Project

StartUp Academy is a two-year project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme and implemented by a transnational consortium formed by five organisations representing five different EU countries (Hungary, Greece, Romania, Croatia and Spain).Our main goal is to develop and mainstream an accelerator programme for young adults with innovative business ideas in rural areas.

With the implementation of the StartUp Academy project, we aim at reaching the following long-term objectives:

• To equip young adults with entrepreneurial ideas with all necessary skills and knowledge for putting their ideas into practice.
• To improve young adults’ employability opportunities through providing them with an innovative training curricula which is open, flexible and accessible from anywhere and anytime.
• To create awareness among local, regional and/or national policy makers and authorities responsible for educational policies on the importance of promoting entrepreneurship education in a lifelong learning perspective.
• Through involving business experts, investors and potential innovators in our activities, we intend to act as intermediary organisations creating a bridge among these stakeholder groups.
• To foster environment-friendly and sustainable business management practices among future entrepreneurs.

In order to reach objectives set by project partners, the following activities are foreseen:

• Large-scale surveying in Croatia, Greece, Spain, Romania and Hungary to get a clear and complete vision on the extent of innovation potential Croatian, Greek, Spanish, Hungarian and Romanian young adults – with a special focus on those residing in less favoured geographical areas.
• Innovative entrepreneurial training courses developed, implemented and continuously optimised.
• Online community of young European entrepreneurs established where stakeholders can interact, exchange ideas or good practices, and propose new business initiatives.
• Support and business coaching services provided to young entrepreneurs.

Through implementing the proposed StartUp Academy project we intend to reach the following long-term impacts at regional, national and European levels:

• Young adults currently inactive in the labour market and aged between 18 and 35 residing in rural areas enabled to put their innovative business ideas into practice thus fostering the creation of new jobs and encouraging other young persons to not to leave their home towns or countries seeking better labour opportunities.
• Future entrepreneurs equipped with all the necessary skills and competences to plan, implement and manage their own businesses.
• General awareness created among local and regional policy makers (with special regard to those responsible for educational policies) on the importance of taking measures for promoting entrepreneurship education during all cycles of the formal educational system.
• Development and mainstreaming of the new StartUp Academy approach and training materials developed by the project (these will be open and available via Moodle event after the project’s conclusion).
• Creation of an international collaboration network for young entrepreneurs where cooperation opportunities and new business ideas can be generated besides having the opportunity to share doubts, experiences and good practices.