A TEAM-BUILDING, THEMATICALLY-FOCUSED AND LEAN-TRAINING SUMMER ACADEMY SYSTEM FOR YOUNG FUTURE ICT ENTREPRENEURS

Project Information

STARTIFY7

Grant agreement ID: 644424

DOI

10.3030/644424

Project closed

EC signature date 15 December 2014

Start date 1 January 2015

End date 31 December 2016

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Total cost

€ 1 423 165,00

EU contribution

€ 1 330 277,12

Coordinated by

THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - STARTIFY7 (A TEAM-BUILDING, THEMATICALLY-FOCUSED AND LEAN-TRAINING SUMMER ACADEMY SYSTEM FOR YOUNG FUTURE ICT ENTREPRENEURS)

Reporting period: 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Startify7 is a project within the Horizon 2020 suite of programs established by the European Commission. Startify7 is designed to:

• Research the local needs and the different regional ICT start-up footprints across Europe
• Embed team-building processes within a lean-training structure
• Establish an effective network of trainers
• Create innovative lean-training curricula with thematic ICT focus
• Create a dynamic and competitive environment where the best teams will be promoted
• Create strong synergies with existing initiatives
• Enable online information sharing among the ICT start-up community
• Disseminate, exploit and ensure long-term sustainability of Startify7

As a collaborative project between 11 universities and entrepreneurial start-up organisations across eight European countries the Startify7 consortium will plan, design and implement themed summer academies to support aspiring digital entrepreneurs.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In the first reporting period, the Startify7 consortium has made progress to deliver against its objectives. These tasks have included conducting a Training Needs Analysis, creating a Blueprint for the summer academies and establishing a curriculum for the seven summer academies. The curriculum identifies six core components that must be delivered by the same processes across all academies.

During the first reporting period the consortium has also delivered successfully three of the proposed seven thematic entrepreneurship academies attracting over 480 applications and working with over 100 academy participants. Following the process developed by the consortium, three teams were selected from each of the thematically-focused summer academies to attend the 2015 bootcamp in Brussels.

The bootcamp focused on delivering intensive development for the participating teams raising their understanding of financing their ideas, their appreciation of the entrepreneurial experience and how to build a convincing pitch. The bootcamp culminated in a ‘pitch day’ involving relevant investors for Startify7 participants with prizes being awarded to the teams most highly-ranked by the investors.

The activities of the project in the physical world have been supported and complemented by the development of its online presence. Startify7 has established a website which is updated regularly featuring relevant Wikis and associated project news. The @Startify7 Twitter feed is also active, with over 300 followers and over 250 Tweets.

As detailed in the attached documents, the first reporting period has seen the consortium deliver against its objectives and establish a platform on which the second part of the project can be built. The project consortium for Startify7 is collaborating effectively and has established connections with other European projects. These links to other projects will be further explored and developed during the second phase of the project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Startify7 is a novel programme of thematic academies aimed at fostering entrepreneurship among young people. Building on experience and lessons from previous EU projects a key feature of Startify7 that differentiates it from other entrepreneurial start-up training is its hands-on and real-world approach, which gives participants the opportunity to share knowledge and collaborate with entrepreneurs, practitioners, technologists and academics working in the different thematic areas in an applied way.

Already the emerging success of Startify7 has been evidenced through the academies and bootcamps held, which have seen the project exceed some of the anticipated objectives that will also prove important to the sustainability of the project. More specifically this includes developing an international network of coaches, mentors and experts engaged, which was intended to be 70 over the 2 year project and after the first 3 academies 71 coaches, mentors and experts have been engaged. In terms of wider stakeholder engagement, the project has engaged with 5 incubators and accelerators directly through the academies and the bootcamps to date and has further interest from other incubators and enterprise centres at universities who are interested in the Startify7 format. Looking forward, the progress to date provides an excellent foundation to ensure the continued delivery of the project and ensure a sustainable legacy is created.

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