European Coworking Program: the importance of international entrepreneurship exchange

Entrepreneurship plays a significant role in the country’s development. According to Harbison, entrepreneurs are prime movers of innovation. Therefore, entrepreneurship is a dynamic force that shakes local and international economy.

Connecting dots and building bridges among startup ecosystems are some of the keys for successful synergies and, at STARTPLATZ, we believe that a successful entrepreneur is someone who fully understand international entrepreneurship and differs from purely domestic business.

That’s why we encourage founders to think globally, but act locally from day one. Furthermore, we are convinced that an open and connected environment generates a better outcome and that an international entrepreneurial mindset can be strengthened through cultural and personal exchange.

European Coworking Program (EOI) – Facts and Teams

As a sort of ERASMUS for Entrepreneurs, we have been selected for the European Coworking Program organized by the Spanish institution EOI – Escuela de Organización Industrial.

Already at its second edition, the program consists in an 8-week accelerator program during which Spanish founders must attend mentoring hours, participate at workshops and discover the local startup ecosystem in a European country.

From Stockholm to Naples, passing through Paris, Cologne and Berlin. The organizers were able to connect the European coworking and startup ecosystem in less than two years and more than 150 Spanish founders applied for the current edition.

After a strength selection, 54 entrepreneurs have been selected and assigned to their hosting hub.

European Coworking Program (EOI) – Teams at STARTPLATZ

We were so lucky to host the following five startups, three at STARTPLATZ Köln and two at STARTPLATZ Düsseldorf:

–       Healthy Blue Bits (eHealth): a telemedicine startup that gives patients a safe, confidential and friendly app to communicate with a set of health professionals. These professionals work as a team, they share information to give the best service to the patients.

–       Carla Davidson Translation (Online Business): Translation and Interpreting services. Carla is trying to further develop its business by making it scalable because, at the moment, the services offered are time intensive.

–       Uviquo (Virtual Reality): content development studio that creates customized immersive Virtual Reality simulation. The company designs and develops 3d immersive environment and VR simulations. The primary focus is set on architecture and real estate simulations.

–       Okomy (Real Estate): an internet platform where you can find, connect and communicate with other people searching or offering properties. Okomy provides users with plenty of information about each other. Moreover, property owners can effectively look at Okomy for a buyer or tenant for their property as opposed to traditional agents or online portals where owners are limited to offering their properties and forced to wait for someone to contact them.

–       Propertiesforsalespain.net (Real Estate): a platform that generates qualified leads interested in buying properties in the Spanish coast through inbound marketing and marketing automation techniques.

We would like to thank EOI for the opportunity, Eva, Wilhelm and Laura for the constant support during the European Coworking Program and the founders for bringing a piece of Spain to Cologne and making STARTPLATZ more international.