Startify7 is a two-year project that started on 1st of January 2015. The core challenge for STARTIFY7 is to connect with existing ICT enterprise training structures through our 7 thematic learning academies which will combine lean start-up training with team-building for young people. It will do this through:

• Creating a European wide system of Summer Academies for university and final year high school students entirely focused on ICT entrepreneurship.
• Organising action oriented summer academies by including activities such as ICT and entrepreneurial skills development; experimenting, mentoring; support for business planning and setting up your company; matchmaking; generation and development of ICT-related business ideas.
• Complementing, extending and enriching similar existing actions while focusing on the ICT sector and excellence.
• Increasing practical entrepreneurial skills amongst students that will allow them to pursue their entrepreneurial aspirations, to start and grow your business or use them in their career.

The STARTIFY7 Summer Academies will drive self-actualisation as the biggest stimulus in the learning process and foster the conditions for young entrepreneurs to flourish. It will create a dynamic learning environment by having a training rationale that will focus on quickly testing hypotheses, gathering early and frequent feedback, and developing “minimum viable products”. Thus, the training will place strong emphasis on learning-by-doing and will promote action learning rather than passive listening.

Over the summers of 2015 and 2016 there will be 7 academies:

2015 Summer Academies

1. Sheffield Summer Academy in Digital Healthcare
2. Trento Summer Academy in Cyber Security
3. Nuremberg Summer Academy in Cyber-Physical-Systems and Internet of Things

Proposed 2016 Summer Academies

1. Almeria Summer Academy focused Industrial Simulations
2. Thessaloniki Summer Academy focused on Games
3. Katowice Summer Academy focused on Next Generation Enterprise Information Systems
4. Enschede Summer Academy focused on Social and enterprise networks

The Startify7 project is run by a consortium of 11 partners:  The University of Sheffield, Associazione Trento RISE, Friederich-Alexander University, University of Almeria, South East European Research Center, University of Twente, University of Economics in Katowice, European Confederation of Young  Entrepreneurs, UnternehmerTUM GmbH, Europe Unlimited SA, i4G.

For more information please contact Kate Penney on k.l.penney@sheffield.ac.uk  or startify7@sheffield.ac.uk.

Follow Startify7 on Twitter