With a view of paving the GATEWAY to the Balkans, transferring knowledge to the Western Balkans, and bridging the gap between European ecosystems, MY-GATEWAY Balkan Committee has actively contributed to achieve this goal. Ecosystem-tailored Knowledge Transfer Workshops were organized in Serbia, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, providing the right tools to address local challenges and continue developing their ecosystems. Establishing the Startup Europe Western Balkans Network, and creating a set of Policy Recommendations for the six founding members is the way forward to a stronger regional cooperation and inclusion in the European entrepreneurial landscape.
Beyond the state of the art, MY-GATEWAY organized Untold Stories Budapest 2019, as the project final event. The aim is to offer startup founders the chance to understand the invisible reality behind entrepreneurship and discover the stories successful founders never tell on record, which are key to unleashing their business potential. The event’s unique format relies on the founders’ need for practical talks, honest professional and personal insights and an intimate atmosphere to connect with their peers and learn from each other. The knowledge and expertise passed on by prominent speakers and the considerable amount of potential coming from CEE and Western Balkans is a quintessential combination allowing the region to aspire towards becoming the next Silicon Valley. Untold Stories Budapest will ensure the sustainability of MY-GATEWAY goals and results by being organized recurrently after the end of the project – with the upcoming edition in October 2020.
Throughout its lifetime, MY-GATEWAY has actively contributed to positively impact the CEE and Western Balkan regions from a socio-economic point of view. The project has identified missing links, gaps in collaboration, allowing the activities to be tailored to the actual needs of the ecosystems involved. On one hand, the project has allowed CEE startups to meet key local, regional and international players (startup support organizations, ecosystem builders, investors, policy makers), and to make valuable business connections that will have a positive impact on their growth and competitiveness. On the other hand, stakeholders could gain better insight into the regions’ investment potential. Nevertheless, ensuring better integration of emerging ecosystems in a pan-European perspective will contribute in the long run to the political, economic and societal stability of the region.
