New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Initiative category

Identify the award category for which this initiative is being submitted
Prioritising the places and people that need it the most

Email user
markus@hallosophia.com

Basic information
Initiative title
BusinessAssistant.AI

Full initiative Title
BusinessAssistant.AI - the AI of HalloSophia

Please provide a short, catchy description of your initiative to be used in communication towards the public.
HalloSophia is an initiative born out of EUvsVirus that provides affordable expert advice to small businesses through microadvisory packages. We recognize that it is difficult for small businesses to understand what their next steps are before they dare to talk to an advisor. BusinessAssistant is a pre-trained GPT-3 model enriched with additional information from HalloSophia expert offers, that helps users structure their problems and connect with the right experts in low-cost video sessions.

What was the geographical scope of your intiative?
Cross-border/international

Where was your intiative implemented?
Location 1
Austria

Location 2
Germany

Member State(s), Western Balkans and other countries
{Empty}

If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
{Empty}

Does your initiative address mainly urban or rural issues?
It addresses urban-rural linkages

Does your initiative refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your initiative benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
Yes

Which fund(s)?
EUvsVirus Program (Advisory services estimated worth 8.000 Euro)

Has your initiative won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
Yes

What was the prize?
EU:Africa The Journey (Prize Money 3.000 Euro)

Does your initiative has a minimum level of maturity? The minimum level of maturity is exemplified by stakeholder/ initiative promoter commitment to implement the initiative in practice and a clear methodology /approach.
Yes

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As a representative of an organisation
Please provide the contact details for the project promoter (the individual or representative of the organisation authorised to represent the project)
- Name of the organisation(s): finothek GmbH
  Type of organisation: For-profit company
  First name of representative: Markus
  Last name of representative: Waghubinger
  Gender: Male
  Nationality: Austria
  Function: Co-Founder and CEO
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Peter-Behrens-Platz 10
  Town: Linz
  Postal code: 4020
  Country: Austria
  Direct Tel: +43 664 4221775
  E-mail: markus@hallosophia.com
  Website: https://www.hallosophia.com
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: https://linkedin.com/company/sophiaadvisory
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #microadvisory #hallosophia
- URL: https://www.instagram.com/sophia.advisory
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #hallosophia #microadvisory
In case my initiative is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my initiative in the channels of the European Commission.
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
Social Media

Description of the initiative
Please provide a summary of your initiative
With this initiative, we want to create the evolution of HalloSophia's microadvisory marketplace into an AI-powered business advisory marketplace for everyone (especially startups and SMEs).

HalloSophia is an initiative born out of the EUvsVirus to provide small businesses with comprehensive and affordable access to expert (micro) advice.
Together with 150 individual advisors and advisory firms, we have created 800 packages at very affordable SME prices.

Now, in consultation with McKinsey Germany and KPMG Austria, we have found that small businesses in particular are overwhelmed with even formulating the right requirements for expert advice. In many cases, this leads to excessive demands and frustration if one is familiar with specialised consulting and is not deeply immersed in the subject matter oneself.

We have followed the potential of ChatGPT with interest and now want to close this knowledge gap with BusinessAssistant/SophiaAI.
Our approach is a pre-built GPT 3 model + our own extras to help users (e.g. start a business in a particular region, what do I need to consider?) get answers and structure quickly, then get connected to a vetted human expert in a low-cost video session.

We are hoping for support from the EU Commission, because as a next step we want to replace as many GPT3 libraries as possible with our own trained libraries and thus create an infrastructure in Europe.

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with 5 key words.
Fair chances for small businesses

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Fair chances for businesses in rural areas

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Internation collaboration without physical travelling

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
AI support to bridge the knowledge gab of small businesses

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
AI support to build the bridge from digital automation to personal

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of sustainability and how these have been/will be met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
We use the most CO2-efficient infrastructure for handling consulting (https://www.hallosophia.com/greenmeter) and strive to make online consulting as efficient as possible so that travel to the centers of cities is replaced even more by video calls.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
We want to create a comfortable and powerful experience for users interacting with AI as only chat GPT has done so far and to train this in such a supportive way that people's fears of contact with expert advice are taken away.

HalloSophia stands for "Hallo,Sophisticated Advisor" and is intended to signal informal consultation at eye level to reduce these barriers.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
Our core goal is to make consulting as affordable as possible for small businesses through efficient process.
To this end, we are now launching BusinessAssistant.AI in order to better support companies with their current problems and to reduce fear of contact when consulting experts.

