1st of April was the official launch date for the new acceleration programme for startups and teams with an idea or concept for the Sharing Economy sector. The programme is called “SharOn Academy” and it is a part of the “SharOn” project (“Opportunities for European Entrepreneurs in the sharing economy”) funded with sources of COSME programme for 2014-2020.
“SharOn Academy” is carried out in five European countries: Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Estonia, and Italy. The goal is to help startups and teams develop their ideas, work on their usability and finally enable them to present their sharing economy concept to international jury and future possible investors. Regional part: recruitment, bootcamp and mentoring, is carried out simultaneously in all partnering countries. Firstly, there will be at least 4 the most promising teams chosen via pitch contest.
What will happen during SharOn Academy?
Participants will later take part in 3-days intensive workshop – Bootcamp. During this training experts will work with them on developing business model, UX, marketing, finance management and many other useful aspects of carrying out their idea into the product and introducing it to the market. Bootcamp will be followed by a 3-month mentoring process, during which participants will work on their ideas furthermore, this time with the help of experienced mentors. In order to provide all participants with the best possible knowledge and resources, partners reached out to the most well-known personalities on the startup arena in their countries.
After mentoring process the best team will be chosen based on their performance throughout the programme. 5 the best teams will meet on the final event – DemoDay in Warsaw, where they will present their concept and progress made while being in “SharOn Academy”. An international jury will pick the winner of the first edition of the programme. What is more, participants will be able to network and show their ideas to international investors also present during DemoDay.
What is there to gain?
Apart from receiving a huge amount of knowledge throughout the programme, participants will receive individually tailored action plan – path designed in order to achieve the best possible results at the end of “SharOn Academy”. Recommendations and techniques will be developed during BootCamp in cooperation with teams themselves, as well as with experts and moderators of the 3-day workshop.
The application form, along with all necessary documentation and by-laws is available on the project’s website. The form will be open until 30th of April 2019, for citizens of all partnering countries. Organizers are waiting for teams with the idea fitting into the concept of sharing economy.
