Once again in 2019, Design Terminal is launching – together with its partners – V4 Startup Force, the unique startup programme of the Visegrád region. Applications from the most innovative startups in the region are welcomed between 11-31 March. The principal objective of the initiative is to support collaboration between startups and corporations active within the region, thus promoting the strengthening of business relations between the four countries among others Poland.
The scholarship programme is an excellent example of the cohesive power of the V4 community because it has come about as a result of the combined efforts of Design Terminal and its partners, the Czech UP21, Polish MIT Enterprise Forum CEE and Slovak CAMPUS, naturally with the support of the Visegrád Fund. Included in the prime goals of the organizers are the popularization of innovation and investment potentials inherent in the region as well as support for the regional startup ecosystem.
The most promising startups from the four Visegrád countries participate in a free-of-charge enterprise development programme lasting more than two weeks, during which the region’s top experts provide them with customized mentoring and the organizers arrange meet-ups with the leading corporations active in the region. The scholarship programme assists enterprises to expand their business connections and launch out on the global market. Startup solutions tracking the very latest trends can, by exceeding their own domestic boundaries, be integrated into the operation of regional corporations.
The programme kicks off in Budapest on 6 May, followed later by a 10-day round-trip to the other three Visegrád capitals, where startups meet the biggest names in the local business and startup ecosystem. A special feature of this year’s scholarship programme is that Bratislava is receiving a key role alongside Budapest; in addition to business meetings arranged in the Slovak capital, business figures experienced in the startup and corporate sphere assist the development of enterprises by sharing their own experiences within mentoring frameworks.
Applications can be made at the following website by 31 March 2019. Full details of the programme can also be found here.
“The possibility of cooperation with our southern neighbours to further develop the regional innovation ecosystem is a great honour. The role of the Visegrád Group on the international scene is becoming increasingly visible, and startups from this region can gain a lot from this momentum. More startups and partners from developing regions, such as Africa and Brazil, are eager nowadays to develop their technologies in Central Europe, also in Poland, than before,” says Magdalena Jabłońska, president of the Enterprise Entrepreneurship Foundation, organizer of the MIT Enterprise Forum CEE
