The final session of Startup Program, the largest interuniversity entrepreneurship program in Spain, in which the main universities from all over the national territory have participated, has announced its winning projects. The programme, organized by the Junior Achievement Foundation and the University-Business Foundation (FUE), has completed its 9th edition this year.
During the event, held in the Rafael del Pino auditorium, the 14 finalist teams presented different business projects of a social nature, technologically advanced initiatives or applications and platforms with the potential to impact and facilitate day-to-day life. The award went to Light, an App designed to reward caring for the environment, which motivates citizens to carry out and acquire sustainable habits such as recycling or cycling. The reward is the Lights, a virtual currency that can be exchanged for numerous products and services such as movie tickets, fashion or restaurants. Its creators, Santiago Jiménez and Carlos Rosety, architecture and engineering students, respectively, from the Carlos III University of Madrid, will represent Spain in the European final on July 26, 27 and 28 in Helsinki.
Startup Program is an educational program whose main objective is to promote the entrepreneurial spirit in the university environment and favor job creation. A project designed to respond to the challenges and needs of young Spanish university students, promoting their business initiative. More than 215 students from the 21 most prestigious public and private universities in our country have participated in this year's new edition, with the support of 76 advisory volunteers from PwC, Visa, Sage and Cisco.
In the words of Blanca Narváez, Director of the Junior Achievement Foundation in Spain: “At Junior Achievement we are convinced that promoting entrepreneurship is vital, both to generate employment and to help young people in their personal and professional future, and that is what we do with the Startup Programme. Young people need to acquire the skills that allow them to solve the problems they encounter in their environment, whether creating new business projects, solving personal problems or adding value to the companies they work for. A formation that, ultimately, will make them freer”.
For his part, Fernando Martínez Gómez, General Director of the University-Enterprise Foundation adds that: "Entrepreneurship is in the DNA of the University-Enterprise Foundation, it is one of our 4 strategic lines of work, along with innovation, training and employment. We have been betting on the Startup Program for more than 9 years, to convey to young people the importance of entrepreneurship in all areas of work“.
Startup Program is an international project that is developed simultaneously in 17 European countries, members of Junior Achievement Europe. Throughout its nine editions, the program has generated more than 370 business projects in Spain, achieving the participation of more than 900 young people.
The program has the support of VISA, the Rafael del Pino Foundation, Sage and the PwC Foundation. ASCRI (Spanish Association of Capital, Growth and Investment), Cisco, Madrid City Council, Madrid City Council also collaborate, through the General Directorate of Commerce and Entrepreneurship, and the Madrid Science Park. Thanks to their contributions, these companies and institutions help young people with an entrepreneurial vocation to broaden their training.
List of prizes and winners:
- Enterprise Challenge Award: The LIGHT project (Carlos III University of Madrid), an App designed to reward care for the environment, will represent Spain in the Junior Achievement Europe Enterprise Challenge 2017 European competition, to be held in Helsinki in July.
- PwC Foundation Award: will provide 1,000 euros to HeroMask from Educainventions (University of Cádiz), to launch its project of virtual reality glasses that help memorize the vocabulary of multiple languages.
- Rafael del Pino Foundation Award: has awarded a scholarship to LIGHT (Carlos III University of Madrid), an App designed to reward care for the environment, to participate in the MIT International Emtech Meeting Program.
- VISA Award: will provide a day of mentoring and business advice by VISA experts to WiiHotels (IE University). An App that manages the demands for services that guests have when they stay at a hotel.
- ASCRI Feasibility Award: will provide 1,000 euros to WiiHotels (IE University), to launch its project, an App that manages the service demands that guests have when they stay in a hotel.
- Madrid City Council Award: will offer a free coworking space for one year in a business incubator to SmartFud (Complutense University of Madrid), a company dedicated to developing software to optimize and make the restaurant business more profitable.
- Madrid Science Park Award: has recognized APP-CADEMOS (Universidad CEU San Pablo), a multiplatform to compare and manage support academies for students, as an innovative company with six months of free accommodation and access to all the services of the PCM incubators.
- SAGE Award: will offer members of LIGHT (Carlos III University of Madrid), a free subscription to its product for startups Sage One Standard Management for one year, which includes an online business and financial advisory service.
Album with more photos of the event here.
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