The Cellnex Foundation launches a call, which will be open until September 26, with the aim of selecting a maximum of 3 startups to participate in a 12-week acceleration program
The Cellnex Foundation has just launched one of its first initiatives focused on an acceleration program for startups, called Cellnex Bridge, with the aim of promoting innovative projects that seek to reduce digital, social and territorial gaps through the use of technology and connectivity.
In the words of the director of the Cellnex Foundation, Àngels Ucero: “In recent times, and especially since the crisis caused by Covid-19, we have seen how the lack of knowledge or access to new technologies generates inequality of opportunities and makes us walk at different speeds. ”
In order to reduce these gaps, the Foundation has launched this acceleration program for startups with social impact, which has the collaboration of the social innovation consultancy Innuba and the startup accelerator AticcoLab.
Build bridges of cooperation
Under the name Cellnex Bridge, this initiative aims to build bridges of cooperation in which all parties work towards common challenges and the search for permanent solutions. As Lluis Deulofeu, president of the Cellnex Foundation points out: “The ultimate goal of Cellnex Bridge is to put technology at the service of people to build bridges that unite and bring closer together because although the gaps separate, it is the bridges that unite us. With this first edition of the program, we are looking for projects with wide scope and coverage that contribute to generating a distributed social wealth to advance without leaving anyone behind ”.
And to achieve this – adds the president of the Cellnex Foundation -, in order to move forward together, it is necessary to promote meaningful universal connectivity. In other words, make connectivity reach the entire population in an adequate combination of quality of connection and access to devices “.
For Quino Fernández, CEO of AticcoLab, “this program allows the entrepreneurial ecosystem to work with a corporation like Cellnex and access its resources to be able to apply its knowledge and its products in real projects with a great impact on society”.
According to David Alayón, CFO and CIO of Innuba “social entrepreneurship is necessary to propose innovative solutions to great challenges that are also economically sustainable, but the first stages are tough. This program proposes a support, an acceleration, of knowledge and skills, in business and impact, keys to the success of the venture, working hand in hand with a large corporation such as Cellnex and with the aim of jointly creating a real proof of concept and with measurable impact “.
The call, in which social impact start-ups linked to areas such as education, care for the elderly or the promotion of rural areas, among others, can participate, will be open from today until September 26. From among the participants, the Foundation will select up to 3 projects that will become part of its acceleration program, lasting 12 weeks, during which they will receive mentoring for the development of proofs of concept, business support and social impact, and financial support of up to 15,000 euros for the development of your project.
Resources to promote success stories
Each of the selected startups will be accompanied by a group of AticcoLab mentors who are experts in the world of entrepreneurship and open innovation, and by Cellnex experts selected on a case-by-case basis according to their suitability to mentor each project.
The mentoring sessions will be accompanied by theoretical-practical workshops, round tables and other group training on business, impact, development of soft skills or personal and collective development. Cellnex will also provide the technology, knowledge and resources necessary for projects to become successful cases.
The objective of the Cellnex Foundation with this program is to weave cooperation networks that promote the talent and innovation of entrepreneurs with ideas of social impact while helping to reduce social inequality and improve digital capacity, quality of life and universal sustainability.
