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Titled the EU- Sri Lanka Innovation Partnership, the program has been promoting co-operation and innovation between the parties since 2020. According to a statement made by the European Union as part of a new initiative the program has brought together 20 incubators and accelerators and start-ups from all Europe and Sri Lanka with the hopes of exposing them to a wide variety of ventures.
These include stimulating networking, innovation collaboration, boosting business co-creation and tech collaboration.
Under the program the incubators and accelerators are to meet in 3 networking events which would help support the portfolio start-ups across Europe and South Asia. Sri Lanka plays the important role of acting as a gateway for the future expansion of the project into the region.
The program has managed to create a network of European and Sri Lankan incubators/accelerators as well as establishing an EU- South Asia Start- up helpdesk in the hopes of providing practical support to new start- ups that wish to enter the market.
Currently there are 8 ongoing EU- Sri Lanka incubator partnership. More than 24 start ups have requested support from the helpdesk while 18 have submitted their applications to participate in the EU- SLIP agri- tech thematic platform. Furthermore over 10 investment companies have launched open invitation calls for European and Sri Lanka Start- ups.
Many experts and authorities demonstrate optimism regarding the success of the initiative and hopes that it will open doors for the inclusion of course modules on entrepreneurship for university students, an important element that has yet to be incorporated into the local education system.