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The German EEPA national awards ceremony took place on 12 October 2018 in Berlin as part of the deGUT-fair, one of the most important German entrepreneurship fairs. The ceremony was hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, within the ministry’s fair forum. After Germany’s national EEPA Coordinator Juliane Kummer presented the European Competition and spoke about the 2018 national EEPA campaign, the two winners “Nachfolge in Deutschland” (Business Succession in Germany) and “ProjectTogether” were announced. Both projects received congratulations and a winner’s certificate handed out by the Ministry. Following the award presentation, each winner was invited to present their innovative and inspiring initiatives by giving a short interview on stage.

The online platform “Nachfolge in Deutschland” deals with the topic of business succession. It provides innovative digital instruments and tools for entrepreneurs who are planning to transfer their business as well as for business successors. It uses a simple but holistic approach and offers a low participation threshold.

“ProjectTogether” received an additional special congratulation for being one of the shortlisted projects for the 2018 European level of the competition. The digital incubator for social start-ups combines progress and responsibility. It empowers young founders with ideas that can make the world being a better place through support and training from an active online expert community and provides access to networks to connect with government bodies, companies and foundations.

The two winners were selected by a national expert jury who evaluated a total of 31 national entries in June 2018. The jury has also selected a “German EEPA TOP 10” which has been published in a best practice brochure.

Both projects will be present at the SME Assembly, so if you are interested in finding out more visit their websites and see if you can spot them at the event next month!

We have seen the shortlist, and started introducing all the candidates, but what happens before that? What does a national ceremony look like? Today on Promoting Enterprise German National Coordinator Juliane Kummer shares with us what happened at the 2017 German EEPA national ceremony.

The German national awards ceremony 2017 took place on 13 October 2017 in Berlin, as part of the deGUT-fair, one of the most important German entrepreneurship fairs. The ceremony was hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, and was presented during the fair forum. The two winners “BIRTH – Business Innovation Responsibility and Technology @ Hansenberg” and “Import Promotion Desk” were announced to the visiting public and they received congratulations and a winner’s certificate handed out by the Ministry. Following the award presentation, each winner was invited to present their innovative and inspiring initiatives by giving a short interview on the stage. These two winners had been selected by a national expert jury who evaluated a total of 29 entries in May 2017.

“BIRTH – Business Innovation Responsibility and Technology @ Hansenberg” project, takes a different approach to education and aims to educate secondary school students in the areas of business, natural sciences and ultimately entrepreneurship. The project is divided into different phases and includes business competitions, immersive internships abroad, science clubs and business weeks. Through these activities students are pushed to think like entrepreneurs, work in teams, and work in collaboration with local and national stakeholders. As they advance through school activities become more complex and introduce different skills, allowing the students to develop into competent candidates for the modern labour market.

The “Import Promotion Desk” supports German imports, thus opening the door for SMEs from selected developing and emerging countries to access the European market and develop trade capacities. The aim is to maintain the sustained import of particular products from partner countries, whilst maintaining high quality, social and environmental standards. The IPD brings together European importers, who can optimise procurement and increase product diversity, and exporters as trade partners. Consequently partner country export capacities are strengthened through job creation and income increase. IPD is currently active in the following counties: Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Columbia, Nepal, Peru and Tunisia.

Both projects will be present at the SME Assembly, so if you are interested in finding out more visit their websites and see if you can spot them at the event next month!