JADE Spring Meeting 2016 highlights

Sponsored Content  The JADE Spring Meeting is the biggest Junior Enterprise event in Europe, taking place each year in Brussels and organized entirely by JADE Team. In 2016, the JSM took place form the 31^st of March to the 3^rd of April, with the participation of Junior Entrepreneurs form all around Europe, Brazil and Tunisia. Here the highlights of the event!

The Opening Ceremony and the Panel Discussion

The JADE Spring Meeting was opened by JADE’s President Daniela Runchi, who welcomed all the participants and the partners in the event. As it is tradition in JADE events, the first part of the Opening Ceremony focused on a Panel Discussion on the event’s theme, which this yeas has been “Entrepreneurial Skills in the Digital Market”. The discussion was moderated by Mr. Philippe Vanrie, CEO of the European Business Network, with the panellists:

• Mrs Helen Kopman, Deputy Head of Unit Innovation at European Commission DG for Communications Networks Content and Technology
• Mr. Simone Baldasarri, Responsible for the file “Education for entrepreneurship” in the Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission
• Mr. Dennis Tan, former Junior Entrepreneur and co-founder of the digital start-up Dashmote
• Mr. Steven Price, member of the JADE’s Advisory Board and CEO of the European Institute for Industrial Leadership
• Mr. Maciej Surowiec, Government Affairs Manager at Microsoft

Discover here some highlights from the discussion!

“We should put more funding into supporting junior enterprises” Mr. Steven Price “We need to learn executing theoretical knowledge and the only way to do this while studying is Junior Enterprises” Mr. Dennis Tan “Nobody can afford as a young person in today’s society to not to be entrepreneurial” Mr. Simone Baldassari “We see many small companies who use very affordable digital technology products to gain competitive advantage” Mr. ‪Maciej Surowiec “There is a definite benefit to start mentoring relationships and to benefit from knowledge sharing between generations” Dennis Tan “We need entrepreneurship to spread across faculties. It should not be related only with business studies” Mr. Simone Baldassari

The discussion involved not only the panellists, but also all the participants, that could express their opinion in real time to give inputs in the panel. The second part of the Opening Ceremony saw the intervention of Dr. Klaus Hilleke, CEO of Simon Kucher & Partners Strategy and Marketing Consultants, who deliverd an impressive speech on the theme “Hidden Champions – What we can learn from the world leaders in innovation”. Dr. Hilleke led the participants though the discovery of Hidden Champions – who they are, what are their characteristics and what has contributed to make these companies so special in the last years. Last but not least, the Opening Ceremony was the occasion for the finalists of the JADE Excellence Awards to present their applications in front of the jury… find out more below!

The Gala Dinner: a keynote speech from Mr Herman Van Rompuy and Mr Herman Bach

After the Opening Ceremony, the JADE Spring Meeting continued with the Gala Dinner, dense with events. The Gala was in fact opened by a keynote speech by Mr. Herman Van Rompuy, former President of the European Council who shared with the Junior Entrepreneurs his views on Europe, its evolution, its hot topic and its priorities.

“One civilization with many cultures” Mr. Herman van Rompuy about the future of the European Union “The answer is not less Europe, the answer is more Europe” Mr. Herman van Rompuy about the challenges faced today by the Union

  The Gala Dinner was also the occasion for the Junior Entrepreneurs to discover more about Covestro, one of the main partners for the event, through a presentation delivered by Mr. Hermann Bach, Senior Vice President and Head of Covestro Innovation Management. Mr. Bach introduced the developments and commitments made by Covestro in the fields of innovation and presented the deep connection between the company and the values of curiosity, creativity and colourfulness.

The winners of the Excellence Awards

The JADE Spring Meeting is a unique occasion for visibility the Junior Enterprises, that can apply each year for the JADE Excellence Awards, delivered to the best JEs of the network. In 2016, Junior Enterprises could apply for awards in 6 categories: The finalists had the chance to present their applications during the Opening Ceremony in front of the jury and all the participants. In particular, the just was composed from representatives of the event’s and JADE’s partners, each specialized in a specific field associated to one of the awards:

• Most Socially Responsible Project: Nicole Linkels, UNIDO
• Most Innovative Project: Julia Altenhofer, Covestro
• Most Entrepreneurial Junior Enterprise: Monique Blokzyl, Serial Entrepreneur
• Most International Junior Enterprise: Andreea Calbeaza, Microsoft
• Most Promising Junior Enterprise: Steven Price, EIIL
• Junior Enterprise of the Year: all the members of the Jury

The Awards were delivered during the Gala Dinner by the members of the jury:

• Marketing Méditerranée from France for Most Socially Responsible Project
• JEToP from Italy for most Innovative Project
• WBC from the UK for Most International JE
• 
JECatt from Italy for Most Entrepreneurial JE
• 
Lisbon PH from Portugal for Most Promising JE
• Escadrille Toulouse from France for Junior Enterprise of the Year

The workshops

The JADE Spring Meeting was also for the Junior Entrepreneurs an occasion for training and skills development, thanks to 27 workshops delivered by JADE’s partner and alumni: