Gartner is on the hunt for aspiring innovators

Technology research house Gartner has put out a call for aspiring innovators to take part in its Aspiring Innovators Programme, which will take place at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo Africa 2016.

According to a press release sent to Ventureburn, the programme will highlight “interesting African startup technology companies who have something unique to offer enterprise organisations”.

The goal of this programme, Gartner says, is to both support the African startup technology scene, and provide delegates access to innovative local technology providers.

Selected by Gartner research analysts, the startup companies will have the opportunity to describe what they are doing in front of an audience who are looking for solutions and they are able to talk with senior IT decision-makers who visit their stands. At last year’s event, the six selected South African companies (Build, Clevva, Encentivize, Mapzania, Nandie, Wyzetalk) took advantage of the opportunity to build their brand and expand their early customer base.

The Gartner Symposium/ITxpo Africa 2016 will take place in Cape Town from 26 – 28 September 2016.

Companies are can apply if they are:

• based in Africa
• have fewer than 50 employees and less than R20 million revenue
• supports B2B or corporate B2C use cases (Gartner is not looking for purely consumer products)
• in production or beta, with at least two customers
• were not chosen for any previous Aspiring Innovator Programmes

If you meet these criteria, you can apply by sending your contact details, a ‘company CV’ and a short description of why your product is innovative to aspiringInnovators@gartner.co.za by 26 February 2016.