Artist

To find out why things are the way they are, it is necessary to demonstrate the processes in complex communications. An important question is also whether there is a leap of faith based on the data? And the biggest challenge: this should be interpretable for non-professionals too. Get creative and bring transparency and clarity to the next level.

Anomaly Detection

When we talk about transparency, we are also thinking about detect inconsistencies. Are there any outliers or anomalies in the data? Can you trust the data or a portion of it? We are looking for new ways to tackle this in real time.

04 High agile Cloud

Envision a private isolated cloud setup without having many datacenters worldwide. This overall system is more powerful the more members are part of it. Do you know what happens if the cloud connection isn’t reliable? Or what happens if the participants constantly exit and re-enter the cloud?

Scalability

Which services can run for sure with just a small number of nodes or bad connection? Is there a way to make the most out of a poor situation and how quickly can more sophisticated services be delivered? Challenge existing solutions!

05 Reliability

How dependent humanity is on services and products only becomes clear when they no longer function as usual. This became very visible during the flood disaster in Germany, Belgium and Netherlands in July 2021. We are looking for your innovative approaches to build an overall system which should work with just a bare minimum of features and can be deployed from a suitcase.

Take Over

In such a catastrophic situation when the performance of the cloud is reduced or the overall connections are pretty bad, somebody else should takeover and reroute data or store it temporarily. Help us to find new ways for such a solution!

Self Awareness

It’s always better when weaknesses are detected internally and don’t have to be pointed out from the outside. The goal is to have cloud members who recognize how valid the cloud is working and display this understandable in a blink of an eye and for non-professional too.

06 Setup

On the one hand, there are systems that require special knowhow and training to use them. On the other hand, there are intuitive applications that do not require manuals or knowledge at all. We are looking for a simple setup solutions for everyone. Even in stressful situations.

Usability

Help us to wrap up a system that is so easy to use that non-professionals can use it. There should be no need for guidance to get the cloud running. A good example is a smart home system. It is super simple to connect a new lamp or device with a push of a button to the system.

Retrofitting Capabilities

To be sustainable and keep using existing units, we need to find solutions for following questions: How can other devices that are not part of the bundle yet be enabled to fit into the system? How can units be retrofitted?

07 Datastreams

To ensure data reaches the right recipient, it is important to figure out how to share data in a smart way between all members. Sometimes the direct connection may not be the best one in a cloud with dynamic and inhomogeneous connections. Maybe the data needs to take an innovative route.

Robustness

When you think of robustness, do you have a solution we do not dare to think of until now? How are services discovered and distributed? Are the mechanisms used in (commercial or traditional) clouds fast and robust enough to be reused in a natural-disaster-ready cloud? Let’s talk about it!

Interest

What if not all participants are interested in everything? What services can be subscribed? And does a subscription model make sense and what would be here the next big thing? Let’s find out.

What is the brigkAIR Accelerator Program?

The Accelerator Process

We will start the Accelerator Program with a kickoff meeting. We want to get to know each other, discuss expectations for the upcoming months and define lines together. After that the six months of workshops and coaching sessions will start. They are packed with multiple coaching sessions, starting with “How to…” workshops like finance, marketing, HR etc. and specific Cloud Computing topics, besides that and most importantly, also things like investor-readiness and mentorships. You will also have regular meetings with the corporate mentor to keep reviewing the focus. We believe in “work hard -play hard”, so we will prepare some fun events and networking meetings.

There will be several milestones during the six months. At the respective point of time, the current status will be presented and the further procedure discussed.

The end will be celebrated by a closing ceremony. A look into the future will be taken and possible future cooperations will be discussed.

We as brigkAIR are always by your side and your point of contact for all questions. Don’t be afraid to contact us. We are always willing to listen to you and your questions!

Who are we looking for?

#YouAreAllWelcome

We are looking for entrepreneurs, nerds and startups with a background in IT, cloud computing, hybrid computing, software development.

The Application Process

The final schedule will be updated asap

Find an innovative solution to tackle the issue. Come up with an idea and a suitable suggestion how you would tackle this. Submit the draft and your data to fly@brigkair.digital or click here.

We will rate your idea and submission and if you make it to the next round, you are being invited to 1:1 calls.

After the final selection you can start disrupting the world and build your idea!

What do you get?

€ 25,000
initial funding

Professional
support

Corporate
mentor

Workshops,
coachings, events

Community

FAQ

Most frequent questions and answers

#Does brigkAIR or others obtain any rights of use for my developed solution?

No, the property of developed hard- and software solutions remains 100% with you.

#How do I apply?

You find the application form here. Please make sure that the registration form is completed before submitting.

#Can only people based in Germany apply?

No, applications are open to anybody interested. The final startup will be selected by us on the basis of the information provided by the applicants in the registration form.

#Are there any requirements or restrictions to apply?

We think early stage startups are the best fit. Ideally you have to be at least two people. That’s the minimum size we start thinking about you as a startup.

#Do I have to be on site?

Yes and no. We believe in great community and this can only happen if you are on site and can connect with the people. But due to Covid-19 reasons since 2020 this is different. So some stuff will happen virtual some on site. And trust us we have a good environment to work hard, but party hard as well And you never know… maybe the conditions are as perfect that you never want to leave.