The Cellnex Foundation helps 3 social impact startups to boost their projects

The first edition of the Cellnex Bridge acceleration program ends successfully

Voluta.coop, Nixi for Children and eAgora have presented the PoC (Proof of Concept) of their product and/or service during a 12-week mentoring and coaching program.

The Cellnex Foundation is working on the second edition of this startup acceleration program focused on reducing digital, social and territorial divides through the use of technology and connectivity.

Barcelona, April 11, 2022. The Cellnex Foundation has held the closing event -Demo Day- of the first edition of the Cellnex Bridge acceleration program addressed to startups with social impact, launched in mid-2021. The aim of this program is to boost innovative projects to reduce digital, social, territorial divides using technology and connectivity.

The event took place at the Foundation’s new headquarters in Barcelona and was attended by Atticolab -a accelerator startup who collaborates in the program-, and by Innuba -the social innovation consultancy-. During the day, the participating startups presented the progress of their work, enhancing both in technical and commercial aspects, and the PoC of their final project was presented to the Foundation team; Atticolab & Innuba mentors; and the professionals from Cellnex involved in the project.

The three initiatives were selected over more than 50 applications received last November. Each of them followed a personalized support program based on their needs, seeking multidisciplinary and diversity to develop concept tests. Over the course of 12 weeks, the program was divided into different phases, including mentoring & coaching -to focus on the objectives and challenges of the project-;12 training sessions with experts on financial, technical, legal & creativity issues; 3 round tables conducted by professionals from the sector to provide a complementary vision; and coaching sessions and continuous monitoring of the projects.

Social entrepreneurship projects

The participating startups have presented a Proof of Concept based on technology and connectivity to solve specific challenges. The results highlight the returns obtained by mixing social and technological causes with the entrepreneurial spirit and the support received from the Cellnex Foundation.

Nixi for Children was born to accompany children and their families during the preparatory process for an hospital intervention in order to help them reduce anxiety through virtual reality. In this case, its proof was based on improving the existing product through the development of an interactive and immersive application to increase the result of reducing anxiety. They transformed the video into a 360 interactive format to scale the project and achieve a useful life. The main character -Nixi- has also evolved to be more expressive, which facilitates a greater connection with the children.

On the other hand, Voluta.coop -rural entrepreneurship startup seeks to attract families, digital nomads and repopulating entrepreneurs by connecting rural and urban areas using IoT- organized the first rural Hackathon aimed to generate a high impact in rural areas by training young people and promoting STEM entrepreneurship. During this event -held last March in the municipality of Montanejos (Castellón)- the participants addressed different city challenges related to ecological, forest-agriculture and the social welfare of the area through technological solutions. After the end of this event, the first one in a series of 15 rural hackathons planned until 2025, 94% of young people said they would repeat the experience, and 47% said they see themselves working in rural areas.

Lastly, eAgora, the first “all-in-one” solution for local communities developed an ODS radar to implement solutions and predict the impact. Thanks to its modularity and the continuous incorporation of new functions, this platform is positioned as the most effective solution to facilitate local management and neighborhood participation in municipalities of any size.

During the presentation, Lluís Deulofeu, President of the Cellnex Foundation, thanked all the participants for “the great work carried out” and he wanted to highlight the Foundation’s role throughout the program by making all the resources available to startups. The aim is to let these innovating startups to develop the proofs into successful social entrepreneurship projects with future projection. “We have developed cooperation networks that promote the talent and innovation of social impact entrepreneurs while we have contributed to reducing social inequality and improving digital capacity, quality of life and sustainability”, he concludes.

After the success of this first edition, the Cellnex Foundation has already started working on the second edition of the Cellnex Bridge acceleration programme, which it plans to launch soon.

About the Cellnex Foundation

The Cellnex Foundation, backed by Cellnex Telecom, works to reduce existing digital, social and territorial divides through initiatives that improve access to connectivity. It also works to promote positive solutions for the environment.

Its business model is based on three pillars: Proprietary programmes led by the Foundation, joint programmes in alliance with other organisations and institutions, and corporate volunteering.

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

AticcoLab

AticcoLab – Aticco Ecosystem’s entrepreneurship support platform- has the mission of strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the connections between entrepreneurs, startups and corporates. It develops accelerated programs that maximize the opportunities for startups, reducing the timeline for their growth and avoiding the risks that can affect the early stages. In addition, it accompanies corporations on the path to change into open innovation. It brings investors closer to its network of entrepreneurs to discover the projects with the most potential and intensify deal-flow. AticcoLab has a vast network of mentors specialized in startups, innovation and entrepreneurship. His experience, knowledge, and contacts drive and maximize the projects of accelerated startups.

Innuba 

Innuba is a strategic design consultancy in social innovation that, since 2016, accompanies companies in their social transformation, introducing social impact and sustainability at the core of their business. It works from the corporate purpose, generating a holistic and systemic change, and through the design of products and services that have a positive impact and an economic return, as well as designing innovative projects that have a measurable effect. It also creates and delivers training programs to transform people.