Business Factory Auto
About this good practice
This entrepreneurship initiative, promoted by CEAGA and Groupe PSA, in collaboration with the Galician Government (through GAIN, Igape and Xesgalicia) and the Free Trade Zone Consortium of Vigo (together with its venture capital firm Vigo Activo), aims to accelerate and consolidate automotive projects and its transformation into innovative, viable and scalable companies that attract and retain talent, contributing to strengthen the Sector position and increase its international projection. Since the beginning of the BFA’s activity, we have enabled the creation of 250 industry 4.0 qualified employees and an income generation of 33€ million. BFA is currently launching its 5th edition.
In BFA entrepreneurs will have at their disposal a workspace, financial support, training and a unique ecosystem made up of tutors, mentors, partners among other agents; all of them related to the automotive sector and business.
The Acceleration Programme, specifically designed for entrepreneurs in the automobile industry, lasts up to 9 months with planned activities focus on validating and developing a product or service, defining a business model, achieving the first sales, and boosting the team's skills and abilities. Participating projects can install at the co-working area alongside other entrepreneurial initiatives with comparable degrees of maturity and ranges of application, and they will all share training workshops, tech-meetings, and experience interchange opportunities.
Resources needed
Projects selected to participate in BFA can receive a maximum support of 375,000€, this investment comes from regional entities and participative loans from venture capital institutions.
BFA has a management team made up of professionals from the automotive sector and specialised tutors.
Evidence of success
More that 68 projects have been supported with this programme and more than 350 initiative have been presented to participate in the accelerator.
Regional winner at the category "Best accelerator or incubator programme" of the South Europe Startup Awards; International Best Practice Award of the European Association of Regional Development Agencies (EURADA) and winner of the "Best disseminated project" of the VI Clusters National Congress.
Potential for learning or transfer
The functioning of the BFA as a tool to support entrepreneurship is an example for new projects that want to get started in supporting startups and innovative initiatives in their sector.
It is very common for new projects, whose companies have not been created or are just an idea, that reach the acceleration phase to also go through consolidation to finally develop a good service or product that triumphs in the sector. This support from the idea to the creation, or sometimes expansion of the company in other sectors is key to demonstrating the success of this Accelerator in the region of Galicia.
Further information
Website
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
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