Unlocking Innovation and investments across regions

Published by Iva Hinkova on November 11, 2024

SUCCESS STORY

Pitching to investors

Unlocking Innovation and investments across regions: Join Us for the Interregional Innovation Investments Alliance!

What is more impactful than getting to see and hear about entrepreneurial ventures from other countries and learn from them or even get to share your feedback with them! In the framework of the Allon_I3 project partners from the consortium got the chance to experience pitching sessions and participate in physical walkthroughs of local entrepreneurial ecosystems in Bulgaria and Italy. The sessions played a crucial role in improving capacity building and also the transfer of knowledge amongst regions which will ideally lead to the transfer of innovation ideas for future investments.

During the 1st visit in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, the partners had the opportunity to visit the exhibited products of local companies and even to taste some of them. Most of the exhibiting companies were typical representatives of the S3 priorities in the region. A local startup, Pastili also got the chance to pitch in front of the consortium and accept feedback for strengthening its capacity to find suitable investors. A similar event took place during the 2^nd consortium meeting in Palermo, Italy. where the partners got the opportunity to visit local enterprises hosted in Pollo Mecatronica Valley in Termini Imerse, hear from the enterprises about their line of work and what partnershisp/investments they are looking for. Additionally, partners were actively engaged on a live pitching session of 10 promising startups, all focusing on S3 priorities and got to offer feedback as well as suggest ideas for possible partnerships from their countries.

These sessions and live experiences of local startup ecosystems not only facilitated cross-regional networking but also revealed the strengths and opportunities of the Allon_i3 participating regions and the very promising future of creating interregional value chains. The variety of SMEs participating in the pitching session is already attracting investors who often look to diversify their portfolios in order to reduce risk.

Pitching sessions supported our cross-regional knowledge exchange, they fostered our interregional collaborative environment showing different regions can work together on innovation challenges. Our interregional synergy will enhance the overall innovation potential of our regions and will encourage greater investment in the long term.