On 3 December, Expertise France organised a virtual workshop, “EU-LAC x El Salvador: Open Innovation for Companies”, dedicated to open innovation and digital transformation in El Salvador. The event aimed to explore how Salvadoran companies can collaborate with European tech startups to accelerate their digital projects through international partnerships.
The success of this event relied on the close coordination of the French Embassy (special thanks to Ambassador Anne Denis-Blanchardon), the French Bilateral Chamber of Commerce of El Salvador (special thanks to Nathalie Schwarz, Director), CASATIC (Camara Salvadoreña de Tecnologías de Información y Comunicaciones), ASI (Asociación Salvadoreña de Industriales), COEXPORT – Corporacion de Exportadores de El Salvador, Camaras de Comercio Alemana y Española, and CAMARASAL (Camara de Comercio e Industria de El Salvador). From an idea raised by Expertise France team members Ivan Seasall and Sabrina Kahn.
The webinar brought together more than 40 participants, reflecting strong interest from the local and regional ecosystem. The audience included innovative startups, as well as a strong representation of corporates and company decision-makers within innovation teams. This mix confirmed the relevance of the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator for both solution providers and corporate innovation teams seeking to move from ideas to implementation.
During the session, participants were introduced to the programme and its services, including tailored acceleration and expert support to help structure and de-risk open innovation projects. The discussion highlighted how it enables companies to access cutting-edge digital solutions while fostering cross-regional collaboration among Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The workshop also provided a space to clarify how the programme works in practice and what types of challenges and partnerships it can support.
Outcomes of the workshop were particularly positive. Several corporates expressed interest in further exploring open innovation challenges, and follow-up exchanges are currently underway to assess needs and identify opportunities for future challenges under the Accelerator. LAPAVIC, a food export company was one of them ; as well as LEVEL-UP a company specialized in Edtech.
The strong participation and quality of interactions confirmed the workshop’s role as an effective entry point for engaging both startups and corporate actors in the programme, and for initiating concrete next steps.
Overall, this successful event reinforced the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator’s positioning as a catalyst for international collaboration, digital transformation and corporate–startup partnerships in El Salvador and across the region; a country with high potential that was not represented enough within the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator ecosystem.
