SEERC, the research institute of the International Faculty of the University of Sheffield - CITY College in Thessaloniki organises a delegation of 18 participants from different parts of Greece to join the 4th Balkan Venture Forum in Tirana, Albania, on November 14-15. The Balkan Venture Forum is a leading bi-annual regional investment and innovation forum that brings together the relevant key actors of the region, Europe and beyond, to enable successful match-making between innovative business ideas with investors, support agencies and policy makers. Participants include start-up companies, established SMEs, new and experienced entrepreneurs, innovation experts, policy makers and a wide array of high-level international venture capitalists and investors. The first three editions of the Balkan Venture Forum were a great success with the latest event in Sofia this May gathering over 600 relevant industry participants.
The diverse programme of the event also includes a pitching competition where start-ups will present their venture in front of expert panelists, competing for investors’ interest as well as exclusive prizes and benefits. The event has the full support of the emerging Albanian entrepreneurial community. A total of 30 companies will pitch at the event, of which 8 ventures have been selected from Greece in a variety of areas ranging from ICT to alternative energy solutions. The Balkan Venture Forum will also host a Venture Academy where presenting start-ups will receive expert coaching in how to approach international investors and markets.
For 2014 two Balkan Venture Forums are planned for Slovenia as well as for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Balkan Venture Forum is one of the main objectives of the SEE Programme project ‘VIBE - Venture Initiative in the Balkan Europe’ and is being co-financed by the European Union.
VIBE is a project co-funded by the EU in the framework of the ‘SEE Transnational Cooperation Programme’ with the primary objective to support facilitation of innovation and entrepreneurship in the region of South-East Europe. VIBE aims at fostering the creation and growth of innovative SMEs and start-up companies through a large array of actions. SEERC - the South-East European Research Centre (www.seerc.org) is the Greek partner in the VIBE project.
