Two years of MY-GATEWAY are about to come to an end, but let’s not despair! We wanted to end with a blast, so our last bunch of activities is a Balkan Roadshow (cool, right?) which will bring us to North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In case you’ve forgotten, I’d like to remind you that we’ve been working closely with our Balkan Committee (i.e. three incredibly strong ladies with a let’s-get-things-done kind of attitude) since the very beginning of MY-GATEWAY. The purpose of this collaboration was to work in line with them over those months, and make sure everything MY-GATEWAY did for Romania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic and especially the results, findings and tools developed, could be transferred to the Western Balkans.
But the synergies we created don’t end with the transfer of knowledge: our cooperation resulted into the creation of a Startup Europe Western Balkans Network aimed at fostering the entrepreneurial structure in the Western Balkans. The Network was established in November 2018 with the support of Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, hence contributing to the expansion of Startup Europe in those regions. The Network is bringing together startups support organizations from Montenegro, Albania, and Kosovo* besides our partners from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and North Macedonia, thus making it a real regional commitment.
So, back to our findings: one way to share them with our Western Balkans partners is to organise practical workshops which local entrepreneurs and ecosystem players such as representatives of universities, corporates, incubators and accelerators could attend. And this is what we’ll be doing during the first two weeks of December 2019: MY-GATEWAY team will be going to Skopje, (North Macedonia), Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Belgrade (Serbia) to discuss topics such as EU funding for startups, Technology Transfer Model and Talent Acquisition Model (both very useful for universities), and dive deeper into more specific programmes such as Czech-Serbia opportunities and the presentation of tech events such as PODIM and the second-tier city of Cluj-Napoca, the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe.
When will the workshops be?
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3 December, Skopje, North Macedonia
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5 December, Belgrade, Serbia
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9 December, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
How will they be structured?
Workshops will last a whole working day, from 9am till 5pm. Nonetheless, as we know that the topics discussed are very different, you’ll have the option to book only the timeslots you’re interested in. Let’s say you’re interested in EU funding: you can join us for that session only and don’t have to come to the Technology Transfer Model discussion. Of course you’re welcome to come for the whole day too and book all sessions - this way you’ll join us for coffee and lunch!
When can I sign up?
Stay tuned because we’ll launch tickets on Eventbrite over the next few days. Check out our social media channels for updates and this blog!
About the Balkan Committee
The Balkan Committee is made up of:
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Seavus incubator is one of the leading incubators in Macedonia by providing mentoring, infrastructure, resources and access to finance for start-ups. The incubator features a pre-acceleration program, workshops and seminars with partners such as Microsoft, Startup Weekend, Global Game Jam etc.
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Serbia Start Up is a non-profit organisation which empowers entrepreneurs in Serbia and aims at assisting start-ups to gain business skills, gain access to funding through matchmaking and networking activities and provide capacity building services for start-ups.
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SPARK business park in Bosnia and Herzegovina aims at boosting innovation, increase commercial application of IT and development of entrepreneurship. SPARK aims at supporting the creation of new companies and contributing to digital transformation of the economy in BiH.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence