Third Student Enterprise Conference: We Start Lisbon

We Start Lisbon took place on the 21^st of October 2016, at Reitoria Universidade Nova Lisboa and it was coorganized by my MY-WAY and Digistart, as part of the Startup Europe comes to universities initiative (SEC2U).

The day started with a panel discussion from representatives from NACUE, AEGEE, MIT/MBA, Ilannovation - Bar Ilan University's Entrepreneurship Club and YES about what role the student associations play in encouraging students to have an entrepreneurial approach towards startups ecosystems.

Later on, we learned how to deal with fear of failure and how to face it, while during the Product development workshop the students had the opportunity to learn tips and tricks about developing their products. During lunch and coffee breaks the students had the opportunity to network with the mentors, participate in a treasure hunt and also pitch their ideas.

After lunch break, representatives from the universities of UPCT, Aveiro Uni, ISEG and NOVA discussed how to promote entrepreneurship amongst their students and shared their experiences. Towards the end of the conference, the students participated in a practical workshop about how to develop their pitch for investors. In addition, Thomas Ohr from EU-Startups.com and Migue Alpoim Ruas from Doctor Spin PR talked about how should we approach media with practical examples.

After consolidating a startup on local level, next logical step is to get internationalised: the panel discussion about this topic thought us that we have to be able to understand when is the right time to do so and highlighted positive examples of startups such as Linehealth and Uniarea. The last panel brought together major ecosystem actors in Lisbon to discuss about acceleration and funding opportunities. Krisztina Toth from Europa Media talked about how MY-WAY project actively promoted and encouraged startups to get involved in EU funding opportunities.   

The day culminated with the presentation of research results done by students and the announcement of the winners of the competition. It gave the possibility to students to get visibility for their startup idea and to win some awesome gadgets.

Speakers were:

Pablo Hernandez, AEGEE

Holly Knower, NACUE

Manuel Countiho, MIT/MBA

Julia Tshuva, Ilannovation - Bar Ilan University's Entrepreneurship Club

Maria Logotheti, YES

Matt Kuppers, Startup Manufactory

Edite Cruz, Beta-I

Miha Matilevski, Fail Coach

Prof Andres Iborra, UPCT

Prof Diego Caceres, UPCT

Prof Mariana Pita, Aveiro Uni

Prof Manuel Laranja, ISEG

Prof João Paulo Crespo, Vice-Rector NOVA

Thomas Ohr, EU-Startups

Rafael Pires, Portugal startups

David Trayford, Founder-thehub.hu. Team Project Coach at Singularity University

Mark Bastiaanssen, Pakketmail

Lourenço Jardim de Oliveira, Linehealth

Davis Gouveia, Start up Lisbon/ Uniarea

Diana Pati, Startups.be

Miguel Alpoim Ruas - Doctor Spin PR/ Special Projects Startup Lisboa

#WeStartLisbon

#IstartMyWay

Feel free to check the agenda for major details and also check our pictures from the event.