In addition, our solution by design is equally accessible in rural areas and for smaller businesses.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the initiative and civil society have been/will be involved in the initiative and what has been/will be the impact of this involvement on the initiative
HalloSophia was created together with dozens of business advisors, lawyers, tax advisors and banks and hundreds of young entrepreneurs to make it the most affordable and convenient way of getting expert advice.

With the BusinessAssistant.AI initiative we want to bring this to the next level and build a bridge from fast interaction with AI to sophisticated advice provided by human experts.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the initiative.
The HalloSophia mindset, to be EU-native (many languages, domestic offers, offers across borders), was shaped in EUvsVirus process - the starting point. This accompanies us every day in every decision we make.

Stakeholders:
Users from all across the EU were interviewed on a regular basis. Especially in Austria, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Spain, Romania, Croatia, Poland (but also Ukraine and UK)
Investors are from Austria (from consulting industry + wealthy families)

We established a culture of open innovation to always interview all relevant users and providers of advice.

BusinessAssistant is the logical next step coming as a conclusion. Especially McKinsey Germany and KPMG Austria pointed out that some sort of efficient orientation is needed to close the knowledge gap in expert advice for small businesses

Please explain which disciplines and/ or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and implementation of your initiative. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was
Professional for offering:
Business law, tax, management, financing, grants, and marketing.

For platform development - software engineering & UX design:
UX/UI Design
AI: Python
Web: C# + React

Please highlight the innovative character of the initiative, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the initiative
connecting the most inclusive advisory service offer for small businesses with top-notch AI (quality level of Chat-GPT) to bridge the knowledge gap in daily management from starting a company until scaling and internationalisation is - as of today - entirely unique in the world

Please describe which elements of your initiative could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and contexts. This may involve, for example, aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings, etc.
With our Partner program, completely digital consulting companies, supported with AI, can set up anywhere in the world and run their own digital consulting companies as franchises.

We will also soon be able to operate special consulting topics such as energy saving consulting, subsidies for agricultural businesses (two current examples) and much more with partners at the same level of quality.
So, with the right partners, you can reach all groups that urgently need digitalized, cost-effective, and efficient advice

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your initiative.
1. Phase: Using pre-trained GPT models from OpenAI, combining it in the most beneficial way for small businesses and enrich it with own data from expertise on HalloSophia to build the most useful business assistant
2. Phase: Replacing more and more elements from OpenAI with own trained AI to build critical technology in the EU

Please explain what kind of global challenges the initiative addresses by providing local solutions
Finding expert advice is sometimes a local topic - where we can go as deep as sorting by the region of the client and the advisors, for other topics international know how is needed. E.g. internationalising to the US requires US experts and it's unaffordable for small businesses to hire them all conventionally.

The public offers a lot of funding (e.g. in Austria WKO grants for getting expert advice) for small businesses to get expert advice they usually wouldn't get without monetary incentives/support. Our solution supports this by providing affordable expert advice in 1-hour video sessions.

Please detail the scope of progress in the implementation of the initiative. This can include already demonstrated results/outputs related to the chosen Prizes category, and the already achieved benefits from the initiative for direct and indirect beneficiaries. This can also include a development plan of the initiative, with a particular attention to the steps envisaged in the year following the application, and including envisaged results and benefits from the initiative
The Marketplace HalloSophia.com is ready and used on a daily basis - so we have the needed offer in expert advice.

The BusinessAssistent prototype is in friendly testing (e.g. chamber of commerce upper austria, EY austria, Sparkasse Bank upper austria + 10 startups from Linz, Austria) - until the award we will have a beta live, I'm very certain about that

Please provide documents that demonstrate the maturity level of the initiative and commitment to implement the initiative in practice (e.g.: evaluation report, final or mid-term initiative report, certification, publications, building permit, grant agreement, letter of support, partnership agreement, etc.)
Web link
Web link
- https://www.hallosophia.com
- https://ai-prototype.hallosophia.com
If relevant, please describe how your initiative contributes to developing new competences, especially in the context of the European competence framework on sustainability.
If small businesses want to succeed in their business, they must first understand what they need to tackle, how.

We are confident that the right way to improve small business management skills is to provide a specially trained AI that connects to cost-effective video consulting from the most appropriate expert.

HalloSophia has always had the dream of empowering small businesses, contributing to a fairer economy. With this Initaitive, we can now take these aspirations to the level of absolute mass adoption and make a lot of impact in our core goals.
Please attach at least 6 high resolution images or visual representations of your initiative to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below.
- HalloSophia to SophiaAI and BusinessAssistant.pdf
By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed initiative has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the initiative and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their initiatives, initiative, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted initiative, initiative is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes