The first day of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress kicked off yesterday at the Politecnico di Milano, the largest technical university in Italy, with GEW country hosts and representatives from partner organizations gathered for the GEW Annual Meeting.
While the GEC opening ceremony is not until Tuesday morning, the Annual Meeting is an opportunity for hosts to get a head start on the week by connecting with fellow hosts and leveraging each other’s strengths to bolster their own campaigns.
Jonathan Ortmans, Chair of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, opened the day’s sessions by unveiling the Global Entrepreneurship Network, a year round platform of programs and initiatives created by the communities that celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week.
GEN’s programs are divided into five categories: Celebrate, Connect, Compete, Understand and Support.
Celebrate is a global celebration of entrepreneurship and is primarily Global Entrepreneurship Week and its theme days.
Connect includes events like the Global Entrepreneurship Congress that bring together players from throughout the ecosystem.
Compete programs are global pick competitions that help highlight innovative founders from around the world. Rasmus Wiinstedt Tscherning of the Creative Business Cup, Michalis Stangos of Future Agro Challenge and Donna Harris of ChallengeX were among the startup competition founders to present their global competitions, highlighting reasons that hosts should consider encouraging startups in their countries to participate.
Understand encompasses GEN’s research and policy programs, which include the Global Entrepreneurship Index, Startup Nations, the Global Entrepreneurship Research Network and the Compass Report.
