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Why apply?

CONNECTIONS

Winners get 1-to-1 coaching & personal introductions with potential investors, partners and clients.

Connect with industry experts, investors & fellow entrepreneurs at our Global Summit.

Join our Deep Tech Pioneers community for all-year access to a global network.

VISIBILITY

Receive the Deep Tech Pioneer recognition & get a chance to be featured in our reports and invited to speak at future events.

Pitch or showcase opportunities in front of renowned industry leaders & investors.

Get spotted by international media, with interview opportunities.

FUNDING

€100K Grand Prize, €25K 2nd prize and €25K pre-VC stage prize – all equity-free, no strings attached.

Advertise your open fundraising to our active international investor network.

Join our Investor Day for 1-on-1 meetings with 300+ renowned VCs and CVCs.

Are you only starting your startup or raised up to a BA/pre-seed stage?

There is an additional and dedicated cross-track prize for Emerging Pioneers!

It’s never too early to apply!

TIMELINE

June 6th 2024

Applications Open

Start of the 10th edition of the Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge!

Have a deep tech startup or project that uses advanced technology to answer a societal, environmental or industrial challenge?

Apply now

June – July 2024 – Q&A sessions

Challenge Q&A Sessions

Got burning questions about the Challenge?

Curious to find out more about the prizes or hear from previous participants? Join one of our online Ask Me Anything sessions below.

June 20th, 2024
July 11th, 2024

July 31st 2024

Get reviews on your application

Deadline to apply to our Global Challenge and get a chance to update your application based on comments from our jury.

Submit your application before July 31st, 12PM Pacific time.

September 2024

Applications Close

The most promising startups, hand-picked by our jury, will be invited to join our Deep Tech Pioneers community.

Deep Tech Pioneers are invited to attend the Hello Tomorrow Global Summit (March 13-14th, 2025), get exclusive access to our Investor Day (March 12th, 2025) and benefit from extra perks all year round like connections with VCs & corporates and business opportunities, among others.

More info about the Deep Tech Pioneers community here.

October 30th, 2024 

Deep Tech Pioneers Selected

Startups selected to join the Deep Tech Pioneers community and granting them access to the worldwide Hello Tomorrow network and resources will be able to update and complete their application to compete for the selection of finalists.

November 15th, 2024 

Closing of the 2nd application for the Deep Tech Pioneers

Deadline to fill in the 2nd part of the application for the Deep Tech Pioneers. 

Submit your application before November 15th, 12PM Pacific Time in order to be considered for the selection of finalists for the Global Challenge.

December 6th, 2024

Japan Finals & Summit

Are you based in Japan?

You can also participate in our Japan Challenge to have the opportunity to compete with fellow startups in your local ecosystem, meet potential partners, investors and your local deep tech community and win a ticket for the Global Summit in March 2025 in Paris along with other prizes (check the Hello Tomorrow Japan website for more information).

The finals for the Japan Challenge will take place on December 6th, 2024 during the Hello Tomorrow Japan Summit and the winner will be fast tracked as finalist of the Global Challenge!

January 21st, 2025

Finalists Announced

Announcing 70 startup finalists who will take center stage at the Hello Tomorrow Global Summit.

Finalists will pitch on the Pioneers Stage in front of 400 people and a jury of experts, industry leaders, investors & journalists.

Additionally, 70 Deep Tech Pioneers will still have the chance to demo their solution and network with VCs and corporates attending.

March 12th, 2025

Investor Day

Meet with 300 deep tech investors. Previous participants include VCs from all over the world. Atomico, DCVC, Lowercarbon Capital, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, SOSV, Sofinnova, Gilde Healthcare, IQ Capital, and many more were joined by CVCs from leading companies such as ABB, Airbus, Bouygues, Merck, Samsung, Syensqo, Total, etc.

You’ll be able to plan up to fifteen 30 minute meetings to connect with relevant investors.

March 13th-14th, 2025

Global Summit

Meet the enablers who will take your technology to the next level.

Taking place in person in Paris, the Global Summit welcomes thousands of the most relevant deep tech actors each year. 

The Global Challenge Finals happens here. Finalists pitch in front of an audience of 400 and an expert jury as they compete to win.

Deep Tech Pioneers also have a chance to exhibit their solution and build connections with experts, industry leaders, investors, accelerators/incubators and fellow deep tech founders.

Tracks

Explore the tabs to discover more about the different tracks

Explore the tabs to discover more about the different tracks

AEROSPACE

SUPPORTED BY

Journeying through the skies and to outer space

Greener propulsion technologies – Improved fuel-efficiency, propulsion technologies using renewable energy, etc.

