Last week, the winning startups of the 16th edition of the EmprendeXXI Awards, accompanied by the CaixaBank DayOne and Enisa teams, were able to enjoy a unique opportunity to continue learning and connecting with the international innovative ecosystem.
Thanks to the ‘Moonshot Thinking for Entrepreneurs’ training program organized by ESADE, nearly 30 startups that won this edition of the EmprendeXXI Awards were in the German city of Munich where they were able to enjoy training sessions, networking activities and visits to companies where they could learn first-hand about innovation within large corporations, startups and scaleups that were very useful for them to know how to grow their project. Participating in the program were REVER, Legit Health, Hotelverse, Sycai Medical, FLEXOFibers, Arkadia Space, Cimico, H2SITE, LUGGit, Alice Biometrics, Thermogreen, Lain Tech, Bread Free, Banbu, Adamo Robot, INBENTUS, Moso3D, Smallops, Fibras Naturales Canarias. , LiberaBio, IKOS TECH, Rooteco, Fidufoods and Iberbox.
During the first day, the focus of the program directed by Iván Boarull, CIO of ESADE and responsible for this training, put the ‘Moonshot Thinking’ methodology in context and how to apply it in the projects of the award-winning startups, which aims to enable entrepreneurs be more ambitious with your projects; Help them “think big.”
Thus, for Bofarull, “it is the program where you will find infinite learning and join a work group that will become the next generation of global companies in Spain and Portugal.”
During the second day, on the 11th, our entrepreneurs experienced first-hand how large corporations such as the BMW Group apply innovation every day in their projects.
They also had the opportunity to take a VIP Tour of their entire production plant in Munich, where 7,000 people and 2,000 robots work, with a daily production of about 900 cars.
After the visit to the BMW Group they made the leap to the Technical University of Munich (TUM) where they discovered the support that this entity offers in terms of innovation from different areas, from the incubation phase, acceleration and investment in startups. TUM is a reference center for talent and excellence in the city, and also has the “Makerspace”, a space where startups in the network can create prototypes.
They also had the opportunity to meet Agile Robots AG, one of the fastest growing scaleups in the ecosystem, created in 2018 and which has already managed to raise $271 million in investment with investors such as SoftBank and Foxconn.
For Francho García, CEO of Arkadia Space, one of the participants in this session of the program, he highlighted that “for us it is wonderful to be in Munich since it is a reference city within the aerospace sector”, he also highlights that thanks to its presence in This training also “we have been able to learn a lot from our colleagues, from how they have done things. how they have solved the challenges that we are now facing and we have also found a way to open our minds, think in a different and much more ambitious way.”
To end the day, a networking meeting was organized with investors, entrepreneurs and members of the Munich ecosystem.
We continue with the third day on the 12th, living great moments and experiences. One of them was discovering how innovation is applied in large companies like IBM Watson, and startups like Ambright GmbH and LYMB.io.
First we discovered the headquarters of IBM Watson in Munich, learning about their innovative ecosystem and how they relate to startups and other entities with an exclusive ‘journey’ created by the company to develop its value proposition focused on clients. In addition, they explained to us what the revolutionary launch of WatsonX was like, the AI and data platform for companies, which they launched as a response to ChatGPT.
They also had the opportunity to learn about the activity of LYMB.iO, which through innovation and disruptive ideas, uses gamming, being one of the most advanced industries of the moment.
On the last day of this training together with ESADE, the startups had the opportunity to visit the facilities of Reactive Robotics, a company specialized in medical care robotics, which through its innovative technology helps patients in their recovery processes.
And they learned through David Pistoni, co-founder and CEO of Zeleros Hyperloop, the evolution of this startup that began its journey in the Valencian Community, a project that designs and develops new technologies for sustainable and efficient transportation, which will allow travel 1000 km /h with renewable energies, combining the best of the aeronautical and railway industries.
In addition to being able to obtain all the training and knowledge from great business leaders, thanks to the mentors who participate in these sessions, they have been able to learn to observe their own business from a different perspective, thus being able to improve their decision-making capacity to become in disruptive companies and analyze their next steps.
Valentina Rojas, strategic director of Flexofibers, highlights that Moonshot Thinking has been “an incredible experience where you can have the opportunity to learn about different approaches and ventures and learn from a methodology that will take your business to the next level.”
Without a doubt, this experience has been a great opportunity for the winners of the EmprendeXXI Awards to share impressions about their projects within the international ecosystem, strengthen the network of contacts with other Alumni and learn from the best professionals and success stories, opening their minds to keep “thinking big”.