European Innovation Day (EID), part of SEC2SV mission
The IV edition of EID – European Innovation Day, the European Digital Conference in Silicon Valley organized by Mind the Bridge, is planned for September 11th.
Central event of the SEC2SV Week (9-15 of September), EID-European Innovation Day is a thought-provoking, inspiring conference at Computer History Museum (almost 700 attendees registered in the 2017 edition) that brings together the current/future EU Unicorns and EU policy makers to meet the Silicon Valley digital economy stakeholders.
The SEC2SV Week will continue with follow-up meetings and parallel agenda for the different stakeholders. Silicon Valley counterparts for the meetings/events usually include government officials, senior execs from Facebook, Google, Uber, Airbnb, GE, representatives from the investors (Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis, Greylock, Social Capital, SoftechVC, USV, Y Combinator, RocketSpace, 500 Startups) and academic (Stanford, Berkeley, Singularity University) community.
Registrations are available HERE.
Hot topics of 2018 edition will include:
- GDPR: Privacy and Data Storage/Transfer
- ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) and its and CryptoCurrencies Regulations
- European Economy of Innovation in Silicon Valley
- Startup M&A
First confirmed speakers unveiled:
- Peter Arvai, CEO and co-founder, Prezi
- Pēteris Zilgalvis, Head of unit, DG Connect, European Commission
- Kristin Schreiber, Director COSME programme, DG Grow, European Commission
- Tim Draper, partner, Draper Associates
- Sorin Moisa, MEP, European Parliament
- Adam Sterling, executive director of the Berkeley Center for law and business
- Sabrina Ross, international privacy and security expert
- Martin Rauchbauer, co-director, Open Austria
- Georg Fuerlinger, co-director, Open Austria
Looking for the next Unicorns!
Top European scaleups aiming at expanding operations to the US market will be selected to join the event.
Minimum requirements to be considered as a Scaleup:
- to have at least 10 employees as of 3 years ago in the last 3 years
- to be growing more than 20% year-over-year in revenue, employees, or user-base.
Applications end on July 1st.
Acciona and Autodesk join SEP and launch EU platform for Digital Construction & Infrastructure
Startup Europe announces: ACCIONA and Autodesk Join Startup Europe Partnership and Launch first European Platform for Digital Construction and Infrastructure
The Spanish group and the US tech leader enter the Startup Europe’s Open Innovation Platform led by Mind the Bridge. The platform will be open to other international construction, engineering and technology companies.
ACCIONA, a leading supplier of sustainable infrastructure solutions and renewable energy projects, and Autodesk, Inc., a globally leading 3D design, engineering, and construction software company, will join the Startup Europe Partnership (SEP) and support the global growth of European companies. Seeking to play a central role in Europe’s economic future and in Industry 4.0 transformation, ACCIONA and Autodesk will power the new SEP vertical platform dedicated to Digital Construction and Infrastructure.
The goal of this new platform is to stimulate and accelerate European startups and scaleups able to provide innovative and digital solutions in construction, helping reduce costs and carbon emissions, improve profitability and efficiency, and create a smarter more diverse construction industry.
ACCIONA’s and Autodesk’s entry into SEP is a commitment to the “startup challenge” with the goal of assessing opportunities for possible procurement, investments and acquisitions.
“I am delighted that ACCIONA and Autodesk have joined the Startup Europe Partnership open innovation platform, part of the European Commission’s Startup Europe initiative, to help European startups innovate and digitalize the construction industry that plays a relevant role in Europe,” said Isidro Laso Ballesteros, Head of Startups and Scaleups at the European Commission.
“The European startup landscape isn’t just about young micro-companies. It is also about scaleups and large corporations working together in a win-win for all. “As industries embrace digital transformation, the potential of improvement is exponential” said Alberto Onetti, Mind the Bridge Chairman responsible for Startup Europe Partnership. “Moving the Construction industry from Analog to Digital, we can produce annual savings over $1 Trillion, beyond reducing waste and increasing safety on the work place. That said, we are thrilled to partner with ACCIONA and Autodesk and other companies that will decide to join us on this very important challenge whereas European startups can play a key role.”
