A 3-month program for Slovak doctoral students and researchers, aimed at making scientific research applicable to broader communities through knowledge transfer and commercialization.
APPLY HERE
A 3-month program for Slovak doctoral students and researchers, aimed at making scientific research applicable to broader communities through knowledge transfer and commercialization.
APPLY HERE
What we offer
Expert-led workshops
Soft skills development and hands-on learning under the guidance of experts and successful entrepreneurs from a scientific background.
Mentoring and Coaching
Coaches from the startup ecosystem and technology transfer will be available to participants, providing guidance in defining priorities and goals.
Networking
Forge new contacts and partnerships with active key industry players and connect with potential investors.
Founder stories
Discussions with successful scientists and entrepreneurs sharing their experiences in bringing their scientific research to market.
What  We Offer
Expert-led workshops
Soft skills development and hands-on learning under the guidance of experts and successful entrepreneurs from a scientific background.
Mentoring and Coaching
Coaches from the startup ecosystem and technology transfer will be available to participants, providing guidance in defining priorities and goals.
Networking
Forge new contacts and partnerships with active key industry players and connect with potential investors.
Founder stories
Discussions with successful scientists and entrepreneurs sharing their experiences in bringing their scientific research to market.
Who we're looking for
Doctoral students at Slovak educational or research institution.
Senior researchers at Slovak educational or research institution.
Both individuals and teams can apply.

Who we're looking for
Ukrainian startups based in Ukraine or worldwide
Solutions in EdTech, HealthTech, AI
Startups seeking investments
Driven & motivated teams of 2+ members
Startups with existing MVP
Solutions poised for scaling and market impact
The program Timeline
prizes
Our Alumni Say

Sessions with our technical mentor, Serhiy Shelpyuk, demonstrated the importance and advantages of our product. Training the model on real legal cases ensures high-quality processing of legal terminology and context. And, of course, the power of networking. It is very important to exchange ideas, experiences, and challenges with other founders.

Enrique Prado, Inspira

With our mentor, we set a goal to secure at least one pilot client. However, thanks to the program’s experts and the work we’ve done, we now have a packed schedule of calls with potential clients for the next two weeks.

Denys Samofan, Rythmex

When we began expanding into other countries, we realized that we couldn’t follow the same approach everywhere. One of our goals in joining the accelerator was to gain experience in scaling a business. We’re also integrating AI tools into the platform to make learning more interactive and personalized for children. Challenger’s expertise has been instrumental in this process.

Natalia Limonova, GIOS

Working with our mentors was an incredible opportunity. We especially want to thank our business mentor Lev, who shared invaluable insights on building our company in the European Union. In particular, his guidance on setting up in Estonia gave us a clear direction — and we see this as our next step toward entering the EU market.

Vladyslav Kaliuzhka, Extra-Vision

So first of all we have managed to optimize our technical architecture of our product, and second of all I would like to mention that we have gained valuable insights about investments thanks to our mentors, colleagues and partners.

Ilona Didukh, Josti

Actually we are extremely happy to be the part of the program because we came to Challenger, we needed some technical advice and we definitely received it and even more. We received the mentor from business side who already did the exit and he just gave us a speed and some advice which economized months and maybe years for us to do the right actions.

Olena Kleiner, Salesdep.ai

In my opinion, Challenger is definitely one of the best programs I have ever seen according to quality of content and quality of mentorship. We applied to Challenger because we scale up and we wanted to get more professional advice on how to scale, because it is tricky to grow. We wanted mentorship, we got it fully. We are very excited with our business mentor, with our technical mentors. We are excited with the quality and level of the educational program.

Sergii Kravtsov, ConnectiveOne

“From the get-go of the program we had not a single line of code of the Intemper version two. We had hired our new CTO, our new developer and we were starting from a blank slate. Our first communication with the mentors was super helpful because we redeveloped our business model, our financial model and our go-to-market strategy at all. So, on a nutshell, it was super helpful, super insightful and super supportive.”

Alina Holovatiuk, InTempo

“I'm very excited about the mentors involved in this program and very happy with the one-to-one sessions. We have dramatically improved our pitching, business model, and valuation for our clients. So it's a biggest value part of your acceleration program.  Thank you for that!”

Andrii Gulyi, Object Control, Challenger 3.0 winner

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frequently asked questions

Contact
Is there a fee for participation in the program?

No, all activities are free of charge.

Is the whole program going to be online?

No, participants are expected to attend in-person workshops and other events in Bratislava. Specific locations will be shared with participants during the program duration.

Do I need to have a team to apply?

No, you can also apply as an individual and form a team with other participants within the first weeks of the program.

What is the time commitment needed to participate in the program?

To participate in our program, committing from 3 to 4 hours a week is expected from each participant. This time allocation consists of weekly workshops and biweekly individual mentoring and coaching sessions. Additionally, participants are expected to devote time for networking activities and individual work.

What is the language of the program?

The program will run in Slovak language with some workshops and activities in English.

Partners

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Nadácia ESET
ESET Foundation's main goal is to help communities and organizations in Slovakia overcome challenges and achieve new milestones.
Civitta
Civitta is an international collaboratory, erasing artificial boundaries between digital, management consultancy, public advisory, innovation and funding services.
Supported by
EIT Health
EIT Health was established in 2015, as a ‘knowledge and innovation community’ (KIC) of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).
Knowledge partners
Comenius University Bratislava Faculty of Medicine
The main priority of the Faculty of Medicine Bratislava of Comenius University in Bratislava is to educate future physicians who understand their profession as a mission.
Innovation League
Strengthening the Slovak innovation ecosystem. Together.
Network partners
Stay in touch with the opportunities
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