SIEA established a Slovak stakeholder group for UnicornQuest

Meetings with experts, where the project managers from the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency (SIEA) presented the project and its planned goals, led to the successful formation of a 17-member Stakeholder Working Group (SWG).

One of the key tasks in the initial phase of the UnicornQuest project is the formation of a high quality SWG - a group of experts in each partner country that will guarantee the high quality of the project outputs. The SWG members will meet at least once every six months to discuss issues arising from the implementation of the project.

As a project partner, SIEA held several meetings with relevant organisations during the formation of the group. Their interest stems mainly from the possibility of being directly involved in creating conditions for the development of start-ups. In the expert selection process, the agency relied on its experience from the implementation of previous international projects, such as ACE - Achieving Cluster Excellence, ClusterFY, Valuable Creativity and others.

Finally, the Slovak SWG consists of representatives of consulting companies (PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and Civitta Slovakia), industrial clusters (Council of Slovak Exporters, Košice IT Valley and HEI Cluster), academic sector (Pan-European University in Bratislava) and public & state administration (Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic, Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, SARIO and SBA). SIEA plans to hold the first meeting at the end of August 2023.

The Interreg Europe UnicornQuest project aims to build business ecosystems and improve access to networking and funding for start-ups in 10 partner countries. SIEA’s mission is to improve the Slovak ecosystem, remove administrative barriers and significantly support the development of start-ups in Slovakia.