On November 9 the 2nd edition of Cracow’s #startKRKup ended after six great days of hackathons, pitches, and amazing networking. You could attend over a dozen free lectures and workshops, regardless of your age. It was a very diverse event. There was something for startuppers as well as people outside of the startup scene; special workshops for high schoolers, Dream Job, and BeCom! initiatives and FCKUP stories panel about women working in new tech. At the same time, KRK Road to Success was launched – the first Municipal Pre-Acceleration Programme organised by Ad Ventures where startups could take part in workshops and meet investors.
Cracow has an enormous potential and they’re trying to show it. In Poland only in Warsaw there are more startups working. The City realises that the better promoted new tech is, the better startups are going to develop. That’s why they teamed up with lots of other initiatives such as Startup Stage, Startup Mixer and barcamps organised by Geek Week Fest. The main goal is to show how dynamically Cracow is developing and how many opportunities are available right now for startuppers.
#starkKRKup provided cool workshops for high schoolers almost every day. They could learn about new tech used in startups, learn something about programming and writing your own app. They could discuss business and even present their own startup ideas. They could even get 3D prints of their own ideas, discuss everything with mentors and finally present their startup idea in front of a jury. We’re not just talking here about completely unreal ideas; they had to take into account possible investments, business models, etc.
KRK Road to Success was a very intensive 30day workshop programme. 10 startups, amongst them EdibleVaccines, Kray Technologies or BIOsens, met up with mentors, discussed how to get funds and present their ideas clearly. On Wednesday, there was Demo Day when they had a chance to present their ideas in front of investors.
There were also many barcamps. One of them was FCKUP stories. Katarzyna Wabik, Joanna Chwastowska and Aleksandra Jarośkiewicz talked about their past mishaps and problems they encountered at the beginning of their careers.
What’s more, up until now people working in med and science had problems in accessing research equipment. It’s bound to change now thanks to Klaster LifeScience Kraków launched Bio-Inkubator.
#startKRKup proves that Cracow definitely has a lot to offer. It’s really cool they don’t just concentrate on one group but try to promote startups among younger generations, while at the same time organising plenty for more experienced people.
