Event notes: CEEcosystem Summit / Budapest, Nov 10., 2023

This could have been a “been there done that” post – but the CEEcosystem Summit’s 1st Edition was too good to just skim.

First things first: this was a partnership of many organizations within the ecosystem ?? Tokeportal.com ( Nora Szeles ), óbuda Uni Venture Capital ( Imre Hild ), InnoMaker Partners ( Richard Bavlsík , Kamilla Strausz - thank you for the invitation!), MBH Bank ( Zoltán ács ), CIB Bank ( Istvan Gyoergy Fetter ), Néprajzi Múzeum / Museum of Ethnography (with kind support of László Bódis @ Hungarian State Sec for Innovation) & co.

Plus: it was way more international than expected ( Dudu Gencel @ Wirtschaftsagentur Wien , AT; Mark Kalin, M. Sc. @ ABC Accelerator , SI; Laviniu C. @ INNO, RO; Samantha Evans, UK; Lasma Ivaska @ MOME Innovation Center, LV/HU; Craig V. Johnson @ MOME Innovation Center, ZA/HU).

To all, my deep bow for a successful event!

On to the notes: there are several mic-drop / galaxy-brain ideas in there (?? Imre Hild , Korányi László ), so ENJOY & MAKE SURE YOU ATTEND NEXT YEAR!

/ Panel 1: The structure of an innovation ecosystem.

Dudu Gencel @ Wirtschaftsagentur Wien , AT:

• "Vienna Business Agency works to create an ecosystem for everyone to work together for synergies, instead of building separate projects."
• "Every claim made to the federal government/agencies must be backed by data, otherwise is just guessing; the data also informs everyone in the ecosystem."
• "There’s a lot of room for interconnectedness in Europe. We need to sell the region as a whole; and we see that the region has great potential."
• "We try to build more collaboration across the borders; startups should permeate ecosystems (e.g., your startups should scale into our ecosystem; our startups should grow with yours); and together, across the region."
• "VBA has several programs that invite partners from outside Austria to find ways to scale together. E.g., Vienna Up: invites stakeholders from across Europe to partner with the Austrian ecosystem."
• "We need to build upon our European identity and grow with each other, rather than competing."

Istvan Gyoergy Fetter @ CIB Bank , HU:

1. "We are currently developing an ecosystem ourselves."
2. "We need stakeholders to work with each other instead of against each other, i.e. scenarios where 1+1 = 3 or 4 scenarios, not 1+1 = 0. [...] You can’t achieve anything (especially in smaller ecosystems) if constantly fighting with each other."
3. "Sustainable long-term programs are needed, that build upon previous experience. It is hard to build a house when you start from scratch every 2 years."

Imre Hild @ óbuda University Venture Capital, HU:

• "You can’t own the ecosystem, there is no ownership. [...] There are many functions that need to work together."
• "Interconnectivity without purpose is just chatter. There must be a common meaning and goal."

/ Panel 2: Ecosystem actors: incubators, accelerators, event organizers

Baiba Rozenberga & Zoltán ács @ MBH Bank , HU:

"We provide two main benefits

1. The sandbox: the startups can build in a live environment within our bank.
2. An API to integrate their product within our ecosystem.

This way, we become the first client of the startup or we provide a gateway for them to access our customers."

Laviniu C. @ INNO, Agentia de Dezvoltare Regionala Nord-Vest, RO:

• "Not many VCs are willing / have the patience to play the long-term game. [...] We managed to find several VCs that are backing the startups for the long term. [...] If there are good startups, investors will come and it will spiral into the ecosystem."
• "Previously successful entrepreneurs are not coming back into the scene as much as we would love. We need to provide the setup and get all better involved."

Mark Kalin, M. Sc. @ ABC Accelerator , SI:

• "The success rates are usually low, that’s why took a step forward and transformed our accelerator model into Corporate-VC: provide the first customers, bigger financial incentives, and more options for the startups to grow."
• "We check on startups and provide them more support during the program."

Gerg? Gulyás IMC @ OUVC, HU:

• "We do handhold our startups. A lot."

