The competition named My Start BCN, organized by the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Barcelona in collaboration with the Incubator of Politecnico di Torino (I3P), is a program aimed at promoting the international growth process of virtuous Italian companies wishing to expand their market in Spain.
The young enterprise winning the 2025 edition of the competition - the eighth since its launch in 2017 - will earn as prize:
- a booth at the 4YFN event from March 2-5, 2026 in Barcelona;
- a free coworking space for 6 months;
- mentoring aimed at project acceleration;
- advice on managing administrative paperwork;
- networking and contacts with the venture capitalist ecosystem;
- registration within the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Barcelona for one year.
Who can participate
The proposal is aimed at all founding partners of Italian citizenship of new companies that have an innovative product or service without necessarily being registered in the register of innovative start-ups. From all applications received, five young companies will be selected and will have the opportunity to present their project, also through a video pitch, to a jury of professionals, mentors and venture capitalists. At the end of the presentation, a single start-up will be declared the winner.
Start-ups that meet these requirements are eligible to participate in the competition:
- company headquarters in Italy;
- establishment of the company no earlier than 60 months after the submission of the application;
- size of micro- or small business;
- ability to make a presentation pitch in English or Spanish;
- proposal of a product or service from any sectoral field, which is capable of triggering creative and innovative processes that have an outlet in the creative and cultural industry sector and those closely related to it.
The evaluation process
The start-ups that are admitted to the call for applications will then be evaluated by a jury composed of Italian and Spanish members who are experts in the field and who will evaluate the applications in accordance with the following criteria:
- the level of innovation proposed to the market;
- the competitive advantage demonstrated by the start-up and its potential scalability;
- the attractiveness of the target market and consistency with the product/service offered;
- the quality of the entrepreneurial team;
- the results already achieved by the start-up (with at least 2 to 3 years of existence).
The evaluation process will take place in two stages:
- Stage 1 - Italy: the application evaluation process will be coordinated by the Italian Chamber of Commerce - Barcelona in collaboration with I3P.
- Stage 2 - Spain: the evaluation process will be coordinated by the Italian Chamber of Commerce - Barcelona and a jury composed of innovation managers, professionals, mentors and investors.
How to apply
The competition's official webpage contains the application documents and the form that must be filled out and sent along, with the other required materials, to the dedicated email address of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Barcelona by the deadline of September 12, 2025.
For more information and contact details, it is possible to write an e-mail to the address comunicacion@camaraitaliana.com.