“We believe that innovation and startups have the power to change the future of the cities and infrastructures” said Telmo Perez, Chief Innovation & New Business at ACCIONA. “Digital technologies as robotics, 3d printing large scale or AI are about to change the construction industry like never before and require total different approaches as this alliance with Autodesk and Mind The Bridge, or ACCIONA’s open innovation platform I’MNOVATION www.imnovation.com. We are looking for European startups that help us to build that future.”
“The construction industry is a $10 trillion market, expected to grow to $17T by 2030 with the challenge to build one thousand new buildings per day” said Uwe Wasserman, Director, Business Development AEC at Autodesk. “The construction industry is aggressively embracing digitization and Autodesk is eager to continue our support for the industry’s transition into the era of digitization and connection. The startup ecosystem is proven to be of tremendous value by bringing innovation, productivity and savings to construction and with BIM360 and Forge Autodesk is offering an open platform helping startups to build solutions addressing all different phases of the entire construction project lifecycle from design, preconstruction, construction execution and handover into operations.
ACCIONA and Autodesk will create a new SEP vertical platform dedicated to Digital Construction and Infrastructure. The goal of this new platform is to stimulate and accelerate Europe’s startups and scaleups able to provide innovative and digital solutions in construction, helping reduce costs and carbon.
The platform will be open to other international construction, engineering and technology companies that have the possibility to join as “Corporate Partners”.
An ongoing call aimed at looking for European innovative startups and scaleups, managed by Mind the Bridge, is available here: https://startupeuropepartnership.eu/vertical-platforms/
Selected startups will be introduced to ACCIONA and Autodesk and other key players in the industry in dedicated sessions during the next SEP Scaleup Summits with the goal of assessing opportunities for possible procurement/co-development, investments and acquisitions.
The main areas of interests and challenges to be addressed are:
Digitalizing the Design and Construction Process
- Design to Fabrication
- Design to Preconstruction
- Design to Construction
- Industrialization of Construction
- The Connected Work Site
- Automation & Robotics
- 3D Printing, additive manufacturing
- Connected BIM workflows (e.g. VR/AR/MR, Generative Design, Machine Learning, Computational Design, Reality
- Capturing, Simulation and Analysis etc)
- Autonomous machinery and vehicles
- Other: data, blockchain, etc. (i.e.. Safety, Monitoring, Management & Administrative)
Data focused Operation & Maintenance of Infrastructures
- Remote control and monitoring
- Predictive forecasting and maintenance
- Advanced delivery
- Connect BIM & GIS (Master planning > Project planning, Hand Over > Infrastructure maintenance
The Future of Cities
- Design & Planning
- Mobility & Transportation
- Connected New Services
Expectations
- Reduce Risk and Costs
- Drive profitability, Safety and Sustainability
- Generate new revenue lines and business models
SEP 2.0: Facilitating Startup-Corporate Partnerships and Endorsing Exits
When compared to international heavyweights like Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv, Europe’s scaleup scene falls short. Few of its startups are able to scale, and even fewer fit to acquire unicorn status. Startup Europe Partnership 2.0 finds its roots in the recognition of this gap.
Funded through the Commission’s Horizon 2020 project, SEP’s first iteration was established in January 2014 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, its objective to transform startups to scaleups by linking them with global corporations, investors, and stock exchanges.
In its second phase of funding, SEP 2.0 takes its initial aim to action.
The project is a partnership between 6 European organizations — Mind the Bridge (Italy), European Startup Network (Belgium), Nesta (UK), ELITE (Italy), Startup Olé (Spain), and Scaleup Institute (UK). Together, the members will organize four Scaleup Summits, all with the same intent: facilitating startup-corporate partnerships, increasing international visibility for European scaleups, and fostering exit opportunities (IPOs in particular).
After scouting upwards of 20,000 scaleups, Summits will host 75 each, totalling 300 participating scaleups. This is alongside an undetermined number of corporates and investors. Verticals are pre-determined, with the objective of increasing likelihood of successful business partnerships. For the first go-round, to be held in Milan on March 15 and 16, deep dives are Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and FoodTech.
Still, highly qualified scaleups might prove worthy; in this case, scaleups working in Digital Construction, InsurTech, Connected Cars, and additional alternative industries may be nominated.
On Summit days, corporates and scaleups will engage in qualified, face-to-face business meetings; have access to training activities concerning cultural disparities and how to produce productive partnerships; and generate procurement, development, proof of concept, and other collaborative exercises. Scaleups will connect with new customers, explore and penetrate alternative markets, and increase turnover.
