50+ startups and corporates joined the event “Unlocking Startup–Corporate Venture Opportunities” in Kingston, Jamaica, last Monday (23 June).

Why did this event matter? What did the audience learn?

⏺️A cooperation standing in the Caribbean and beyond:

Aniceto Rodriguez Ruiz, Head of Cooperation of the European Delegation in Jamaica, highlighted the EU’s commitment to the region in the context of the Digital Alliance, the framework under which the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator operates.

⏺️A $50,000 voucher for startups:
Chris Brown, Biggee Programme Manager at the Development Bank of Jamaica, joined us to motivate the audience to participate in open innovation and corporate venturing processes. Startups that form a successful partnership through the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator will benefit from up to $50,000 thanks to an agreement with the Caribbean Export Development Agency.

⏺️First promising Caribbean partnerships being accelerated:
Leo Naut (Caribbean Export) and Maika Gorostidi (EU-LAC Digital Accelerator) highlighted that the Caribbean is getting increasingly involved in the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator (9 applications submitted and 3 accepted so far).
We had the opportunity to hear the experience of a brand new partnership from Camille Cole, Chief Operations Officer of Innovative Data Mining & Advanced Analytics Partners (IDMAPS), a Jamaican startup now collaborating with Engage SpA (Italy).

⏺️The keys to a successful corporate-startup partnership:
Miguel Rodríguez, from OCTANTIS, captivated the audience by providing insights about the success and failure of corporate-startup partnerships.