EU-XCEL – success with a capital S

2017-06-24

The EU-XCEL international project run by the Park for the last two and a half years finishes in June 2017. The project has involved virtual incubation of international start-ups, including training, workshops and mentoring. EU-XCEL has been a great success, and it has benefited not only emerging entrepreneurs who set up their first businesses, but also the Park which supported them in the process!

EU-XCEL – what was the aim of the project?

EU-XCEL combined workshops conducted by experts with remote cooperation and virtual support. The aim of the project was to stimulate creativity and entrepreneurship on a global scale among young Europeans, as well as to encourage them to start international cooperation.

The project was coordinated by a consortium of six institutions: University College Cork (Ireland, the leader) and five partners – Poznan Science and Technology Park, DTU Skylab (Denmark), Munich University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Athens University of Economics and Business (Greece), and Cloud Incubator HUB (Spain).

The project was launched on 1 January 2015.

What did the project involve?

EU-XCEL was performed in two editions in the last two years, involving approx. 450 participants from the whole Europe. Their participation in the project was initiated by the workshop organised in one of the participating countries.

During the workshops, along with the team of experts and mentors, we offered our support in creating international teams (composed of members representing at least 3 participating countries), identifying business problems and coming up with solutions to the problems. Thanks to the fact that the teams were made up of representatives of different countries, it was much easier to take a global perspective and suggest solutions that would benefit all the countries involved.

Project outcomes

In total, over 80 teams were created in the period of two years. 18 of them were still active on the market following their virtual acceleration. Some of their ideas/services are being implemented, e.g. at Docyet, Kompas and rezerwujsport.pl.

As many as 13 workshops and two meetings with investors were organised as part of the EU-XCEL project. International teams visited Poznań three times.

International cooperation was an important element of the programme. This led to the creation of the network of European contacts bringing together the participants, the organisers, and other inspiring people, such as trainers representing various fields.

The programme proved that PSTP is a professional institution of the highest European quality. Its staff knows how to successfully build international teams. We are also pleased that the project has been concluded at our Park.

We wish the participants every success in developing their career. Let your businesses grow and conquer new markets! We are sure that we will use the experience we gained with EU-XCEL when working with students and providing pre-incubation services.

Check how the lates workshops went: