Start up! The European Entrepreneurship Summit
Brussels, 21 February 2012
Who are Europe's top entrepreneurs? Come to the EIT Awards to find out
The EIT is launching its first Entrepreneurship Awards - picking nine finalists for three prizes. The winners will be chosen 21 February at a high-level Brussels conference.
Small, innovative companies are the 'engine room' of the European economy - and it is central to the mission of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology to train and encourage more entrepreneurs to start such companies. Thus, on 21 February in Brussels, a high-level conference with the EIT will debate the challenges to entrepreneurship in Europe, and announce the winners of the first EIT Awards.
Nine finalists have been named to compete for the awards - including a Dutch ICT company developing 'smart signs' to guide visitors through buildings; a French company developing an algae-to-oil energy system; and a Spanish company developing modular, transportable zero-emission buildings. All the finalists are part of the EIT's three Knowledge and Innovation Communities - the 'KICs' at the heart of the EIT working model, in energy, climate change and information and communications technologies.
The three winners of the EIT Awards - one from each KIC - will be announced on 21 February, at a ceremony concluding a day-long conference on entrepreneurship. The Brussels conference is called "Start Up! The European Entrepreneurship Summit", and is being organised in cooperation with Science|Business. The same day, the 'ACES', a separate set of entrepreneurship awards - in life sciences, engineering and other fields - will be awarded by the Science|Business Innovation Board AISBL, a Belgian not-for-profit association to promote innovation in Europe.
The EIT announced its awards 21 October at a Krakow conference. The purpose, it said, is to "put the spotlight on and encourage entrepreneurial ventures" within the KICs. Daria Tataj, Member of the EIT Governing Board's Executive Committee, said: "Mentoring is key for emerging companies. The connection to powerful executives in European industry will give credibility to entrepreneurs. It will hopefully help them get access to new clients, markets and to think big! This is how the EIT wants to leverage its network and help expand companies, which were born in KICs: born-to-be-global."
The selection of the nominated ventures was driven by the three KICs; and each KIC put forward the three ventures that will be invited to do a business pitch at the Brussels conference. The finalists will be given the opportunity to attend a training course on how to present their businesses and will also be given the opportunity to meet with leading entrepreneurs who will provide them with guidance on how to prepare for the scaling up of their businesses.
Who are the finalists? Go to www.eitawards.eu to find out.
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Organised in cooperation with the Science|Business Innovation Board |