This year 2023, the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) established a representation in Colombia to promote the internationalisation of companies from the country to Europe and vice versa. Impact Hub Medellín in alliance with the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana until 2025, together with a consortium of more than 10 business support entities at the national level, coordinate the initiative in the Latin American country. These national support entities for the implementation of the EEN in the country meet every 6 months to align opportunities and present new programs, initiatives and opportunities such as the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator.
On October 11, Maika Gorostidi, coordinator of the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator project and Director of International Relations at TECNALIA, attended the second national meeting of the EEN consortium in Colombia, virtually. Thanks to the invitation of Sebastián Bustamante González, co-founder of the Impact Hub Medellín and coordinator of EEN Colombia, EU-LAC Digital Accelerator joined forces to connect innovative European and Latin American companies, generating business and entrepreneurship opportunities.
Thomas Steiert, Project Adviser of EISMEA, and Pablo Neira, Head of the Trade Section of the EU Delegation to Colombia, participated during the session. Likewise, the member entities of the EEN Colombia team shared with new members of the consortium, presented the network implementation roadmap reports and ended with a round of opportunities for allies.
Since 2008, the EEN Network has played a crucial role in facilitating the access of European SMEs to the Single Market and other international markets. With more than 14,000 agreements signed between companies affiliated with the EEN in the world and more than 200,000 participants in different networking events, the network represents an important catalyst to promote the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator before chambers of commerce, business associations, organizations, regional development and support agencies and innovation and business support agencies.
Thanks to this virtual space, EU-LAC Digital Accelerator has connected with the innovative ecosystem of the EEN Colombia network, whose mission is to provide services to small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) with international ambitions. A mission that we share from EU-LAC Digital Accelerator and transfer to other countries in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.
