While startups are all about talent and entrepreneurship, what less known is how to nurture them. We need talented people who can bring their unique, innovative ideas into life, though, to turn a brilliant idea into a business, they usually need the right support. Is it talent that attracts capital and funding, or is it rather the other way around, that in the global race talent goes where there is ample opportunity for capital and scaling? The question of how to attract talent to boost the startup ecosystem has become a major challenge for many cities today, but what can the players of the ecosystem do about it? Since creating startups is almost a unique university cultural “genre”, how far the upstream from university students is crucial for the development of a startup ecosystem? While there is no successful startup ecosystem without good universities, a good higher education, especially in the STEM subjects, alone is a sufficient requirement for a thriving startup ecosystem? Or are the linkages between universities and industries rather the driving forces beyond the successes? Talented university students are inspired and motivated by the success story of fast-growing startups that are rapidly reaching global markets and making quick fortunes, but apart from being a role model, how can they help the emerging new startups?

Participants:

  • Magdalena Jablonska (MIT Enterprise Forum CEE, Warsaw)
  • Andrea Filippetti (National Research Council, Rome)
  • Micaela Vieira (Startup Madeira, Funchal)
  • Kaitlin Capobianco (Halcyonhouse, Washington)
  • Maryla Wojcieszek (Huge Things, Warsaw)