In its first year, through its one-stop-shop for Entrepreneurs, EKINN has supported 229 innovative projects.
EKINN is the new public platform for the different agents of the entrepreneurship ecosystem. Through collaboration, EKINN has become a node for the more than 5,500 people who have passed through the building in its first year.
This facilitylocated in the heart of the urban center is a clear commitment to collaboration between strategic agents of the ecosystem to enhance our city as a platform for the development of innovative projects and the development and attraction of talent (both local and international).
It is a building and equipment model that proposes a mix of uses that allows the city to address the challenges of training, the development of professional opportunities and projects, and the challenge of housing, as key elements to make our city attractive. EKINN offers a model that can be replicated and scaled, that seeks to be a reference for citizens and strategic agents and that also generates a point of
The 4 strategic work axes on which EKINN's activity has pivoted during this first year are the following ones:
TALENT DEVELOPMENT
In 365 days, nearly 1,500 people with entrepreneurial curiousity have passed by. It is worth highlighting the organisation of 21 Intensive Entrepreneurship Seminars in which around 650 students have taken part.
BUSINESS ACCELERATION
The accelerator EKINN+ programme has mentored 20 projects in 2024. 55% were Industry 4.0 projects, and 15% of them Biociences projects. In parallel, EKINN has become a platform for an active community of more than 100 startups, which are offered specialized training and mentoring aimed at better facing the three great challenges that entrepreneurs face today: First client, Investment and attracting and retaining Talent.
PLATFORM
In just one year, EKINN has welcomed 1,880 people who either attended Fomento´s own events or events organised by different entities, or were part of the international delegations that wanted to learn about the project´s model.
The EKINN model has also sparked the interest of different innovation ecosystems such as Malaga, Lisbon, Bologna or Espoo in Finland, and in these first 365 days visits have already been received from various local, national and international entities such as the Eurocities network.
TALENT ATTRACTION
The 70 apartments offered in EKINN are added to the 80 already existing in Talent House (House for Researchers), building an offer of 150 apartments and thus reinforcing the Talent Reception and Attraction Plan. Although in Talent House the person hosted has a more scientific profile, EKINN has a more entrepreneurial orientation.
The commitment to this city project responds to Fomento San Sebastian´s strategy to develop and attract entrepreneurial talent, to accelerate innovative projects, to developing entrepreneurial culture and, specially, to generate spaces for connection and collaboration that lead to opportunities and new projects with an impact for the city.
EKINN is, therefore, the cornerstone to foster innovative entrepreneurship in San Sebastian, one of the building blocks of this strategy being the establishment of international connections, learnings and new collaborations such as the Skale 2 CT project, coordinated by Fomento San Sebastian, and co-funded by the Interreg Europe programme to reinforce agents involved in providing acceleration services for start-ups in emerging sectors.