Every year, GEW coordinators from Europe meet after the Global Entrepreneurship Congress to discuss collaboration opportunities and plan for the coming Global Entrepreneurship Week. Organized in collaboration with GEW Greece and GEW Cyprus, representatives from 10 national campaigns attended the GEW Europe Meetup this year, which took place last week in Athens, Greece.
Delegates from Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, and Turkey worked together to accomplish three primary objectives, as outlined byMichalis Stangos, co-founder of Industry Disruptors and co-organizer of the meetup:
- Create more synergy between GEW host organizations in the region,
- Encourage more involvement in GEW on the part of the European Union, and
- Showcase the Greek ecosystem to entrepreneurs.
Speakers at the event included Harry Theocharis, secretary general for public revenue, Ministry of Finance, and Viorel Peca, representing DG Connect of the European Commission in Brussels. Theocharis welcomed participants and provided an overview of the steps the Greek government has taken since the economic crisis, emphasizing their efforts to create new young firms and jobs. Peca looked more broadly at Europe to discuss various policy initiatives focusing on growth including Startup Europe, Horizon 2020 and “SME instrument” – the main funding instrument for startups and SMEs.
Over the course of two days, the GEW hosts met with a variety of entrepreneurs, and representatives from co-working spaces and incubators to better understand the Greek entrepreneurial environment. The hosts were also introduced to numerous pioneers and opinion leaders in the ecosystem including local angels and funds. Players from the Greek ecosystem, including representatives from Athens Development & Destination Management Agency, Athens University of Economics and Business and NCSR Demokritos brought fresh perspectives to the environment in Greece for startups.
Jonathan Ortmans, president of GEW joined the meetup online and shared his five-year vision for the Global Entrepreneurship Network as well as new projects. Kevin Langley, an advisor of GEW, shared his experiences with entrepreneurs inspired by GEW from various countries.
Since one of the primary objectives of the meetup was to encourage collaboration between European GEW host organizations, participants shared their achievements and challenges as well as their plans for GEW 2014 with each other. Representatives from Get in the Ring and Creative Business Cup, featured events of GEW, offered their visions for the upcoming years and progress achieved thus far. Being the first two products of the collaboration among GEW hosts across Europe, both competitions are active in over 50 countries this year. Other forthcoming collaboration opportunities include a joint press campaign run by GEW Ireland and a Global Farmers Challenge introduced by GEW Greece.
Next year, European hosts will gather either in Ireland and The Netherlands. Previous meetups were held in London, United Kingdom, Kitzbuehel, Austria, Istanbul, Turkey and Rejkavik, Iceland.