Dear all,

The U.S. Embassy Beirut is pleased to announce the 2018 Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) competition.  The 2018 GIST Tech-I Competition offers science and technology innovators and entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 to 40 an opportunity to compete for mentorship, training, and seed capital. 

Science and technology startups earn a spot to join over 60 GIST Alumni Mentors “Tech-I” teams.  GIST Alumni Mentor companies from San Francisco and Silicon Valley select three start-ups to represent them in global public voting. The Top Ten start-ups and their GIST Alumni Mentors receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2018 Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) in Istanbul for the final round of the Tech-I competition.  Finalists gain international visibility from pitching their ideas at GEC and the opportunity to compete for over $10,000 in seed capital.  All finalists receive extensive training and mentoring before the GEC and up to three months of mentoring after it. .

In 2018, the GIST Tech-I competition seeks start-ups from science and technology (S&T) innovators including areas such as agriculture, education, energy, environment, health, information communication technologies (ICT), oceans, and space science and others.  Start-ups should be in the early stages of their life cycle, for example, have completed some market analysis, a launch timeline, a recently launched a product/service for distribution, or a realistic strategy to sell a product/service.

Applicants for the 2018 GIST Tech-I Competition must apply by December 28, 2017.

More information on this competition is available at: https://lb.usembassy.gov/2018-gist-tech-competition/