Today in Paris, within the event Startup Europe Campfire, the European Commission publicly presented for the very first time the ambassadors of the Startup Europe (SE) initiative, coming from 28 countries. The Slovenian ambassador title was given to Initiative Start:up Slovenia, which earned the role with its activities for promoting and supporting entrepreneurship as well as organizing various events, such as Startup Europe week.
Startup ambassadors are connoisseurs of the local startup environment whose expert knowledge enables the Startup Europe initiative to gain insight into the functioning of local ecosystems. This way the European Commission, which is the leading partner of Startup Europe, can develop effective programmes and activities for startups, with the goal of further development of local startup ecosystems and their global connectivity.
Startup Europe is a European Commission initiative whose main goals are to:
- connect individuals and organizations, such as startups, investors, business accelerators, mentors, corporations and universities, through the existing array of networks of the European Commission;
- support local startup initiatives and connect them with regional startup initiatives through joint activities and projects, such as Startup Europe Week and Startup Europe Regions Network;
- help startups enter foreign markets, such as the Silicon Valley, India, Africa and the United Arab Emirates;
- implement programmes and activities for promoting startups, such as Europioneers and StartUp Europe Awards.
In the month of March, the event Forum 100% Startup took place in Slovenia as one of the 300 events happening within the European entrepreneurship week and the Startup Europe Week initiative. At this opportunity, Zoran Stančič, head of European Commission Representation in Slovenia, said:
“Considering the achievements of startups and successful crowdfunding campaigns, Slovenia is one of the most productive startup environments in Europe, also helped by the European Commission. The startup environment in Slovenia is very lively, but we definitely need to do even more. There is a whole range of different instruments that are available, for example, Horizon 20/20, COSME and the Erasmus for Entrepreneurs programme. It’s vital that startups look at the existing instruments and turn to the European Commission Representation in Slovenia or directly to the professional services in Brussels for additional information.”
About the Initiative Start:up Slovenia
Initiative Start:up Slovenia is an active connector of public and private stakeholders of the Slovenian startup ecosystem. In collaboration with them, we implement and promote public national programmes for supporting innovative entrepreneurship. With all the listed activities and partners, we are attempting to put Slovenia on the map of established European startup hubs. The leading partners of the Initiative are Venture Factory and its strategic partner Technology Park Ljubljana. Members of the Initiative include Primorska Technology Park, Pomurje Technology Park, Savinja Region Incubator, SAŠA Incubator, RC ICT, RCR Zasavje, and Katapult.
The article was originally published on startup.si.