The Summits should prove no less valuable for international investors and corporates, who can improve knowledge concerning investment in the digital sector and subsequently enlarge the investment pool itself. They will, too, obtain additional analysis and understanding of market trends and business models in digital sectors.
Finally, bi-annual meetings will facilitate financing and improve liquidity for European investments in fast-growing ICT startups and scaleups, and, as noted, stimulate financing through stock markets.
Over the two-year project period, expected impact is strong: 800+ scaleups matched with corporate investors, 600+ introduced to IPO opportunities, 250+ with increased international exposure, and 100+ obtaining dedicated IPO preparation via ELITE’s intensive accelerated exit program. SEP 2.0 anticipates €750M+ capital raised via Venture Capital follow-up rounds and IPOs, on top of €20M+ in new revenue via facilitated business deals.
In order to achieve such aims, SEP 2.0 will build on existing platforms with proven effectiveness and reach — e.g. Startup Europe Partnership and European Startup Network. With 24 member countries engaged in ESN’s ecosystem, the organization has access to over 25,000 startups and has built long-standing international relationships that will prove advantageous to the project’s ends.
SEP 2.0 provides these platforms with additional scale, integrating them with innovative activities in collaboration with international stock markets. In order to incorporate diverse and dynamic exercises, SEP 2.0 will blend physical activities with online services.
The project’s first major event kicks off this spring and will run until December 2020, with insights and improvements along the way.
Nominations will be accepted on a rolling basis — incubators, accelerators, and alternative organizations are welcome to provide qualified scaleup names to .
To stay informed about the project, subscribe to ESN’s newsletter at http://europeanstartupnetwork.eu.
About Startup Europe
Started in 2011, Startup Europe has become a reckoned reference in the European startup related field. Our mission is to build a Startup Continent by increasing the connectedness among all players of the European startup ecosystems.
Article written by Emily Bogen, a great intern at ESN.
Startup Europe Comes to Africa (SEC2A) Launch Event 6th November 2017, Brussels
Startup Europe Comes to Africa (“SEC2A”) Launch Event
6thNovember 2017, Brussels
WHY?
Africa and Europe are bound together by history and separated by fewer than 14 kilometres. At the first EU-Africa Summit in Cairo in 2000, leaders from both continents agreed to strengthen their partnerships. The public image of Africa, however, tends to highlight Africa’s problems such as civil wars, famine and fleeing migrants, and not its opportunities, such as its ambitious African entrepreneurs.
Startup Europe Comes to Africa aims to change this by introducing grass-roots entrepreneurial efforts and success stories to an international audience. In particular, we aim to add another dimension to the images of Africa by bringing together prestigious African heads of states, entrepreneurs and business leaders on the one hand and European politicians, entrepreneurs and celebrities on the other hand.
Our aim is to connect Africa and Europe through digital trade and not aid. This campaign is just the first step to building a stable, long-term start-up bridge between the two continents.
Would you like to attend the launch event in Brussels? Then click here.
WHO?
Our institutional partners span European and African political leaders, royalty, some of the largest multinational corporates in the world, leading entrepreneurial networks, pan-African venture capital networks, and celebrities. They include:
- The European Commission (EC) is the principal European sponsor, as part of the ‘Digital for Development’ agenda and Startup Europe;
- President OlusegunObasanjo is the former President of Nigeria, a position he held from 1999 to 2007, and a former Chair of the African Union. He is our primary African sponsor and will host the event in Nigeria in his OlusegunObasanjo Presidential Library;
- The Brenthurst Foundation is an initiative of South Africa’s Oppenheimer (De Beer) family. They are our primary host in South Africa, though, as described in more detail below, we are also working with the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative and Wesgro (the official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape);
- HRH, the Duke of York’s initiative, Pitch@Palace,will offer winners the opportunity to pitch at Pitch@Palace Global;
- We are collaborating with the Heart, a European centre for start-up and corporate collaboration. Based in Poland, they have a network of executives and founders that spans over 25 countries;
- In South Africa, in addition to the Brenthurst Foundation, we are working with Injini, an educational technology accelerator that will be our primary host and that belongs to a larger initiative called the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi). We are also working with Wesgro, the official trade, tourism and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape, and are working directly with Tim Harris, CEO of Wesgro and former South African Shadow Minister of Finance, to ensure the event’s success. Finally, Google has opened up its network of African start-up partners to us to access the continent’s best start-ups.
