The Cellnex Foundation picks three startups to receive support in developing their social impact projects

New faces join the Cellnex Bridge acceleration programme

• Voluta.coop, Nixi for Children and eAgora will receive mentoring from innovation experts and financial support to develop proofs of concept for their product/service over the next 12 weeks.

Barcelona, 5 November 2021 – The Cellnex Foundation has presented the three projects  –Voluta.coop, Nixi for Children and eAgora– selected to join the first edition of the Cellnex Bridge Acceleration Programme. The programme, launched in July, aims to promote innovative projects designed to leverage technology and connectivity to narrow digital, social and territorial divides. The presentation took place in Barcelona at one of the work centres of Atticolab, a start-up accelerator and one of the two external collaborators of the programme. The second collaborator is Innuba, a social innovation consultancy.

Àngels Ucero, Director of the Cellnex Foundation, stressed that “inequalities are growing, and vulnerable groups are the most affected. That is why the great challenge we face is to help narrow the divides by making this world a fairer and more sustainable place. Our goal is to transform lives by helping people stay connected and engage with the world while making connectivity increasingly effective, affordable and, above all, universal.”

Quino Fernández, CEO of Atticolab, underlined the importance of corporations collaborating with start-ups to “absorb and use the full extent of their talent”. David Alayón, CEO of Innuba, signalled that “this is a great moment for purpose-driven innovation, defusing tension and being socially, environmentally and economically sustainable.”

The Cellnex Bridge acceleration programme pairs start-ups with a multidisciplinary group of mentors from AticcoLab and Innuba – who are experts in the world of entrepreneurship and open innovation, and with Cellnex experts selected on a case-by-case basis according to their suitability to support the growth and impact of each project. The mentoring sessions, focused on developing a proof of concept, will be combined with training in various areas of the business and specific sessions to shape the financial plan, communication strategy, investment plan, personal and collective development and more.

Cellnex will also provide the necessary technology and knowledge to make projects successful.

Selected start-ups

The initiatives selected are of outstanding quality: at the core of each are powerful ideas and value propositions linked to fields including education, care for vulnerable people and the promotion of rural areas. Selected from among more than fifty start-up applicants after a thorough evaluation process, Voluta.coop, Nixi for Children and eAgora will now join the Cellnex Bridge social-impact accelerator.

Voluta.coop is a rural entrepreneurship start-up that seeks to attract families, digital nomads and enterprising re-populators by connecting rural and urban environments through IoT technology. Their main objective is to diversify rural economic activity and reinvigorate life in society with smart solutions, workshops and eco-social events that combat depopulation, detachment from nature and the digital divide.

Nixi for Children is a start-up that uses virtual reality to help alleviate anxiety in children and families preparing for operations or other hospital interventions. Their experience-generating virtual reality goggles, ‘Nixi Kits’, offer users a fun and familiar way to understand the situations they will find themselves in. This experience empowers the patient, increases family satisfaction, and makes hospitals more human.

eAgora is an application that connects stakeholders within a town, city or region (citizens, the third sector, private sector and public administration) to forge a network that promotes knowledge transfer and solutions related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030. The chief objective is to encourage citizen participation in and gauge the social impact of the SDGs, using gamification to showcase sustainable actions and keep real-time logs of Sustainable Development Goal related actions in each area.

Now Voluta.coop, Nixi for Children and eAgora join the 12-week acceleration programme and will receive up to €15,000 in financial support to develop their project.

During the presentation, Lluís Deulofeu, President of the Cellnex Foundation, emphasised that the Foundation’s objective for the initiative is to collaborate with entrepreneurs, enabling and supporting their ideas and innovations to work towards the common goals of reducing social inequality and enhancing digital capacity, quality of life and universal sustainability.

About the Cellnex Foundation

The Cellnex Foundation, backed by Cellnex Telecom, works to narrow the existing digital, social and territorial divides through projects that improve access to connectivity and promote positive solutions for the environment. Its business model is based on three pillars: proprietary programmes led by the Foundation, joint programmes in partnership with other organisations and institutions, and corporate volunteering.

For more information: https://www.cellnextelecom.com/en/the-cellnex-foundation/

AticcoLab

The mission of AticcoLab, the entrepreneurship support platform of Aticco Ecosystem, is to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the connections between entrepreneurs, start-ups and corporates. It develops acceleration programmes that maximise opportunities for start-ups, shortening their growth timeline and avoiding the risks that can affect the early phases. Furthermore, it supports corporations on the path to change through open innovation and brings investors closer to its network of entrepreneurs so that they can discover which projects have the most potential and intensify the deal flow. AticcoLab has an extensive network of mentors specialising in start-ups, innovation and entrepreneurship. Their experience, knowledge and contacts drive and maximise accelerated start-up projects.

Innuba

Since 2016, Innuba, a strategic design consultancy in social innovation, has supported and mentored companies in their social transformation by injecting social impact and sustainability into the heart of their business. It works towards corporate goals and fosters holistic and systemic change by designing products and services with a positive impact and a financial return and designing innovation projects with a measurable impact. It also designs and delivers transformational training programmes.