Project description

I AM GREEN is a Horizon 2020 funded project aimed at co-designing a widespread incubator and a start-up academy model to support entrepreneurs in all the steps: from the design of their business idea to market penetration, passing through a tailor-made training and incubation path that gives special attention to sustainable development and ways to “greening” the business.

The project aims to improve the services offered to start-ups, thanks to an integrated approach guiding entrepreneurs in all the phases of the entrepreneurial path, with a special focus on their training and financial needs. The designed incubation model will be a virtual and physical space where Innovation & Development Agencies, Research & Training Centres and Start-up Incubators work together to assist the entrepreneur with a 360-degree approach. The idea is to develop an incubation model where start-ups are incubated in a well-settled company that introduce them in the market. The rationale of incubation is the sharing of the same value chain and/or the possibility to create synergies such as industrial symbiosis projects.

Objectives

The general objective of the project is to offer a more fertile environment for new business ideas development and growth, as well as creating new business opportunities leveraging on potentialities to greening processes of start-ups and enterprises. It also supports their development at EU level, by acting as a real driver for innovation and sustainable growth for Europe. To achieve this aim, I AM GREEN will provide an incubation model, functioning as a think-tank that identifies the real needs of green start-ups and prepares new directions within new business creation and support, as well as offering training and consulting services.

The specific objective is to develop a Design Options Paper (DOP), investigating various options and highlighting the best ones to implement a widespread incubator model and a start-up academy.

Methodology

The I AM GREEN model is based on 5 key elements:

Each of these 5 key elements will be discussed as a “sub-topic” during 3 Twinning Meetings involving both Consortium Partners and external stakeholders, and it will converge in the final version of the DOP.