Desigual reinforces its interest in innovation and emerging companies, with the launch of a open call to incorporate new projects to Awesome Labits innovation program.
The fashion brand has the collaboration of Wayra, Telefónica’s open innovation initiative and a benchmark in technological progress and growth of the ecosystem of entrepreneurs in Spain.
It is an international call that runs until March 27. Interested startups may submit their applications through the Awesome Lab website. Desigual and Wayra will look at the projects that they can contribute solutions in key areas for the company and the fashion sector such as the user experience, the analysis of customer and product-oriented data, the payment methods or the optimization of the logistics channel.
The announcement was made during Desigual’s participation in 4FYN, the event dedicated to the entrepreneurial ecosystem that is held within the framework of the Mobile World Congress. In the words of Thomas Meyer, founder and president of Desigual, “Since our origins we have opted for innovation, it is one of our pillars within the Open Desigual philosophy and the one that allows us to maintain the spirit of constant transformation that characterizes us. We want to continue advancing and this is only possible by generating new opportunities that allow us to develop new ways of working and the incorporation of ideas and evolution in all areas and levels of the company”.
This open call seeks to attract projects that can make a difference in the textile sector. It will be carried out in different stages, which will begin with the analysis of the submitted applications and a first selection of between eight and 10 companies that will have the opportunity to present their proposal before an expert jury in April.
Finally, four will be chosen to develop the pilot projects and work with the different areas of the company starting in May.
A continued commitment to collaboration and innovation
Awesome Lab was born in 2021 as the first accelerator for startups in the fashion sector in Spain. A pioneering project that in its first edition had the participation of seven emerging companies including Syrup, a solution based on Artificial Intelligence for inventory management that has participated in the Desigual conference at the Agora Stage of 4FYN.
In this second edition of the programme, which began last October, Desigual has focused on reinforcing the partnership principle and have startups in an advanced phase that allow proof of concept (POC) to be activated almost from the outset.