To see the agenda for the Road Trip you can click here.
WHEN?
The campaign will begin with a launch event in Brussels at the European Commissionon 6 November. As described above, it will be followed by a road trip to South Africa (from 20-22 November) and Nigeria(from 23-25 November) that will ultimately culminate in Abidjan, Ivory Coast for the 5th EU-Africa Summit.
During the week of 6 November, we will host the official EU launch of Startup Europe Comes to Africa.This will be a high-profile event of approximately 100 VIPs, including relevant journalists. We will work with organisations such as Afrobytes, VC4Africa, Wayra, Orange, Africa House, The Heart and Google for Entrepreneurs to get the word out among African and European entrepreneurs to ensure an audience of grassroots organisers as well as corporates, investors and tech journalists.
WHAT DOES GOOD LOOK LIKE?
- Positive and significant PR and social media presence across European and African publications;
- Senior European Commission delegates, such as VP Ansip, leaving with excitement and positivity about the SEC2A initiative and Start-up Europe more generally;
- ‘Buzz’ amongst European and African entrepreneurial communities; and
- The sense that this event was a meaningful first stepto forging long-term substantive links between Africa and Europe’s entrepreneurial ecosystems.
INVITEES
- Senior EC representatives, including Vice President Ansip;
- Representatives from national governments and embassies;
- European political and business leaders with links to Africa;
- A selection of the successful European entrepreneurs who have been selected to attend Abidjan;
- Representatives from EU corporate sponsors, including Telefónicaand Orange;
- African and EU Journalists; and
- Noteworthy members of the EU and African start-up ecosystems.
AGENDA
11:00 Guests arrive. Welcome reception and networking over coffee.
11:30 Introduction by VP Ansip
11:45 Introduction by President Obasanjo
12:00 Introduction to Startup Europe by Isidro Laso
12:45 Introduction to SEC2A by Gary Stewart and Emma Fau
13:30 Lunch and Networking
14:30 Africa – Believe the Hype: Panel discussion of African and EU corporates, investors and start-ups
15:15 Start-up Pitches (5 3-minute pitches from selection of EU start-ups chosen to go to Abidjan)
16:00 Closing
If you want to attend the event and need to get a ticket, then click here.
Over 4.5 million people working in 830,000 companies in 20 EU startup hubs.
A new Startup Europe report done for the first time in an innovative way extract company data from 20 cities and has put the spotlight on Europe’s vibrant startup scene. The analysis reveals how local startup ecosystems are connected. While some cities are well connected notably Paris and Brussels, London and Berlin there is a lack of connectivity across other cities.
A newly released interactive map (available at www.startuphubs.eu) zooms in on 20 startup ecosystems in 15 EU countries. It identifies:
- 830,000 companies are active across 20 startup hubs, together they employ over 4.5 million people and generating over €420 billion in revenue
- The top 5 cities in terms of revenue generation were London, Berlin, Munich, Rome and Paris. They have generated over €326 billion of revenue and are employing nearly 3.5 million people
- Over 4,000 companies that have received funding through venture capital and large angel rounds, usually known as startups, have collectively generated €5 billion of revenue, employing over 34,000 people. These companies have raised €36 billion of investment from European and international investors
- Over 41,000 “IT software development” and “IT web & information services” businesses which collectively generate €18.4bn revenue, employ 211,785 people and have raised investment of €5.73bn
- Berlin, London, Paris and Stockholm are the most developed and established startup hubs
- Growing startup ecosystems are to be found in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki, Madrid, Manchester, Munich, Oslo, Rome and Vienna
- Athens, Brussels, Bucharest, Malmo, Tallinn and Warsaw are emerging startup ecosystems. There are particularly strong connections between companies in Brussels and Paris
- The interactive map provides the foundation of a solution that will offer European policy-makers, investors and entrepreneurs more accurate data than any other economy in the world. This will be an enduring competitive advantage for European entrepreneurship and an important element of the digital single market.
The report has been published in advance ofStartup Europe Comes to Universities week. This initiative aims to showcase the commitment of European universities to create a strong culture of entrepreneurship and innovation that is spreading in the university community. And as result transferring it to the society by creating startups and spinoffs with high added value, based on knowledge and technological development.
