21st Investment Forum organised by ACCIÓ focuses on Catalan entrepreneurship

Barcelona (CNA).- Nearly 700 entrepreneurs and investors gathered together this Thursday at the 21st edition of the Investment Forum, organised by the public business competitiveness and internationalisation agency ACCIÓ. The aim of the initiative is to help business and entrepreneurs find funding, generating long-term commercial relations and extending the contact network. During the opening of the Forum, Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget, emphasised “the need to build a Catalan network of entrepreneurship” based on the “international synergies” that emerge from events such as the Mobile World Congress and the Smart City Fair. He also praised Catalans’ entrepreneurial ability, as they captured 800 MEUR in ‘venture capital’ projects in 2015. 

This year's edition had 21 finalist projects and 24 investors on the jury. After studying more than 100 candidate projects, 50 were selected to be part of the 2016 Company Catalogue.Out of these, the 21 best projects were presented by way of a one-minute elevator pitch. The projects are divided into three categories: life sciences and health, ICT and other technologies.The public could vote and choose 9 finalists who answered questions from investors and demonstrated the great business potential of their proposals.

The Investment Forum Award recognises the project showing the greatest potential for innovation and internationalisation out of the nine finalists. The award consists of 120 hours of consulting services to implement an internationalisation project with a Catalan Government Trade and Investment Office abroad, including a travel allowance of up to €1,500 and, if needed, free use of a workspace in one of the offices for a three-month period.

During this one-day event, nearly 450 networking meetings between entrepreneurs and investors were held, along with the different events scheduled.

Israel was the guest country at this edition of the Forum, participating through different companies and venture capital investments Alon Lifshitz, CEO of Blumberg Capital, gave a presentation titled ‘Trends in venture risk and the Israelian ecosystem’.

ACCIÓ’s Investment Forum, a consolidated initiative

One of the main goals of ACCIÓ’s Investment Forum is to create a space in which entrepreneurs are able to pitch their projects to investors so that they can secure resources and implement their plans for expansion. The initiative also aims to promote contacts between all attendees and facilitate relations between people from the same sector through participatory, dynamic networking.

According to Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge, JordiBaiget, Catalonia is an international pole for entrepreneurs recognised worldwide and it is necessary to keep on working in other to consolidate this. Indeed, ACCIÓ’s Investment Forum plays a key role as it serves as a meeting point for entrepreneurs and investors, which is “a very simple but at the same time very complex thing”, stated Baiget.