‘A Manifesto for Change and Empowerment in the Digital Age’: sign now to show your support!
‘A Manifesto for Change and Empowerment in the Digital Age’ is proposing concrete ways to leverage the strength of the digital single market for European entrepreneurs’ global success.
The manifesto is a response to a challenge issued by Commissioner Oettinger to stakeholders at CeBIT in March 2016 to inform him on what could be better done to help startups scale up in Europe, and a provide a way to accomplish it together. This comprehensive set of recommendations wants to make Europe not just the best place in the world to start a business, but the best place to grow one to scale as well.
This is why the European Commission welcomes and supports this Scaleup Europe movement, congratulates its leaders for jointly succeeding in bringing forward such an insightful document and will ensure a targeted policy response.
The manifesto is divided into six chapters, each of them built around an action line and contains a list of concrete recommendations. In total, there are 49 actions, and we invite you to discover and to sign to show your support.
Europe needs to create a better, more fertile environment where our brilliant, creative entrepreneurs can build global champions, create jobs, develop the “next big thing” and deliver prosperity to our society in years to come.
The movement was initiated by Startup Europe‘s H2020 project European Digital Forum, a first-of-its kind think tank dedicated to empowering tech entrepreneurs and growing Europe’s digital economy.
Startupbootcamp Food Tech: How to get 452 applications from 56 countries to your accelerator
Events, travels, skype calls, thousands of e-mails and much more for Peter Kruger and his team to scout the best foodtech startups around the world.
Over 3000 companies contacted, almost 700 startups engaged and 11 ecosystems visited in just 4 months of hard work brought into StartupbootcampFoodTech 452 applications from 56 countries.
Italy, base of the 3-month acceleration program, leads the top 10 countries rank with less than 30% of applications, followed by India (12%), US (10%), France (7%), United Kingdom (6%), Turkey (5%), Netherlands (4%), Germany (4%), Spain (3%) and Canada (1%).
“I want to be honest. As first year of program, our expectations were lower. During these 3 months, we put the heart in and we met really interesting teams from all over the world” said Peter Kruger, CEO of StartupbootcampFoodTech “From IoT devices to monitor crops till waste management disruptive ideas; from E-commerce to AI able to recognize what you have in the fridge, we are impressed by the quality of the startups and their interest in our program. But there is no time for celebrations, the hard job has just begun.”
Indeed, the StartupbootcampFoodTech team now has to choose the top 20 startups out of all applications received to invite them to the Selection Days which will take place in Rome on 20-22 October. During this 3-day working gathering, the 20 pre-selected teams will be pitching their ideas to over 70 highly qualified mentors and just the best 10 will be part of the 2016 cohort of StartupbootcampFoodTech.
Peter Kruger puts it this way: “We are really thrilled to know which startups will join our acceleration program. Supported by industry-leading partners such as Gambero Rosso, LVenture Group, Barilla, Monini, Cisco, M3 Investimenti and a network of 150+ mentors, we are ready to bring these 10 foodtech startups to the next level and get them ready for our Demo Day on March 10, 2017”.
And StartupbootcampFoodTech is thrilled too. So best luck to all applicants and stay tuned to know which will be the next foodtech startups to watch.
Startup Europe is giving out 50 free passes for South Summit startup conference Madrid!
Are you thinking of attending South Summit but still don’t have a ticket?
Startup Europe is giving out 50 passes for startups! All you have to do is get in touch with us and show us your interest!
Write an e-mail to briefly explaining why you would like to attend South Summit and which session you’d like to listen to the most! Also let us know which Startup Europe project you are connected to!
Please send your response by 3rd October at the latest.
About the event:
South Summit is one of the leading startup conferences in Europe aiming to prove to the world the talent, the innovation and the opportunities from South.
South Summit will be held in Madrid, Spain, on 5th- 7th October 2016.
To see the programme of the conference, go here: South Summit programme
How to Speak Startup- techcrunch.com
Hang with startup kids long enough, and you’ll notice that they have their own language. No, bro, it’s a SaaS play in the on-demand food space. Think of it as the Uber for gluten-free Whole Foods delivery, ok? It never ends: We’re actively raising, but really want to make sure that we hit investor-board fit before product-market sync, you know?
This can be confusing.
However, TechCrunch is here to demystify startup lingo into a more common lingua franca. The startup kids, after all, are worth trying to understand. One or two of them might even build something usable.
So, without further ado, I give you How To Speak Startup:
Acqui-hire – A strategy for acquiring talent pioneered by Google in the mid-2000s that happens when a bigger company thinks your team is good but your idea is hilariously bad. Also called a “signing bonus.”
Failure – A bad thing that the Silly Valley has recently put on a pedestal as something to be celebrated.
Cashflow Positive – Someone gave us a dollar.
