It has been a busy and fun year for iEER. After launching the project in April iEER partners have organised a kick-off conference in Brussels, two learning camps, three peer reviews, and presented the project in international conferences. In total iEER activities brought together over 300 individuals representing SMEs, startup support agencies, universities and regional authorities around Europe. So what were some of the highlights of 2016?
June: Project kick-off in Brussels
iEER started on a high note, as over one hundred participants from all over Europe attended the project kick-off at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels. What made iEER partners particularly happy was the great mix of decision-makers and startup entrepreneurs who attended the seminar. Commissioner Bieńkowska gave an opening speech and emphasized Europe's need for more entrepreneurs and more supportive entrepreneurial ecosystems. Also present were President of the Committee of the Regions Mr. Markku Markkula and MEP Mr. Lambert Van Nistelrooij, who both expressed their strong support for iEER.
”The European parliament considers entrepreneurship, particularly young entrepreneurship, very important, so from the Parliament’s viewpoint, the iEER is a pearl among European projects.” affirmed Mr. Van Nistelrooij.
September: Learning camp in Brandenburg
Brandenburg University of Applied Sciences was a fantastic host for the first iEER learning camp. Forty local and international participants arrived to Brandenburg in September to learn about local best practices, brainstorm how to best support and activate entrepreneurs, and to build bridges across regions. The theme of the camp was entrepreneurial competence and mindset activation. In a workshop participants discussed the qualities necessary for an entrepreneur, how these can be taught and learned, and what can be done to make entrepreneurship attractive for young people.
October: European week for Cities and Regions in Brussels
The European Week of Cities and Regions is the most important EU-wide event for regional actors. This year iEER was part of the activities with project coordinator Christine Chang presenting iEER in Brussels at the Committee of the Regions. iEER was invited to Brussels to showcase how the project enables exchange of experiences for better entrepreneurship support policies. Connecting people and regions is one of the main goals of iEER. ‘The beauty of iEER is that we actually bring people together’ Christine Chang underlined.
October: Learning camp in Valencia
iEER learning process continued in October in the beautiful and buzzing Valencia. Learning camp participants represented 11 European regions and came from accelerators, universities, incubators and financial agencies. During the two-day camp the participants shared their experiences of working with startup support and acceleration, and brainstormed how to tackle common challenges. The theme of Valencia’s learning camp was startup support and acceleration. Group discussions delved into topics such as global markets, social accelerators, financing, infrastructures and talent for growing.
November: SME Assembly in Bratislava
SME Assembly is the largest event for businesses in Europe. iEER had the privilege to be invited to the event by the European Commission’s DG Growth. iEER project coordinator Christine Chang co-hosted a group discussion at the event where participants pondered what can be done on the local level to better support young entrepreneurs in their start-up and scale up stages. “It was inspiring to have a dialogue with participants from across Europe. The group concluded that we need to map our ecosystems to help regions identify potential connections for cooperation. This is exactly what we are doing in the iEER-project” Christine concluded.
November: Peer review visit to Helsinki
After a busy year the iEER project culminated to a peer review visit to Helsinki. The three day visit included an overview of entrepreneurial activities and support systems in the Helsinki-Uusimaa region as well as an introduction to the local startup scene. The highlight of the trip was Slush, a student-led initiative which has grown to Europe’s main startup event attracting more than 17 000 participants from around the world. Thanks to an active push by student entrepreneurship societies, the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Helsinki-Uusimaa region has blossomed in the past years.
Holiday greetings
The holidays are soon here and iEER activities are slowing down momentarily. Next year is looking to turn out even busier than this year, and we are very much looking forward to the many activities we have planned for 2017. For now, we would like to wish everyone happy holidays!
