The city of Porto has been officially chosen to host, until 2026, the European Innovation Academy (EIA). Recognized as the largest program of technological and digital entrepreneurship in the world, the EIA annually brings together hundreds of university students from around the world for an intensive three-week program dedicated to innovation and technology.
The European Innovation Academy is installed, for the first time, in Invicta, thanks to the joint effort of the organizing institutions – University of Porto and Porto City Hall. through the municipal initiative ScaleUp Porto – and the support of its main partners – Banco Santander and the consultancy Beta-i, responsible for selecting the host city for the event. The first edition will take place from July 17 to August 5, 2022, at the Faculties of Economics and Engineering at U.Porto, bringing together more than 500 students from over 120 international universities, accompanied by 100 mentors and speakers from around the world.
For the Municipality of Porto, the coming of the European Innovation Academy is deeply aligned with the strategy defined for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the city. In fact, the “(Re)Start Program”, put into practice by the ScaleUp Porto initiative, which also includes EIA partners, is precisely aimed at creating conditions that allow entrepreneurs in the city to transform challenges into new business opportunities.
In this same strategy, the concept of “living laboratory” becomes clear, that is, the city as a privileged place for experimentation, something that is essential for the emergence of startups with potential for growth and internationalization. And, in practical terms, the EIA project will allow Porto to be this idealized laboratory where students from all over the world, experts in innovation and technology, academia, investors, research centers, among others, will converge to be, together, agents of transformation.
This pioneering program aims to foster the creation of new business ideas by university students, with the University of Porto as the project’s academic partner. For this, the European Innovation Academy promotes an “intensive course on entrepreneurship and digital innovation”, in an international environment, with moments of training, discussion, networking and sharing of experiences.
Over 3 weeks, participants will experience all the stages of creation and launch of entrepreneurial projects, with the support of mentors and experts from international institutions. They come from the universities of Stanford, U.C. Berkeley or Michigan, but also from Silicon Valley – namely Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Uber, Hubspot – to monitor and teach students in areas such as management and business, marketing, technology, design, software, investment, among others.
