Newsletter #2
February 20th, 2024
Call for internship-providing start-ups and scale-ups
The development of the Ecosys4you Internship Programme is in full swing. We will arrange first-hand start-up insights for ambitious students passionate about entrepreneurship. Several young ventures have already agreed to offer such internships. Thank you!
- The first batch of students from Slovenia and Varna will come to the Ruhr for at least 60 days starting in August or early September 2024.
- The second batch of students from the Ruhr or Slovenia will go to Varna in late Spring 2025.
We are looking for further start-ups and scale-ups to take part. If you are a start-up or scale-up from the Ruhr or Varna Region and would like to offer an internship, please contact Anna Butzin.
Ecosys4you co-creation workshops
Four co-creation workshops were held in January and February 2024 to develop the Ecosys4you activities of Joint Classes, Mentoring, Internships and Co-creation Challenges. Stakeholders from all three ecosystems engaged in intensive dialogue and further developed the activities based on their different experiences. The workshops definitely had a cross-ecosystem character and were truly inspiring. Around 60 people took part in the workshops. Thank you to all participants for their time and insights.
Now it's time to concretise and roll out the activities! We will start the internship programme and the co-creation challenges this summer. The joint classes and the mentoring programme follow in autumn. If you would like to take part in one of the activities as a start-up or student, please get in touch with the Ecosys4you team. You are most welcome.
Slovenia’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem – small and international
In this newsletter, we present our second entrepreneurial ecosystem - Slovenia. Slovenia is known as a small country with a picturesque nature. Despite the small market, the countries’ entrepreneurial ecosystem maintains a global perspective with high demand and well-distributed key players across 12 regions. Starting in the early 1990s the ecosystem evolved through a series of public initiatives, followed by private sector involvement, consulting companies, mentors, and the introduction of seed capital in 2014 (e.g. Slovenian Enterprise Fund). Ever since the actors’ and events’ landscape has only diversified.
The digitalized SPOT Points platform – a comprehensive system of support and free state services for business entities – arrived in 2017 as a successor of VEM points to bolster support. The Podim Conference in Maribor has emerged as one of the top startup events for tech companies in the EU, the next one taking place in May 2024 from the 13th to the 15th.
Furthermore, business angels have invested over €8 million in 40 undisclosed ventures, while various funding mechanisms fuel early-stage company growth. Notable actors within the Slovenian ecosystem include innovative start-ups such as Zemanta, DeWeSoft, BellaBeat, Chipolo and many more, along with organizations like the Ministry of Economy, Tourism, and Sport (MGŠT), SPIRIT, SPS (Slovenian Enterprise Fund), SID Bank, GZS (Chamber of Commerce), AmCham, and regional development agencies, university incubators (e.g. LUI, Inkubator Sežana), accelerators like the ABC Accelerator and technology parks (e.g. TP Ljubljana, Primorska TP, Tovarna podjemov).
Slovenia's ecosystem serves as a model for collaboration and networking among ecosystem actors, efficient European funding navigation, and balanced regional development. With its solid support infrastructure, global recognition, family business legacies, and a focus on education and talent development, Slovenia presents a promising environment for innovative ideas. Nevertheless, spatial constraints, centralization tendencies, and limited capital access present some challenges for the new companies. There is still an underutilized potential for knowledge sharing in specialized sectors, rural entrepreneurship support, global expansion, diverse funding models, and regulatory enhancements to enhance competitiveness and sustainability.
Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen supports Ecosys4you with a donation for the internships and prize money for the first co-creation challenge.
We are happy to announce that Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen – a local bank of Gelsenkirchen – supports our interns with a generous donation. In addition, they donate €1000 in prize money to the winners of the first co-creation challenge that takes place in Gelsenkirchen in September 2024. Thank you very much Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen.
We are looking for further support to scale the impact of Ecosys4you. Please contact Franz Flögel if you can support us as a sponsor or supporting venture.
Thank you very much to all persons we interviewed in the last few months!
Since the start of the project in June 2023, we have spoken to numerous intermediaries and start-ups in all three entrepreneurial ecosystems. We got highly exciting, honest, and reflective insights into the ecosystems and the adventure of founding a company. We started to publish the start-up stories on our website with the agreement of the companies. More stories to follow in the upcoming weeks.
Are you curious? Join our community!