The report, provides new insights into the scale and nature, strengths and weaknesses of, and the relationships between, Europe’s startup ecosystems. It was carried out by Grant Thornton and Trampoline Systems on behalf of the European Commission. You can download the report from the EU publications website.
In addition to the mapping exercise, interviews with over 200 entrepreneurs, investors, accelerators, co-working spaces, government officials, universities, businesses, network groups and startup influencers and shapers have pinpointed some of the barriers and opportunities that exist within these startup ecosystems. These include:
Entrepreneurial culture
290,000 of the businesses mapped are less than five years old, underlining the entrepreneurial culture that is being created across Europe. These young businesses employ 1.1 million people, have a combined revenue of €87 billion and have raised nearly €10 billion in investment. ‘The report identifies a number of ways in which the entrepreneurial culture in Europe is changing and the different initiatives in place to support this, for example, Entrepreneur First is a London-based startup accelerator which assists promising UK and Central European tech graduates and those already working in technology firms to design and run their own startup and has helped establish 75 startups in its first four years.
Skills and accessing talent
Cited frequently as the single biggest challenge, or indeed threat, to the individual ecosystems. The headline challenge manifested itself in a number of different ways:
- The need for more technical and higher-level skills in coding, system architecture and programming.
- The lack of entrepreneurial skills with European universities seen to be producing well qualified graduates but lacking the core skills necessary to start and run a business. The result is that while there is a pipeline of good, innovative ideas and propositions for products and services the ability to take these ideas and to commercialise and scale them is often missing.
- A lack of sales and marketing skills was an issue particular to Nordic ecosystems
Venture capital
For a number of stakeholders the presence of a functioning and expanding venture capital market was one of the strongest indicators of an ecosystem’s maturity and strength. Four specific schemes have been cited as good examples that Europe should consider adopting as a whole. These examples were Finland’s Tekes, the UK’s Enterprise Investment Scheme and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, Germany’s High-Tech Gründerfounds and the French Bpifrance.
The Commission will take this analysis and recommendations into account when implementing its Startup and Scaleup initiative outlined in November 2016. In the future the dynamic mapping of Europe’s startup ecosystem will be extended to cover all EU Member States.
Connectivity of ecosystems
The project has revealed about how European cities are connected through international subsidiaries and highlighted below is a matrix of the 5 most-connected cities out of the 20, showing Brussels and Paris as the most connected cities.
Background
Since 2011 The European Commission’s Startup Europe initiative has helped to strengthen the business environment for web and ICT entrepreneurs so that their ideas and business can start and grow. It is part of the Commission’s efforts under the Digital Single Market and Single Market strategies to boost economic growth and create jobs by helping startups. Last year more than 30,000 participants took part in the first Startup Europe Week which reached over 2 million people on social media.
SEC2SV 2017 SCALEUPS CALL IS NOW OPEN!
The time is now. Today Mind the Bridge, in partnership with the European Commission and Startup Europe, announces the opening of the call for the next generation of EU Unicorns to be selected for the third annual SEC2SV (Startup Europe Comes to Silicon Valley), co-organized with EIT Digital, a weeklong mission that brings together the most promising EU scaleups, corporates, investors, and policy makers in September 2017 in Silicon Valley.
The aim of SEC2SV is to welcome the next class of leading European scaleups, i.e. mature startups ready to take off and exploit the opportunities offered by Silicon Valley and the US market. Interested companies from all over Europe should apply via the f6s scaleup form by June 9th 2017, after which a committee of leading US and European investors will select only 15 companies admitted to participate in SEC2SV 2017.
Interested scaleups must meet the following minimum eligibility requirements:
- be a European Union-based company
- have an average annualized growth in employees or turnover greater than 20% per annum over a three-year period (with more than 10 employees at the beginning of the 3 year period)
- desire to expand to the U.S. market or already have a presence there.
- be innovative
The selection will be curated with the support of several Silicon Valley-based partner organizations.
In 2015 and 2016, 28 European companies representing 23 countries were selected to participate in the SEC2SV mission. Cumulatively, these businesses generated more than $100 million in revenue and had over 2,000 employees. Among them were German high-growth companies Shopgate and Entrade, the UK’s Realeyes and Versarien, Spain’s Job and Talent and Kanteron, Mosaicoon and Shopfully from Italy, France’s TVTY, Belgian Awingu among many more.
