The young people have presented their business ideas to institutional representatives in a meeting held at the headquarters of the Cádiz Chamber of Commerce in El Puerto de Santa María
Among the initiatives they are developing are technological applications to treat Alzheimer's, collaborative platforms or hydroponic cultivation methods.
The Innovation Startup Cádiz Camp is a pioneering initiative in Andalusia
The 14 young people participating in the first edition of the Innovation Startup Cádiz Camp received yesterday the visit of the Government delegate in Andalusia, Antonio Sanz, and the highest representatives of the three organizing entities of the initiative, the Special delegate of the State in the Free Trade Zone of Cádiz, Jorge Ramos; the president of the Cádiz Chamber of Commerce, Ángel Juan Pascual; and the General Director of the Incyde Foundation, Javier Collado.
Before them, the young entrepreneurs explained their business ideas, generated after five weeks of specific training to conceive and establish a company. Leire Caballero from Bilbao, representing her colleagues, explained to those present at the event the activities carried out during this time such as the meetings of networking, his presence in Madrid to attend the South Summit meeting or the talks held with businessmen from the province to learn first-hand about the life of a company.
After this general presentation, the participants in the Innovation Startup Cádiz Camp individually explained the seven projects that have finally been selected to be developed intensively in the remainder of the campus. Among them are a rotating parking lot, a social collaboration platform, a technological application for the improvement of Alzheimer's patients, the production of a food supplement to treat arthritis through cannabis, a cultivation method based on the use of mineral solutions to replace agricultural soil, a digital platform to connect photographers and clients with on-demand services and augmented reality software applied to the museums.
After the presentation by the students, the delegate of the Government in Andalusia, Antonio Sanz, congratulated the participants on campus for their ingenuity and good ideas and encouraged them to continue working in the business world for which they will continue to have the Government at their side, while highlighting the importance of institutional collaboration to carry out this project.
In this sense, he recalled that 87,000 young people in Andalusia have made their way in the business world through the Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment Strategy, launched by the Government of Spain in 2013 with a budget of 3.5 billion euros and with more than 100 measures to promote youth employment, while he recalled the work of the Government of Spain in supporting the self-employed.
Likewise, Sanz praised the work carried out by Zona Franca de Cádiz, whom he described as the "investment engine of the province", the Chamber of Commerce and the Incyde Foundation in this pioneering initiative to value the creativity of young people and innovative ideas.
The Government delegate has referred, on the other hand, to the importance of the 'SME Initiative' programme, an innovative instrument in which Spain is a pioneer and which will provide great support to small and medium-sized companies that have difficulties accessing credit.
This program, in which the EU, the European Investment Bank, the Spanish State and the autonomous communities collaborate, has been in operation since day 1, will be able to mobilize around 100 million euros in Andalusia in the next three years and it is expected that around 5,000 companies will be able to benefit from it, of which 400 would be newly created.
Likewise, the initiative will provide around 1,000 jobs and will consolidate 18,000 workers from the benefited SMEs.
For his part, the State delegate in the Free Trade Zone of Cádiz, Jorge Ramos, was satisfied with the response of the young entrepreneurs and pointed out that the Free Trade Zone works to provide support and infrastructure to new entrepreneurs, "so that no idea is left without coming to light," he pointed out and invited incipient entrepreneurs or those who want to consolidate their business to go to the Free Trade Zone and benefit from its advantages and services.
Ángel Juan Pascual, president of the Cádiz Chamber of Commerce, took advantage of the meeting to highlight the importance of their efforts because “thanks to their commitment and courage, society as a whole benefits.” Likewise, Juan Pascual reminded the young people that they will be able to continue counting on the support of the Chamber of Spain and the Incyde Foundation once this pioneering experience in Andalusia is over.
At this point, Javier Collado, general director of the Incyde Foundation, Javier Collado, applauded the work of the 14 selected “in the difficult task of generating a brilliant idea” and its subsequent implementation while highlighting the work of the mentors to implement this new methodology to create companies with high innovative potential.