Pivot – What happens when a company realizes its course of action is not living up to expectations. The classic historic example is The Point, which became Groupon after the company posted a coupon to a pizza place in The Point’s building in Chicago. (See also, Failure.)
SaaS — It loses money.
Pre-Money Valuation – A number you made up.
Post-Money Valuation – A number that you made up alongside your VC with the addition of some cash. Your burn rate is probably too high.
“I work in PR.” – I am, in fact, in possession of several journalists’ email addresses.
Exit – Exits come in two different flavors for entrepreneurs: good and bad. Good exits happen when you’re “killing it,” your company hasn’t killed you yet, and another company comes along to buy yours. (See possibly, acqui-hire.) Bad exits are another way of saying you failed to disrupt much of anything besides your VC’s portfolio performance.
“I’m a serial entrepreneur.” – Person who had two ideas, both of which failed.
The Space – Because calling the field in which they’re operating an industry, vertical or even genre is too hard, entrepreneurs like referring to their company as being a player in a given space. They especially like doing this when they know they’re in a crowded market. We don’t know why they do this either.
VC – 1) Venture capitalists raise money from wealthy individuals and institutions and dump lots of said money into young companies in exchange for a cut of the company. 2) An institutional dealer of pharmaceutical-grade Opium. (See also, Opium.)
Opium – OPM, or “other people’s money,” is an incredibly addictive substance to entrepreneurs that’s rarely respected or missed until it dries up.
“We’re doing great.” – We are not doing great.
SF / The Valley – A place that VC’s and tech luminaries talk up as the greatest place on Earth that you must move to if you’re from anywhere that isn’t SF or The Valley.
“We’re growing 500 percent week-over-week” — Last week we had one user, today we have six.
“We’re not currently raising.” — We’re currently raising.
UI/UX – A portmanteau of UI (“User Interface”) and UX (“User Experience”) often used by design-challenged entrepreneurs when referring to the aesthetics and usability of their product when actual understanding of good design principles is fundamentally lacking. Used in a sentence: “Our Push for Pizza for Nickelodeon VHS tapes app is crushing it because of our design wizard is slinging some hella dope UI/UX.”
“We’re a design-centric organization.” – We don’t know how to code.
Non-GAAP Profitable — What companies that are very unprofitable like to claim. The idea that non-cash costs don’t count is usually the sort of sickness you see here.
“I’m the business guy.” – (See: Free-rider problem, Growth Hacker.)
Gravity — We don’t have that in Silicon Valley.
$32 Million Series A Round — Something that is doomed to failure.
Growth Hacking – Sales, marketing and associated activities, but with a label that incorporates the word “hacking,” because nontechnical people want to call themselves “hackers” too.
“We’re seeing great gross margins, and so are investing in growth given our strong, SaaS unit-economics.” — We lose money.
“We’re stomping on the gas pedal, given our strong SaaS unit-economics, and are actively seeking additional capital to power our sector-leading growth.” — We have lost all our money and need some of yours, please.
“We’re Crushing It!” – Your dreams and investors’ dollars are probably being crushed. First rule of Fight Club, bro.
We hope this helps.
Retrieved from: Techcrunch.com
New European Commission tender: “Europe’s digital agenda meets Silicon Valley”
The European Commission has launched a call for tenders for a service contract to organise “Europe’s digital agenda meets Silicon Valley” with a total price that cannot exceed 150 000 Euros (SMART-2016/1008)
The two specific objectives of the contract are:
a) The organisation (in the US, Silicon Valley area) of a high profile event on the topic of digital Europe, focused on the digital economy, tech startups, digital innovation and digitisation, involving high level policy makers and business representatives from Europe and the US. The event will include side events and meetings connecting European participants with EU expatriates on-site, as well as recognised representatives of corporates, investors, universities and policy makers in Silicon Valley.
b) To establish a sustainable European expat entrepreneurship board which would include key European successful tech entrepreneurs and investors on-site (in the Silicon Valley area, USA). The Entrepreneurship board should be limited in size (around 20 persons), but should be open to new, relevant, membership over time. The entrepreneurship board would play the role of a networking platform, linking Silicon Valley to EU policy makers.
Official Journal reference: 2016/S 180-322104
For additional information and relevant documentation please refer to the announcement on the eTendering website.
Europe’s digital agenda meets Silicon Valley
DAW Conference chooses 3 startups to represent Belgium in European Final of StartUp Europe Awards 2016
- Ozentic, Yeba Essentials and Nappytalia are the winners of the Belgium National Final of the #SEUA2016
- DAW Conference bet on women-led startups for the StartUp Europe Awards
On September 22, during the DAW Conference closing ceremony at the European Parliament, Bogdan Ceobanu, Policy Officer at the European Commission representing Startup Europe, announced the winners of the StartUp Europe Awards 2016 for Belgium.