Improved manufacturing & materials for the aerospace industry

  • Manufacturing & maintenance solutions
  • Advanced materials and innovative equipment 

Autonomous operations & other innovative systems for the benefit of pilots, traffic controllers and technicians – Including communication or security-enabling technologies

Drones/UAV technologies – For transportation of cargo and/or people, monitoring or other innovative uses

New solutions for better aircraft passenger experience

Earth observation & connectivity

  • Micro- and nano-satellite constellations, etc.
  • Collection and analysis of data to map, monitor and track

Satellite maintenance, deorbiting technologies and handling of space debris

Space exploration & enabling life on the Moon and Mars

  • Manned and unmanned interplanetary spaceflight, near-earth asteroid mining, space research
  • Air & water recycling and food production in low gravity

ADVANCED COMPUTING & ELECTRONICS

SUPPORTED BY

Bringing the best out of the binary world while anticipating the quantum revolution

Hardware technologies supporting the sustainable development of the binary world – From new electronic components to energy-efficient data center systems

Quantum systems – Building the bricks of quantum computing

Electronics & photonics – Nano- and micro-technologies powering a faster and greener digital world

New semiconductor materials or technologies that improve semiconductor manufacturing processes – Wide-band Gap Semiconductors, Thermal Interface materials, etc.

Connectivity & communication systems and devices – Secure, energy-efficient and innovative communication systems and network technologies

Data Science: storage, processing and analysis – Software and hardware technologies to collect, store and process data

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning – Breakthrough AI models and AI specific hardware, Edge AI

Cybersecurity & data privacy – Modern technologies to protect sensitive data & digital identity and fight cybercrime 

Electronic consumer devices of the future (e.g. AR/VR, wearables)

INDUSTRY & MACHINES

Harnessing the power of machines for sustainable growth

Green factories – Cleaner, safer, energy-efficient and effective manufacturing processes

IIoT & ubiquitous sensing – IoT devices and technologies for industrial environments

Symbiosis between humans & machines

  • Collaborative environments and improving human workers’ safety & efficiency
  • Human Machine Interfaces (AR/VR, holographic, haptic, etc.)

Robotics designed to facilitate industrial environments or people’s everyday life

Breakthrough solutions for the transportation of goods and people – Autonomous & connected solutions on land, water or below

Improving safety and environmental footprint in the transport sector

  • Electric vehicles and other green mobility solutions 
  • New ways of preventing accidents and protecting people

Virtual & data-driven systems for industry – Modelization, simulation and automation systems to improve production, maintenance and security

SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION & INFRASTRUCTURE

New materials and technologies to improve the sustainability, security and productivity within the construction & infrastructure industries

Zero-waste and low carbon construction

  • Energy-efficient and carbon-neutral architecture, infrastructure and construction techniques
  • Advanced or sustainable building materials with improved properties or high resource efficiency
  • Transforming waste to recycled or upcycled construction materials

Applied technologies to improve productivity 

  • Robotics, digital twin, 3D printing, VR/AR etc.
  • Using advanced data analytics and algorithms to optimize construction processes and building performance

Protecting construction workers health and improving overall on site safety

  • Autonomous machines and systems that enhance worker safety

Breakthrough technologies and materials driving circularity and supply chain efficiency

  • Design for efficient disassembly, reduction of materials, reuse and recycling
  • New materials with embedded traceability, recyclability or high material recoverability at end-of-life

ENERGY

Facilitating a low-carbon energy transition

Clean and reliable forms of energy generation

  • Developing new means of generating low-carbon and renewable electricity
  • Scaling down costs of renewable energy assets operations 
  • Providing alternative and low-carbon fuels
  • Fostering circularity of energy (waste heat, multiple energy harvesting…)

Energy storage 

  • Deploying systems powering our day-to-day lives to long duration and utility-scale storage
  • Improving batteries performances and providing alternative materials and processes for battery manufacturing

Critical materials supply chain

  • Improving and providing alternative ways to source minerals
  • Scaling the recycling of key materials and systems

Power grid and energy management 

  • Providing smart and energy-efficient solutions to manage energy
  • Improving grid flexibility and digitizing electricity distribution

ENVIRONMENT & BIODIVERSITY

Prevention, repair and mitigation of human impact & regenerating the environment

Water, waste and natural resources management

  • Monitor water quality, reduce water consumption & improve wastewater treatment 
  • Treat and upcycle waste 
  • Sustainable management of land and sea resources 

Mitigating pollution and restoring a healthy environment

  • Measure and monitor pollution levels and decontaminate polluted ecosystems 
  • Regenerate soils and seas

Tackling global environmental issues

  • Solutions for carbon capture and carbon removal
  • Valorization and utilization of CO2 and GHG as feedstocks for the bioeconomy
  • Mitigating climate change 

Preserving and restoring biodiversity 

  • Ecosystem restoration including transforming marine and terrestrial biodiversity 
  • The use of data, Earth observation imagery, or DNA-based tools, e.g. environmental DNA (eDNA), for inventory and monitoring

FOOD & AGRICULTURE

Feeding the Earth’s population while protecting our planet

Precision agriculture and animal husbandry

  • Mobilizing data acquisition and analytics to monitor, understand, and act on farming and rearing
  • Empowering farmers for resources management

Regenerative crops and farming

  • Improving soil health and overall biodiversity
  • Reducing GHG emissions through carbon sequestration and nitrogen management
  • Substituting/reducing the use of pesticides and other hazardous chemicals 
  • Engineering crops for improved yield, pest resistance, and nutritional value 

