Ιgnite Ideas Program is organized for the third year, aiming to enhance innovative digital solutions and to support new entrepreneurial teams which implement services and products. Powered by Nestlé Hellas Single Member SA and Athens Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEin) of Athens University of Economics & Business (AUEB), the program provides high – level services and benefits to the participants. The Program seeks for innovative solutions that:
- Improve the consumer/customer experience
- Have a technical or operational character
- Use cutting-edge technologies that can be implemented in Nestle’s business environment
- Get executed in a real working environment
Who is eligible to join
For teams which already have an entrepreneurial idea
The Ignite Ideas III Program addresses entrepreneurial teams / research teams / startups / spin-offs that are already developing products / services around the related topics of the program.
For the first time, this year, the Ignite Ideas III Program also addresses:
- Individuals who have an entrepreneurial idea around the related topics and are interested in forming an entrepreneurial team that will turn this idea into a product / service.
- People who wish for affiliation in a team and seek to contribute with their competencies and knowledge to the formation and development of a service / product.
For individuals with a personal application
Benefits of the program
The selected teams will have the opportunity to accelerate their business idea in 3-4 months, by engaging in collaborative projects and gaining access to Nestlé’s network, methodology and support by highly experienced executives. The teams that will reach the final phase of the program will have the opportunity to design and pilot-test their product or service in a real environment (Proof-of-Concept). The program will be completed with an event, where the participating teams will present their PoCs and the result of their work.
The organizers
Running for the third time, the “Ignite Ideas” Open Innovation Program is a Nestlé Hellas Single Member S.A. initiative aiming at supporting startups on topics of mutual interest in collaboration with the Athens Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEin), the incubation center of the Athens University of Economics and Business. It is an “open innovation” program, which aims at developing an acceleration process of innovative ideas in areas related to Nestlé’s business activity. Recognizing the significant presence of the Greek innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, Nestlé invites entrepreneurial teams, start-ups, scientists & researchers to submit new business models and innovative products / services. ACEin is the intermediary partner that provides the methodology and ensures a high level of quality and trust.
As part of its strategy towards innovation and entrepreneurship, the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) has recently established the Athens Center of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (commonly initialized as ACEin), the University’s new incubation center. A key strategy of ACEin is to support newly established very small and small companies, operating in innovative fields, such as e-commerce, ICT, social entrepreneurship, etc. Within the framework of ACEin, these companies are offered training on how to establish and run a start-up, services from experts in fields such as accounting and taxation issues, legal issues, mentoring and networking.
Innovation has been at the heart of Nestlé Group since its beginning. The inventions of Farine Lactée, the first food for infants, by Henri Nestlé in 1867, the Perrier water that we all know by Sir John Harmsworth in 1903, Nescafé instant coffee by a team of experts in 1929 and Nespresso by Eric Favre, a Nestlé employee back in 1975, are just some of the milestones that prove that behind every bright idea there is an equally bright mind. Today, the Nestlé Group devotedly invests in Research and Development. Nestlé has the world’s largest private food and nutrition research center, involving about 5.000 people, located in more than 30 R&D facilities worldwide. Recognizing and wanting to contribute to the Greek entrepreneurship ecosystem, Nestlé Hellas is running the “Ignite Ideas” Program, aiming at identifying innovative ideas with expansion potential and supporting teams in realizing their ideas.
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