“SEC2SV brought together amazing scaleups and gave a unique glimpse into the near future. I was honored to be part of this group and I can’t wait to see the next!” commented Andrea Anderheggen, founder and CEO of Shopgate (after an exit with Sofort to Klarna) who participated in the 2015 cohort.
“A Varied program. Meeting at senior level. And very applicable. Great experience!” commented Walter Van Uytven, Founder/Ceo Awingu who participated in the 2016 cohort.
During SEC2SV 2017, scaleups will have the opportunity to present at European Innovation Day (the opening conference, with 60+ speakers and 800+ attendees) and participate in a tailored program involving mentoring, networking, and meetings with key stakeholders – a dedicated 3-day Scaleup Summit that will involve in-depth roundtables with 30+ Silicon Valley experts on the topics of growth, talent, legal, funding, M&A, policy, and communications. The SEC2SV participants will also be invited to exclusive receptions (EU consulates in San Francisco), and meetings at Silicon Valley institutions (Apple, Airbnb, Andreessen and Horowitz, Facebook, GE Digital, Google Ventures Microsoft, Silicon Valley Bank, K&L Gates, to mention some names from prior editions).
In 2015 and 2016, key SEC2SV participants included Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, European for Budget and Human Resources, Günther H. Oettinger, European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Elżbieta Bieńkowska, EU commissioner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Partner Tim Draper, US Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship Julie Hanna, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Chairman Larry Sonsini, UK Chief Technology Officer Liam Maxwell, Betsy Masiello, Head of public Policy, Uber, Henry Chesbrough, the Father of Open Innovation among others.
To read the original article, please click here
Madrid Startup House will be at Startup Olé!
Madrid Startup House is going to be at Startup Olé, a great tech event in Salamanca, Spain, on 26th and 27th April!
Madrid Startup House is a pilot initiative which began through Startup Europe. It aims to be a one stop shop where entrepreneurs and startups can find everything they need to startup in Madrid, Spain. It is a neutral space which aims to connect all players of the ecosystem, and facilitate Madrid, and Spain’s, ability to adapt to the Digital Single Market.
Madrid Startup House will be at Startup Olé for both days of the event, to present the Madrid ecosystem and explain more about the initiative.
Madrid Startup House will:
- Be there with its two co-founders Victor Teodosio and Asier Basterretxea
- Have its own stand where you come to visit us and ask all of your questions
- Bring members of the Madrid ecosystem to meet you
- Bring selected top startups from Madrid: more on this very soon!
Keep an eye out for more information, on @MadridSHouse and on the website! We are excited to see you there!
About Startup Olé
Startup Olé emerged in 2015 from a highly successful European project within Startup Europe (WELCOME). The main objective of this project was to connect the startup ecosystems across Europe and advance European tech entrepreneurship. Although this project has now finished, Startup Olé persists as a unique event to drive entrepreneurship through effective collaboration. In fact, because of its origins, Startup Olé has become something that no other event has been able to achieve: A place where meaningful connections can be made with ALL the key players in the tech ecosystem.
Open call for Creative StartUp Europe Awards 2017
Creative StartUp Europe Awards is looking for partners at local, county, regional and national level
Madrid, 27th March. The call for country and local organisers of Creative StartUp Europe Awards 2017 was launched today in Madrid at the European meeting “How to start me up. Building my creative hub” organised and hostedby Factoria Cultural and supported by the European Creative Hubs Network funded under the Creative Europe Cross-sectoral strand. The project set up a Europe-wide network of creative hubs for cultural and creative professionals and entrepreneurs. The ECHN Skills Workshop is the first one in a series of three workshops which aim to build the professional capacity of creative hub leaders by developing tailored support and skills development tools.
Duringthe meeting “How to start me up. Building my creative hub”, the CEO of Finnova Foundation and the StartUp Europe Accelerator, Juan Manuel Revuelta invited the creative community to participate in the Creative StartUp Europe Awards 2017 through the StartUp Europe Awards Alliance. The aim of this award is to recognize the best startups working on cultural and creative projects in its broadest sense (visual arts, architecture, audio-visuals, literature, music, design and fashion), taking into consideration the originality of the project and its subsequent implementation. Moreover, the projects must pursue a transnational geographical dimension, successfully reaching a European or even global dimension.