Alternative food and feed production 

  • Developing new ingredients to leverage for food and nutraceuticals (alternative proteins, functional foods…)
  • Developing modern ways of production with reduced carbon footprint (cellular agriculture, precision fermentation…)

Food safety & supply chain

  • Improving food production, processing, distribution and quality
  • Limiting and upcycling food and agricultural waste
  • Ensuring transparency and traceability throughout the supply chain

INDUSTRIAL BIOTECH & NEW MATERIALS

SUPPORTED BY

Designing renewable and advanced materials, compounds and catalysts that benefit our industries & society

Cellular factories, cell-free manufacturing & products thereof

  • Organisms (natural or engineered) for the production of high-value materials, compounds & catalysts
  • Bio-based compounds and materials
  • The application of biocatalysts and enzymes  

Treating waste with recycling, circular or novel biodegradation technologies 

  • Biological processes for recycling or upcycling waste streams
  • Bioremediation or biodegradation

Developments conveying smart properties in materials

  • Metamaterials, quantum materials, nanotechnologies, etc.
  • Materials that are designed for recyclability, or ease of biodegradation 

Sustainable materials and use of resources

  • Creating renewable materials, improving existing production & recycling processes
  • New bio-based, or circular, feedstocks and ingredients

Digital Health & Medical Devices

Leveling up digital technologies & medical devices for better healthcare & outcomes.

Medical devices to diagnose, manage diseases, and treat patients 

  • (Neuro-)prosthetics and medical implants, as well as patient-centered diagnostics, disease management, and therapeutic devices
  • Connected devices such as wearable technologies and sensors to prevent, diagnose, monitor or treat diseases
  • Brain-computer interfaces

Digital applications for diagnosis, disease management and treatment 

  • Clinical decision support systems, AR/VR interfaces, and innovative processes
  • Digital therapeutics – DTx
  • Digital patient twins for point of care diagnostics and accelerated/improved clinical trials
  • Data-driven healthcare e.g. the application of AI for machine-learning based diagnosis

MEDICAL BIOTECH & PHARMACEUTICALS

Biotechnologies and chemistries enabling the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases

Lab-based solutions improving R&D processes for drug discovery and clinical trials:

  • Organoids and organ on a chip technologies that mimic physiological conditions.
  • Gene editing for precise DNA model creation.
  • Advanced computational tools, including artificial intelligence, for in-silico pharmaceutical development.
  • New platforms (e.g., organisms, natural or engineered cells, devices) for the production of medically relevant compounds.

Advanced diagnostic and monitoring solutions:

  • Microfluidic based approaches for rapid screening.
  • New biomarkers for precision medicine.
  • Biosensors and lab-on-a-chip technologies.

Next-generation therapeutics for preventive and therapeutic purposes:

  • Novel delivery systems to enhance the precision of small molecule and biologic target reach.
  • Biologics, including antibodies, recombinant proteins, vaccines, cell-based therapies, etc.
  • Gene and cell therapies, including RNA-based treatments.
  • Innovative small molecules and compounds with the potential to replace current gold-standard treatments.
  • New molecules, technologies, and therapies. designed to replace current antibiotics and combat widespread antibiotic resistance.
Apply Now

Previous Winners

Winners & finalists have gone on to raise more than $4B

Discover the 2024 winners

To be rewarded amongst the best startups on the planet is a great pride for our team and partners. By shedding light on our technology and project, this award will enable us to broaden the ecosystem of scientists, industrials, investors we are creating around osmotic energy.

NICOLAS HEUZÉ , CO-FOUNDER & CEO OF SWEETCH ENERGY – 2023 GRAND WINNER

tozero, Germany

Bringing lithium-ion battery waste tozero with our innovative recycling process

DISCOVER THE PROJECT

Sweetch Energy, France

Expanding the frontiers of renewable energy with osmotic power

Discover the Project

Atlant 3D Nanosystems, Denmark

A revolutionary atomic layer 3D printing technology.

Discover the project

Agora Energy Technologies, Canada

A CO2 redox flow battery: grid scale battery technology sequestering CO2.

Discover the project

RxAll, Nigeria/USA

A portable nanoscanner to detect fake drugs in real-time.

Discover the project

Saathi, India

Biodegradable sanitary pads made from banana fibre.

Discover the project

Lilium, Germany

Electric, vertical take-off and landing aircrafts.

Discover the project

Dendra Systems (previously Biocarbon Engineering), UK

Mass reforestation using automated drones

Discover the project

Onward (Previously GTX Medical), Switzerland

Implant therapy to make paralyzed people walk again.

Discover the project

Jury members

Get hand-picked by the best

An international and interdisciplinary committee of leading scientists, industry specialists, successful deep tech entrepreneurs and renowned VCs help us to select the best startups in each industry track. Below are some of the jury members from the 2023 edition.

Challenge eligibility

Am I eligible to apply?

We welcome startups that are:

  • In the early-stage of development or the beginning of their commercialization phase (up to series A)
  • Based on a new technology, a scientific discovery or a complex engineering process
  • Addressing an industrial, societal or environmental unmet need or creating a new market
  • Composed of a team of at least 2 people
  • Not a subsidiary or spin-off of an existing company