There’s no doubt about how important education is for economic growth and so do startups. What if we combine both of them? This is an option that deserves to be supported, don’t you think? Innovators in the education world now have a new opportunity to make a difference in the way we teach and learn. Open Education Challenge is the new European Incubator for Innovation in Education that provides an opportunity for anyone with a great idea to develop it into a business, with access to funding and mentorship along the way. The Challenge invites innovators to submit their proposal by 17 March 2014. Proposals can come from registered companies or aspiring entrepreneurs at the ideation stage. Twenty finalists will get a chance to go to Barcelona to pitch their idea, and the 10 winners will participate in the 12-week incubator. The intensive coaching sessions will take place in five successive cities; Barcelona, Paris, London, Berlin, and Helsinki. Each team will be mentored by an expert from the field of education, entrepreneurship, or technology. The winners will have access to up to €20.000 in seed capital, and at the end of the incubator they will present their projects to the Open Education Investment Club with the possibility to secure additional financing. Hurry up! Check some tips for writing your application, join this exciting project and make a difference in education. First time for 4YFN, a satellite event created by Mobile World Capital Barcelona that provided last February a great experience for key stakeholders of startups ecosystems and mainly focused on helping entrepreneurs get to the next level. I have to say that I felt as a boy in amusement park because many cool startups and important organizations that are supporting entrepreneurship were there and it is always a great chance to stay tuned to what others are doing. In general, It was a good format where you had multiple choices to take the most from the event: talks, workshops, conferences, pitches, showrooms, etc. and where every corner was a suitable place to networking and business cards were the main currency, regardless of the moment or your profile. A startup ecosystem is in fact a social capital and an effective networking and buzzing is key to share and spread experience, knowledge, talent and many other resources and to help startups to get to the next level. In this direction, it would be fantastic if we take the most from the power of crowd in events like 4YFN. I could attend to different pitches from startups and in general it was an unidirectional event with a big lack of participation from the attendees. It was a pity because each one of us could have been mentors to every single startup, providing them feedback about customer segments, value proposition, pitching, etc. that startups could analyze later in order to learn and take next steps like getting in contact with each one of them, making more effective the post-event. Maybe, there would be people who felt shame to speak to an audience or maybe didn’t understand the project or maybe it was just a matter of disinterest. In any case, we and organizers should facilitate for next events a better bidirectional communication (CrowdPitching) and boost an important activity that you can find in the heart of any startup ecosystem: the conversation and the feedback among different members. Doing this we will help startups to find the right resources for them for every single stage in which they are and with the same spirit as Lars Buch from StartupBootCamp said about accelerators: “Accelerators have to help startups not to make many mistakes” Great work 4YFN and see you next year! This is an originally posted by Óscar Ramírez. You are free to re-edit and repost this in your own blog or other use under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License terms, by giving credit with a link to www.startupcommons.org and the original post
Any startup ecosystem in the world needs a constant flow of people coming and going in order to refresh the ecosystem with new ideas, startups, investors, people who upgrade their skills, multiple resources, etc. That’s key to keep it alive.
Alex Farcet seems to have pretty clear this flavour through StartupBootCamp accelerator, focused on Europe not only fostering entrepreneurship and supporting global startups but also building a new breed of angel investor with AngelsBootCamp, a two-day workshop to train executives, entrepreneurs and finance professionals in interesting topics like due diligence, legal trends, portfolio management or investments with a practical approach, interacting with experienced investors. In a nutshell, the first great approach that you need if you feel attracted by startup world but you have no experience, or if you are a successful entrepreneur with some money in the bank and watching and mentoring projects and need the right skills to start support them from the investment perspective. The first AngelsBootcamp took place last year in Berlin on 7-8 June and now StartupBootCamps has just launched a new AngelsBootCamp again in Berlin on 17-18 March. From Startup Commons perspective, we encourage and support this kind of events that aim to build a better scenario for entrepreneurs in Europe and aligned with our mission to develop a global startup ecosystem more accessible, transparent and efficient for all stakeholders in the startup ecosystems. YES, European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs and Junior Achievement Young Enterprise (JA-YE) Europe, working together with the World Economic Forum (WEF) is interested in helping to inform this broader effort to improve conditions for entrepreneurship in Europe by conducting survey research among alumni of its programs as well as a smaller group of entrepreneurs. The objective of this project is to promote long-term growth and job creation in Europe by significantly improving the conditions for innovation-driven entrepreneurship, creating an immediate and sustainable impact. This can be achieved by connecting key leaders in Europe’s entrepreneurial communities in order to build a unified European community of entrepreneurship leaders. The survey is only open until the 16th February, so please act now! The results will be shared publicly as a part of the World Economic Forum’s larger theme of Fostering innovation-driven entrepreneurship in Europe.
In addition to filling the survey, you can help by spreading the message. Below is a precomposed tweet message to click & tweet to help spread the message of this survey. "Survey: Help Foster Innovation-driven Entrepreneurship In Europe" Thank You :) Berlin is taking a position to be one of the leading startup hubs in Europe. Now, it is probably already #2 after London. Berlin and London are very different places with different history. London is the most international, English-speaking finance center and has a lot of money and also many VCs. Berlin has a special history, being the divided city and the new Berlin started to emerge 20 years ago. It also has its special underground culture, which includes design, music and social enterprises. And Berlin’s cost level is lower than in many other cities in Europe. Last week we spent some time in the in Berlin and met startups, investors, and companies that can help startups. Berlin Partner makes it important work to develop the startup ecosystem in Berlin by helping startups to set up functions, in finding investors and also attracting investors to the city. They have many practical programs for startups and entrepreneurs to move, find facilities, get the first funding and handle practical paper work. There are also co-working places in Berlin, e.g. Betahaus. The advertising agency BBDO, which also cooperates with Grow VC, is an example of larger companies that also want to develop models to work with startups. They are working with models to support startups and also models to be more relevant for small and medium size growth companies. An important part of the startup ecosystem is that it is a combination of many components. Not only is it comprised of startups and investors, but also many other services, partners and customers. We don’t really believe in Silicon Valley copycat models; we believe more in Global Virtual Silicon Valley concepts and for different places to build their own unique concepts. Due to its history Berlin doesn’t have similar ecosystem of larger companies than many other cities in Europe and Germany. It means that many people have no safety corporate position and they are willing to create their own business. It also means lower cost level e.g. for offices and apartments. Berlin also attracts a lot of people, who belong to minorities, or represent alternative culture or mindset to create new. Berlin Fashion Week is one example, how Berlin is also taking a position in design and fashion business. Berlin is the home of many creative designers. Many people around Europe and the US are finding new opportunities by coming to work in this creatively dynamic culture. Startup Commons is building its global network of partners, which helps startups to establish themselves worldwide, get help to find customers, partners, and investors literally around the world. We also want to develop cooperation with local hubs in the US, LATAM, Africa, Europe, India, SEAP and China to find a good home or branch locations for startups. That’s why we are keen to talk with all cities, companies and people who are willing to participate in our mission. This is an edited version of an post originally posted at the Grow VC Blog, by Jouko Ahvenainen. You are free to re-edit and repost this in your own blog or other use under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License terms, by giving credit with a link to www.startupcommons.org and the original post.
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