Peter Mogyorosi @ Creative Accelerator , HU:

• "Universities thought they could run their own programs, for some reason they could not succeed, they don’t have anyone to take care of the great graduates."
• "Universities have outstanding research results that are worth commercializing."
• "We have institutionalized cooperation with universities via common pitching events (e.g. with more, extended time to pitch) and spinoff mechanisms."
• "Can the University support get the startups/research groups to be ready to pitch and introduce a bit of entrepreneurial mindset into the researcher's mind? and get them ready to establish a spinoff company? and dedicate time and energy to run the spinoff?"

/ Keynote: growing Riga's startup ecosystem from VEF to VEFRESH smart city

Lasma Ivaska @ MOME Innovation Center, HU:

• "VEFRESH: 1 km2 = 45% of Latvia’s total IT exports, built on top on VEF, a 50+ years old electronics manufacture."
• "Partnered with co's like real estate developers, telcos etc. [...] It took 2 years to lobby the local government for the space to get special purpose status (Innovation Private Zone = faster development timeline). [...] An NGO was created to do this project. [...] Min of Economics started to create leaders groups, kinda informal, get to know each others and have a platform for developing ideas."
• "VEFRESH consolidates upon shared problems, e.g. impossibility to “get innovation in the street”."
• "Proximity helps a lot: companies work side by side, easier to organize a meeting and just run into each other." (Just like a bigger version of the office water cooler.)
• "Strength in individual contributions to creating an ecosystem: people help each other without expecting personal benefits / make this as a standard / facilitate people to natively partner."

/ Panel 3: Universities and launchpads as key drivers of a startup ecosystem

Andrea Kozma, Dr / Chief Portfolio Manager @ STRT Launchpad ; ex-Director @ late CEU InnovationsLab , HU:

• "We need students to be interested in entrepreneurship, give them the opportunity to meet with the idea of entrepreneurship as a career option."
• "Universities are changing; they take a much bigger role to what’s happening in the world. [...] E.g., the concept of “entrepreneurial university” = beyond focusing on just research, they are more engaged and contribute to “real life”."
• "Universities have obligations: design programs that respond better to the employment market; become more practical to meet the challenges of the employment market, etc."
• "Global trend: change in how Universities evaluate their output / “why do Universities exist”."
• "Two types of startups coming out of university: the research spinoff and the student-led initiatives, with different profiles and problems."
• "The role of unis and launchpads: expose students to entrepreneurship + engage the alumni network."
• "Regarding research: universities should make sure that results are commercialized, and mechanisms/structures are in place for that (e.g. IP / licensing, ownership, quicker/shorter cycles, etc.)."

Craig V. Johnson @ MOME Innovation Center, HU:

• "The role of university launchpad is to fill the gap between the ecosystem and the new commerce. [...] We need investable companies and founders (“new commerce”). [...] Most univ don’t deliver on this purpose."
• "Universities can be a key driver: there’s a lot of fresh ideas that do come from young people, but these ideas do need structures to support them. [...] In a design university like ours, people have a lot of ideas but they don’t have a business approach."
• "How are universities “fit for purpose”: graduates need to find a way to add value to society. Starting a business is one way. It is within society’s interest to nurture entrepreneurship (with results on income, GDP etc.)."
• "Collaboration between universities and industry is unavoidable. Students need to be prepared for the world: “Don’t solve problems only at a theoretical level, but in real life”."
• "Topdown pressure for the universities to be sustainable with less support from governmental level / careful with how money is spent."

Korányi László @ Obuda University, Ministry of Innovation and Technology, HU:

• "Universities have multiple groups of people besides the students, e.g. researchers and alumni; they can have different roles to support innovation and startups."
• "HU Gov National Program: proof of concept for university researchers to be able to do a validation of their idea from business and tech p.o.v."
• "The researcher likes to be a researcher, not a business person. So the univ research is usually far from an investable item, therefore investors don’t even look at it."
• "It is important to support university spinoffs. Entrepreneurial preparation needs to happen."
• "What do we expect from unis in terms of entrepreneurship output: hundreds of startups? Not gonna happen. Educate the students, bring them closer to entrepreneurship: an excellent tool, ready for the situation when something comes up out of it."
• "HU Gov National Univ Startup Program: there is a strong interest for students re. entrepreneurship even without strong incentives. Some 4000 students were attracted by incentives/fellowships/credits [...] now with less incentives: more students. You don’t have to buy students’ goodwill; students are not as bad as some people think."

Bottom line? Says David Trayford (@Talkware): "The value of the discussions during panels was excellent, each of them could have been its own event."

So. See you next year?