EIT Jumpstarter Sees Twice as Many Teams from the Western Balkans
The number of teams from the Western Balkans doubled in the EIT Jumpstarter program.
Although the pre-acceleration program, EIT Jumpstarter, has a particular focus on Emerging Europe the Western Balkan region was a bit of a white spot and underrepresented over the first editions of the program.
To tackle this phenomenon, in 2021, the project team introduced a pilot project as part of EIT Jumpstarter with a particular focus on the Western Balkans.
https://www.facebook.com/EITJumpstarter/videos/1143625476211956/
They also launched awareness-raising events in the region and started mutually beneficial cooperation with relevant local partners, such as IEC Technopolis, Startit and Business Accelerator UKIM.
Last but not least, they created a Jumpstarter WB squad, a quota system, where they provided a 15-seated wildcard for the best Western Balkans teams.
For the 2022 EIT Jumpstarter edition, the Jumpstarter WB squad is terminated. Still, the success story is ongoing: the organisers received plenty of applications from the Western Balkans.
Altogether, 31 ideas got admission to the first phase of the program in the seven thematic categories, mainly from the North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Western Balkans’ presence in the EIT Jumpstarter program doubled over a year. The Jumpstarter project team is committed to increasing these numbers further over the following years.
About the EIT
The European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) is an independent body of the European Union set up in 2008 to deliver innovation across Europe. The EIT brings together leading business, education and research organisations to form dynamic cross-border partnerships.
These are called Innovation Communities, and each is dedicated to finding solutions to a specific global challenge.
EIT Innovation Communities develop innovative products and services, start new companies, and train a new generation of entrepreneurs.
They power innovators and entrepreneurs across Europe to turn their best ideas into products, services, jobs and growth.
About EIT Jumpstarter
EIT Jumpstarter is a pan-European pre-accelerator initiative for early-stage innovators supported by the EIT.
It is one of the most cross-disciplinary programmes that involves six unique innovation communities from the EU. These include: EIT Health, EIT Food, EIT RawMaterials, EIT InnoEnergy, EIT Urban Mobility and EIT Manufacturing.
These innovation communities have one common goal: to turn the best innovative ideas into budding businesses.
EIT Health InnoStars coordinates the programme.
For more information, visit: www.eitjumpstarter.eu