The open call is to organise an awardat local, county, regional or national level to recognize these creative startups in their countries. The call is also open to Creative Media Partners, who could provide visibility and follow the progress of the participants and for Creative Ambassadors to Members of the European Parliament who could provide institutional support and invite a group of creative startups to visit EU institutions. Regarding this support, European Parliament presented a resolution on coherent EU policy for cultural and creative industries on December 2016.
The first edition of StartUp Europe Awards in the Creative category awarded thesestartups at national level: Terrible Creations (Croatia) Truzees (Ireland) Audified Reality (Macedonia), Yeba Essentials (Belgium), Convert Art (Greece), Komilibro (Spain), DIS (Italy), Mozello (Latvia), RoboCamp (Poland) and SprayPrinter (Estonia).
More than 20 local events and 14 national awards have been celebrated under the frame of StartUp Europe Awards in 2016 with 91 startups awarded. 18 media partners from all over Europe have been making more visible the progress of the initiative as The Independent Ireland or Emprende TVE for Spain.
If you are interested in become a partner for Creative SEUA17 please contact us:
About StartUp Europe Awards
StartUp Europe Awards is promoted by the European Commission and supported by the President of the Committee of the Regions, several members of the European Parliament as Ambassadors and it is implemented by Finnova Foundation in collaboration with Startup Europe. Its aim is to identify local models that serve as an example to new entrepreneurs and for public institutions to develop programs to promote them.
StartUp Europe Awards works as well as a methodology of open innovation through public-private partnerships that allow public entities to find a solution for their local challenges and startupsto prove their innovations in pilots supported by European funding.
StartUp Europe Awards recognizes the effort of the European startups in five levels (local, county, regional, national and European) in fourteen categories for 2017: Creative, Energy, Fintech, Green, Health, IoT, Smart Cities, Social, Tourism, Water, Agritech, Legal, Space and Cibersecurity. A last category is for recognizing the effort of the public administrations in supporting entrepreneurship and innovation: Best Public Administration Award.
StartUp Europe Awards is creating as well an Alliance gathering the organizers of startup awards (accelerators, universities, consultors, businesses angels) all around Europe and beyond, being a forum for the interchange of best practices and networking amongst all the players involved in the European ecosystem.
The winners of the European final of StartUp Europe Awards will gain huge visibility across Europe and access to a mentoring programme (on European funds as SME Instrument from 50000 € to 2.5 M €, communication, lobbying, etc.), through Finnova Foundation and the partners of the StartUp Europe Awards, allowing them to develop their projects and make them more viable at a European level.
About Creative StartUp Europe Accelerator
Creative StartUp Europe is an international programme that connects key Belgian stakeholders with Spanish young entrepreneurs with innovative ideas in the creative and cultural industries. To know more about this initiative please visit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSuNuVoasdo
About Creative Hubs
A creative hub is an infrastructure or venue that uses a part of its leasable or available space for networking, organisational and business development to the cultural and creative sectors. Many co-working spaces in the creative sector refer to themselves as “creative hubs”.
By facilitating co-creation, Creative hubs can help to make out the most of the sharing economy. In some countries, creative hubs also provide valuable solutions to the high rates of youth unemployment by providing not only an inspiring working environment and useful contacts but also to provide an innovative business environment for cultural and creative start-ups. The increasing attractiveness of the concept of creative hubs in the EU can help breathe new life into declined industrial areas, enhance tourism and investment, provide educational opportunities as well as cultural and creative spaces. The project also set up some business support measures as well as a peer-to-peer hubs exchange programme to enhance concrete project development and cross-country learning.
Armenian startups invited to apply for Startup Olé, April 26-27, Spain, by 15th March
Calling Armenian startups! Apply by 15 March to go to Startup Olé in Spain
The Armenian tech and startup ecosystem made a thriving development during the last years. In IT sphere alone, more than 12,000 people work in 450 companies and in relevant support structures. Traditionally, there are strong ties between Armenian startups and the US and Silicon Valley. Now the Armenia startup ecosystem also reaches out to Europe more actively. This is conditioned by the fact that Armenia used to be an “engineering hub” during Soviet era, where over 30% of all the military electronics, R&D and production took place.
Currently, Armenia boasts top-notch technical expertise incorporated in promising startups which can open new opportunities for European partners.
