Elsevier invites start-ups to present at LeWeb

Elsevier and LeWeb are inviting up to 15 science and research start-ups to present at a special event at LeWeb 2014, in Paris in December.

The event, Axon@LeWeb, is the brainchild of Victor Henning, CEO and co-founder of Mendeley and VP for strategy at Elsevier, who participated in the start-up competition at LeWeb in 2009.

Henning said: 'Events like LeWeb helped put us on the map with international investors, press, and potential users. From there, Mendeley grew to a research platform connecting more than 3.5 million researchers in 180 countries, with institutional customers like Stanford, Harvard, and MIT.' Mendeley was acquired by Elsevier in 2013.

He continued: 'Quite a few PhD students and postdocs who became entrepreneurs themselves have told me that Mendeley was an inspiration for them: It proved that tools for researchers could go from garage to global audience, and it proved to potential investors that the “niche” could also deliver sizeable exits.'

The 15 best start-ups will receive a free ticket to LeWeb 2014, as well as the opportunity to present at Axon@LeWeb

Henning concluded: 'We want to bring together the most exciting science and research start-ups – the ones that build tools for the best minds of our generation, to help them crack those great unsolved problems.'

Applications for Axon@LeWeb close on Sunday, 16th November, at midnight CET, and the winning start-ups will be announced by Tuesday, 18th November.

Find out more here.