The annual IBM SmartCamp program is held in major cities around the globe, and allows entrepreneurs to meet leading business experts and venture capitalists. One winner from each city (except they allowed two from Silicon Valley) then move on to the week-long finals, held in Dublin, Ireland, in November.
The contest cities are Stockholm, Boston, Tel Aviv, London, Silicon Valley (for IBM, that's a city), Paris, and Copenhagen. The final winner in Dublin is named "The World's Smartest Startup."
Last year 80 percent of the participating start-ups got some kind of funding by going to SmartCamp, according to IBM's reckoning. IBM states that the twin goals of the SmartCamp program, part of IBM's Global Entrepreneur initiative, is to bring new technologies to market faster, and address pressing issues such as energy, the environment, and healthcare.
The Silicon Valley winners were:
CareCloud, a Florida firm seeking to use the cloud to modernize the workflow of medical practices, putting physicians in touch with each.
Streetline, a San Francisco firm that seeks to let cities manage parking, and drivers find parking spaces, using sensors.
