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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Soft-Landing (The Soft-Landing Project)

Teaser

Summary

European startup market is highly fragmented because of various languages, cultures and regulations. Soft-Landing project is helping create links and break boundaries by connecting 6 hubs into a functioning network where information is easily shared, ecosystem builders have a wide network and advanced knowledge of other hubsâ€™ specifics; startups have access to knowledge and assistance in different ecosystems and can more easily move across Europe.

The Soft-Landing project has the following objectives:

1) To connect the startup ecosystems of the Consortium hubs (Lithuania/Baltics - Vilnius, the Netherlands - Zoetermeer, Germany - Berlin, France - Paris) through 40 1-week Startup Ecosystem Discovery Missions with 200 participants and the 50 Speaker/Mentor exchange programme;

2) To build capacity to scale in the Consortium hubs\' home ecosystems through increasing awareness on the 6 destination startup ecosystems (the aforementioned 4 + Silicon Valley and India) and providing practical know-how about the scaling conditions, process and support available in those ecosystems;

3) To actually scale 96 startups and scaleups in to the 6 Destination ecosystems through high-value personalised 1-month-long Soft-Landing programmes; To leverage ESIF and EC funds in order to increase the quality of the project or to expand its scope and impact, especially by leveraging the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme;

4) To ensure project\'s sustainability by working on exploitation early on. Make objectives more ambitious, European wide.

Work performed

1) 47 startups have already explored scaling opportunities and created networks in foreign ecosystems;
2) 141 ecosystem builders explored foreign ecosystems, established new contacts and new partnerships;
3) 25 international speakers travelled to foreign ecosystems sharing their knowledge and creating new connections;
4) Close to 6,000 new connections have been made by ecosystem builders and startups;
5) Mission participantsâ€™ and speakers have shared their knowledge with over 2,800 local community members; an additional 10,000 people have been reached through articles on the missions;
6) At least 15 collaborations with Startup Europe took place;
7) Consortium partnersâ€™ knowledge has been organized and presented in the submitted deliverables.

Final results

Progress beyond the state of the art:
1) Serving underrepresented regions;
2) Creating synergies and / or continuing Startup Europe initiatives;
3) Contributing to policy developments on startup an scaleup development in Europe;
4) Increasing interconnectedness between Europe and other regions;
5) Contributing to socially relevant impact;
6) Increasing mobility across Europe and other regions.

Expected results:
1) To organize 40 1-week Startup Ecosystem Discovery Missions with 200 participants from 4 Consortium hubs (Lithuania/Baltics-Vilnius, the Netherlands-Zoetremeer, Germany-Berlin, France-Paris) to 6 Destination ecosystems (the 4 aforementioned + Silicon Valley and India) in order to build awareness about the ecosystems and build bridges between them;
2) To organize 40 reporting events in the Sending hubsâ€˜ home ecosystems to give back the know-how;
3) To support the exchange of 60 speakers/mentors for the 4 Consortium hubsâ€˜ events;
4) To send 96 startups and scaleups from the 4 Consortium hubs for 1-month Soft-landing stays in the Destination ecosystems;
5) To produce a white paper with policy recommendations and organize the European Soft-landing conference on the topics of startup migration, connecting startup ecosystems and soft-landing support;
6) To feature practical advice on scaling and the available soft-landing support on the project website www.soft-landing.eu and build the community around it.

Anticipated impacts:
1) Connecting tech start-up hubs. The Project will connect tech-startups and will support close to 100 startups and scaleups to scale to large European markets and 10 startups to further scale to the Silicon Valley. What is most important, through Discovery missions 200 representatives will explore other hubs to bring best practices, share knowledge and exchange valuable business information for the ecosystem back home.
2) Increasing access to new markets for startups and scaleups. Through Soft-landing missons, startups and scaleups will receive hands-on support for their business expansion â€“ startup and scaleup companies will receive free of charge access to local infrastructure, a shortcut in to the Destination startup ecosystemâ€™s inner layers, introduction to relevant people, and many other services. This will thus result in increased access to customers, new products or services on the market, increase in turnover, better access to qualified employees, access to the right combination of finance and prospects for scaling up across borders and new job opportunities.
3) Stimulating European investments in digital sectors. Through project activities and community companies will be connected to all relevant players in the ecosystem: other entrepreneurs, mentors, corporates, customers, artists, designers, media, local authorities and investors. This will contribute to creating increased understanding between investor communities and will stimulate European investments in digital sector.
4) Creating and demonstrate sustainable actions for further implementation. Sustainability will be ensured through building a community around the Soft-landing Project and developing a comprehensive exploitation plan which will include measures for long-term sustainability of project results.
5) Creating synergies with ESIF funds. The Project will aim to capitalize on currently run ESIF project. E.g. The consortium will seek for synergies with Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme, which promotes startups and scaleups mobility across Europe and related countries. In addition to existing synergies, Project partners will scout for ESIF fund initiatives and ESIF supported actions that will be held in participating ecosystems. Synergies will be found with any existing or new ESIF initiatives in those countries to improve the synergies between H2020 and ESIF.