104 countries, 40,000 events, over 10 million participants – big numbers underline the impact of Global Entrepreneurship Week. And at Microsoft, we are delighted to be supporting this worldwide initiative. After all, supporting entrepreneurs is at the heart of what our global BizSpark program is all about. It’s also a great tie-in with the work we’re doing with partners such as Seedcamp and StartupWeekend, who – like us – are focused on how we can help grow the next generation of cool companies.
Our Western European BizSpark team have thrown themselves into supporting GEW 2011.
The Portugal team is sponsoring two GEW events: Startup Pirates Battle – a conference and Startup competition on November 19th in Porto and Startup Weekend Lisbon. Attendees should say hi to my colleague Diogo Nunes , who will be offering AppHub accounts and Azure Passes to the top 10 Mobile and Web Startups at both events.
Denmark is also a strong supporter of StartupWeekend, sponsoring three events in a row: Aalborg, Århus and Copenhagen, where my colleague Anette Nørgaard will also be mentoring start-ups. Likewise, UK BizSpark lead Bindi Karia is mentoring at London’s Entrepreneur Festival in London this week, while you can find me mentoring start-ups at Seedcamp Barcelona on Wednesday 16th November.
Giving startups this kind of support – whether technical or business advice – is an integral part of BizSpark. In today’s challenging economic and competitive world, startups need more than just free access to technology.
But back to GEW – here’s a potted history and why I think it’s so important. It roots stem back to the UK’s Enterprise Week launched in 2004, where it’s phenomenal success in showcasing great ideas inspired other countries to follow. In 2008, Enterprise UK and the Kaufmann Foundation founded GEW. It matters because it provides a much-needed focus on entrepreneurs. These individuals are the business leaders of tomorrow, fuel for local economies and future employers.
But let’s not restrict this focus to one week a year. Let’s celebrate entrepreneurs every day and, in the words of the GEW organizers, help them to ‘unleash enterprising talents and turn their ideas into reality’.
104 countries, 40,000 events, over 10 million participants – big numbers underline the impact of Global Entrepreneurship Week. And at Microsoft, we are delighted to be supporting this worldwide initiative. After all, supporting entrepreneurs is at the heart of what our global BizSpark program is all about. It’s also a great tie-in with the work we’re doing with partners such as Seedcamp and StartupWeekend, who – like us – are focused on how we can help grow the next generation of cool companies.
Our Western European BizSpark team have thrown themselves into supporting GEW 2011.
The Portugal team is sponsoring two GEW events: Startup Pirates Battle – a conference and Startup competition on November 19th in Porto and Startup Weekend Lisbon. Attendees should say hi to my colleague Diogo Nunes , who will be offering AppHub accounts and Azure Passes to the top 10 Mobile and Web Startups at both events.
Denmark is also a strong supporter of StartupWeekend, sponsoring three events in a row: Aalborg, Århus and Copenhagen, where my colleague Anette Nørgaard will also be mentoring start-ups. Likewise, UK BizSpark lead Bindi Karia is mentoring at London’s Entrepreneur Festival in London this week, while you can find me mentoring start-ups at Seedcamp Barcelona on Wednesday 16th November.
Giving startups this kind of support – whether technical or business advice – is an integral part of BizSpark. In today’s challenging economic and competitive world, startups need more than just free access to technology.
But back to GEW – here’s a potted history and why I think it’s so important. It roots stem back to the UK’s Enterprise Week launched in 2004, where it’s phenomenal success in showcasing great ideas inspired other countries to follow. In 2008, Enterprise UK and the Kaufmann Foundation founded GEW. It matters because it provides a much-needed focus on entrepreneurs. These individuals are the business leaders of tomorrow, fuel for local economies and future employers.
But let’s not restrict this focus to one week a year. Let’s celebrate entrepreneurs every day and, in the words of the GEW organizers, help them to ‘unleash enterprising talents and turn their ideas into reality’.
–mark