StartUp Europe Awards, an open innovation initiative of the European Commission’s Startup Europe initiative and the Finnova Foundation, recognizes the best startups in 5 categories focused on social impact. The ceremony was chaired by the European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel, together with the Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Emil Boc and the Minister of Communication and Information Society of Romania, Alexandru Petrescu.
The ceremony of StartUp Europe Awards Special Edition was celebrated in the frame of the Startup Europe Summit 2019, organized this year by the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union as part of the Presidency programme in Cluj-Napoca. The Institute of Entrepreneurship Development attended the Startup Europe Summit 2019 which gathered 600 leaders from the European entrepreneurial ecosystem ranging from investors, CEOs, accelerators to European and local authorities and tech journalists in Cluj-Napoca.
The most outstanding startups from the EU and neighboring countries have been chosen out of 70 applicants through an open call for a special edition focused on social impact. The honored startups are OKRA Technologies (Female-led startup) from the UK; Bolt (Founder under 30 startup) from Estonia; NorthQ (UN Sustainable Development Goals startup) from Denmark; Kidibot (Social inclusion startup) from Romania;and Mama Organa(Job growth startup) from North Macedonia. Winning startupshave been promoting their projects and approach customers and potential investors during the summit in a dedicated exposition space.
In total, 70 startups from Poland, Romania, Estonia, Cyprus, Ireland, Greece, North Macedonia, Italy, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Spain, UK, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, and Belgium, have opted for one of the 5 prizes.
All the winners of StartUp Europe Awards will obtain great visibility all around Europe thanks to the Media Partner Alliance of StartUp Europe Awardsformed by 25 media partners from several countries in Europe (Spain, France, Belgium, Latvia, Luxembourg, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark). The startups will also have access to specialized orientation in EU opportunities (in internationalization, European funds like SMEs Instrument of 50.000 € to 2,5 million € of non-refundable subsidy per project, international communication, etc.), through the StartUp Europe Accelerator by Finnova Foundation, which will allow them to boost their projects and to make them more viable worldwide.
The next general edition of StartUp Europe Awards will be launched in April 2019.