“In this regard, Startup Europe is proud to partner with “Support to SME Development in Armenia” (SMEDA) project in cooperation with Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF) and Small and Medium Entrepreneurship Development National Center (SMEDNC) of Armenia to support participation of 10 Armenian startups in Startup Ole Conference. The full announcement can be downloaded here.
SMEDA is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ Private Sector Development in South Caucasus Programme. SMEDA is part of the EU4Business and EU4Innovation initiatives of the European Union.
More information about startups in Armenia can be found here: www.eif.am
Madrid Startup House Foundation presented with VP of Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip
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The Madrid Startup House Foundation was created to boost Madrid into an internationally recognised Digi-Tech and Startup-Friendly city
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It began under the umbrella of the European Commission’s Digital Single Market initiative, as a pilot project soon to be developed in other cities
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MSH was presented on 6 March 2017 with Vice-President of the Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip
On 6 March 2017, Madrid’s startup community gathered with Andrus Ansip, Vice-President of the Digital Single Market, for the presentation of the Madrid Startup House Foundation.
Throughout the meeting, the role that Madrid Startup House Foundation will play in overcoming the challenge of adapting to the Digital Single Market was discussed. The Digital Single Market is one of the European Commission’s key priorities: it aims to tear down regulatory barriers and create a more vibrant, connected and seamless European Digital Market.
The event was opened by Andrus Ansip, Vice-President of the Digital Single Market. He explained that Europe is full of creativity, that there are lots of good ideas, but that to scale-up in the European Union is difficult. He said that the Digital Single Market, is needed for everybody and will be really beneficial for startups. VP EC Ansip also highlighted the huge market potential we have in the EU, with 500 million customers, and how mobile applications are an incredible source of jobs which are often undervalued.
The event was chaired by Manuel Gago, Vice-President of the Spanish Confederation of Directors and Executives (Confederación Española de Directivos y Empresarios, ‘CEDE’). Focusing on the city level, Carlos Barrabés (Serial Entrepreneur, Barrabés.com) insisted on the importance of networks by claiming that Madrid Startup House is a really collaborative project, as it can count on the support of the people of Madrid and “it will include us in a greater European network‘.
Victor Teodosio, Co-Founder of Madrid Startup House Foundation (Hugin and Munin), introduced the concept of Madrid Startup House by saying that the idea was born through Startup Europe. He said, “Madrid is a city with a lot of activities for startups; there are a lot of resources, but they are widely dispersed. What is needed is a single entry point to connect all players in the ecosystem. The overall goal of Madrid Startup House is to position Madrid as an internationally recognised Digi-Tech and Startup-Friendly city, and connect to other markets such as the rest of Europe, the US and Latin America”.
Asier Basterretxea-Gomez, Co-Founder of Madrid Startup House Foundation (Socios Inversores), went on to explain the long-term goals of Madrid Startup House Foundation. He said, “Our goal is to position Madrid in the top ten digital cities in Europe by 2020, and to be in the top 5 by 2025. We want to inspire: we want to inspire digital talent, inspire people to invest in startups, and most importantly, inspire women and facilitate their route into entrepreneurship”.
Teresa Alarcos, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees, concluded the presentation of the initiative with a strong call to action, informing all participants that “We are now creating personalised sponsorship and partnership programmes for those that want to sponsor Madrid Startup House. Partnering with Madrid Startup House Foundation will not only boost your city of Madrid, but it will have a direct, positive impact on you too. ”
The decision to focus this initiative at a city level was also discussed. Isidro Laso, Head of the Startup Europe initiative at the European Commission, pointed out that, “We know via Startup Europe, that startups are a local phenomenon. It’s not even regional, it’s very local – on a city level”. He said, however, that “even within cities there can be several ecosystems co-existing. The target is to establish in these cities the homogenous structures where they do exist yet. The EU added value is then connecting all of these cities together”.
Asier Basterretxea-Gomez, Co-Founder of Madrid Startup House Foundation, also added that “The principles on which Madrid Startup House is based, its methodology, is such that it can then be transferred to other ecosystems, and become itself a white paper of best practices”.
To find out about how you can become a sponsor of Madrid Startup House, contact the Founders of MSH, or the Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees:
Co-Founder of Madrid Startup House:
Victor Teodosio
Co-Founder of Madrid Startup House:
Asier Basterretxea Gómez
Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees:
Teresa M. Alarcos Tamayo