The jury chose “Yeba” as the winner in the Creative category, a Belgian brand which designs chic business bags for modern and active women; “Ozentic”, a startup that digitalises certificates of authenticity, as the winner of the ICT category; and “Nappytalia”, natural and local products for women’s hair, as the winner of the Social category.
In his speech, Ceobanu explained that the StartUp Europe Awards 2016 is an initiative promoted by the European Commission, with the support of Startup Europe and implemented by Finnova, whose final European ceremony will be held in the first quarter of 2017. “We aim to help European entrepreneurs to create companies, to help them to grow them bigger and recently we started to think internationally. We believe that there’s a huge global opportunity and people from everywhere in the world can have a massive impact in this world. It’s just matter of having a great idea and working on it”, Ceobanu remarked.
The jury was composed of Brian Rashid, Silicon Valley Start-Up Trainer and Motivational Speaker; Alexandra Dreschner, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at UCB (CSR); Haweya Mohammed, Co-Founder and Head of Communications at Afrobytes Paris and Jezabel Martínez-Fabregas, Expert in Strategic Communications and Political Marketing. They listened to each of the pitches carefully, asked the startups questions, and finally chose the winners of the Belgian National Final of the SEUA 2016.
Digital African Women launch the first edition of the DAW Conference to give aspiring female African tech entrepreneurs the opportunity to learn, engage and develop their entrepreneurial skills with immersive training, while maximizing their power and use of technology.
For two days, September 21 and 22, different activities took place in the European Parliament, such as panels with international speakers, a workshop and the Pitch Challenge. From August 8 to September 21, the startups registered took part in a 6-week online pitch training program. One of the requirements to participate was that the startup had to be led by a woman, of any background or origin. This training program was a prerequisite to take part in the final Pitch Challenge at the DAW conference on September 22, where they could present their startups in front of the jury and win the chance to be candidates in the European Final of the StartUp Europe Awards 2016.
Press Contact
Catalina Valencia
Startup On Stage finalists announced! by TWIST DIGITAL project
Lazio Innova and the Meet In Italy 2016 Advisory Board have selected the 10 finalists from Italy and Europe that will attend StartupOnStage, the Startup Europe bootcamp for life Science startups that will be held in Rome October 25th -26th .
Startup On Stage is being organized within Meet in Italy for Life Science, the international event that offers an unique opportunity to establish commercial, technical and scientific partnerships with companies, research centers, investors and startups.
More than 300 international organizations have already registered and validated for taking part to the event that will be held in Roma at Palazzo delle Fontane next October 26th -27th.
The deadline to register for free is open till October 10th at:
https://www.b2match.eu/mit4ls2016/registration
| Startup | Sector | |
| 1 | braincontrol | Device |
| 2 | WoundViewer | Device |
| 3 | WRAP | Device |
| 4 | Holey | Device |
| 5 | Pregnabit | ICT |
| 6 | Genechron | Biotech |
| 7 | Diamantetech | Biotech |
| 8 | Bulbixin | Biotech |
| 9 | Ngdetectors | Device |
| 10 | Nanoverse | Biotech |
Press release by TWIST DIGITAL, a Startup Europe project!
CREA ICT BUSINESS IDEA CONTEST @ SMAU Milan, 27th October 2016
The European Competition for business ideas, mixing ICT and Creativity
Are you looking for fresh new ideas in the ICT field? Do you want to meet European Talent aspiring to be the entrepreneurs of tomorrow? Do you wish to engage in productive networking with European incubators and business angels? Then join the CREA Business Idea Contest @ SMAU 2016. Young talent that have gone through intensive training will present their ideas in 3 minute pitches and will be reviewed by an expert jury.
We are also still looking for new incubators and accelerators in Europe that would like to join the jury and to offer incubation programs for the winners.
Following this, you will be able to ask controversial questions to business angels and incubators in a Crossfire Chat and gain an insight into the way they work.
The three best ideas selected by the jury will finally be awarded during an evening award ceremony.
TARGET
Anyone interested in new ideas and solutions in the ICT field; researchers; business angels and investors; University representatives; HR & talent scouters; incubators and accelerators.
CREA SUMMER ACADEMY EUROPEAN PROJECT
CREA aims to support talented students, who have a real interest in becoming entrepreneurs by combining creativity with ICT. The seven Universities, business support initiatives and incubator partners of CREA have developed a Summer Academy model with a strong focus on creativity and ICT as drivers for the next generation of innovative startups. This program is particularly directed towards University students who find themselves between the idea and incubation phase, by filling a gap in the current incubation and acceleration programs available. Through mentoring and individual coaching, as well as group work and informal talks with successful entrepreneurs, students are accompanied through all the stages needed to build a company.
In the long term, CREA also aims to build a wide European network of universities, incubators and development agencies to further promote entrepreneurship cultures among Europe’s youngest generations.
CREA ICT BUSINESS IDEA CONTEST
@ SMAU Milan
27th October 2016
Hall 1 and 2 Fieramilano City, viale Scarampo Gate 8, Milan
#CREA16
#SEsummer16
More information at www.creasummeracademy.eu
We Start Lisbon – The European conference for students and young web entrepreneurs!
After two successful editions of MY-WAY’s Student Enterprise Conference, the StartupEurope projects DIGISTART and MY-WAY joined efforts to create We Start Lisbon, theEuropean conference for students and young web entrepreneurs.
The one-day event is part of the Startup Europe comes to Universities week and will be held in the Universidade Nova de Lisboa,Portugal on the 21st of October, 2016.
MY-WAY and DIGISTART are EU funded projects which are part of the Startup Europe initiative. Whereas MY-WAY focuses on enhancing and improving the role of student organisations, connecting them with web entrepreneurship initiatives and web/business experts for the benefit of young adults across Europe; DIGISTART’s focus is to provide an Europe-wide web entrepreneurship ecosystem by connecting two local ecosystems (Lisbon and Malmö) in order to help university students to develop business analytical tools for digital startups.
The projects joined forces to create “We Start Lisbon” – an event which will serve as a unique opportunity and meeting point for young entrepreneurs and students willing to launch their business to meet investors, mentors and other key players of the European startup ecosystem, network with peers, and learn new skills to pursue their dream. The event will also host a little job fair, which will connect students and young professionals with promising startups that are currently hiring. A great opportunity to join a fast growing tech company and learn about web entrepreneurship first-hand.
If you want to know more about social entrepreneurship, product development,copywriting, how to pitch investors, how to build a business network, how to raise funding and how to get the attention of the local and international media,then this event is for you!
At “We start Lisbon” you’ll also meet some inspiring female entrepreneurs, learn about how and when to think about internationalisation and get valuable entrepreneurship advice on how to learn from failure.
Register now and become a part of the European web entrepreneurship ecosystem. The event “We start Lisbon” is for free, so don’t hesitate and secure your ticket now!
If you’re a startup founder and currently aiming to grow your team, make sureto contact the “We Start Lisbon” organizers in order to take part in the little jobfair, which is going to take place during the conference. A link to the contact form can be found on the event’s Eventbrite page.
Startup Europe Comes to Universities (SEC2U), which “We Start Lisbon” is part of, is a Europe-wide initiative which engages many European Universities and enables them to exhibit their effort with spreading entrepreneurial culture. TheSEC2U week is going to take place from 17th to 21st of October 2016.
Europe’s Web Summit doubles in size as it reaches ‘cool’ Lisbon
Europe’s largest tech event, the Web Summit, will double in size when it is held for the first time in Lisbon in November to tackle everything from hot new startups to the race to make driverless cars, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
Portugal has pulled off a coup by bringing the Web Summit to Lisbon after it was launched and held every year in Dublin since 2010, when just 400 people attended the event.
The Lisbon version will have 50,000 participants, jumping from 27,500 last year in Dublin. It will be held at a huge conference venue built for Expo 98 and visitors will enjoy a city full of recently-built hotels that have fed a tourism boom.
Portugal’s government is hoping the event will help boost funding and other support for technology firms in an economy that is only recovering slowly after a 2011-14 bailout.
Apart from tech startups, chief executives from leading companies like Renault Nissan are also taking part this year as the Web Summit becomes a meeting ground for technology and business, chief executive and co-founder Paddy Cosgrave said.
“If you track the Web Summit, in 2010 it was a startup conference, the average age of attendees was in the mid-20s. But in 2014 it began to change, the average age is now 36, it has become very much a … technology business conference.”
The Web Summit’s rapid growth brought it to Lisbon as the venue “had simply run out of space” in Dublin, Cosgrave said.
“If you look at Lisbon, something was already happening, and I hope that the Web Summit adds to the growing wave of interest in what’s happening in Lisbon and Portugal. It’s difficult to explain these things. Historians can look back and explain why a city is cool.”
He cited a growing number of startups in Lisbon and the decision by the founder of Berlin’s co-worker startup campus “Factory” to open in the Portuguese capital as evidence of its growing attraction.
The Web Summit’s biggest point of interest this year could be in bringing together a large number of experts in the car industry on driverless cars, according to Cosgrave.
He said he had a particular interest in driverless cars as he does not have a full driving license, and he believes automated vehicles are just around the corner.
“When you see so many large companies in an arms race against each other (on technology for automated cars), that’s where things happen.”
Reported by Axel Bugge & edited by Mark Heinrich
Retrieved from: Reuters