Publish Date: 12.03.2015
Category: News from the University
April saw the birth of the new business accelerator known as Acceleration Business City (ABC). The accelerator is meant for start-up companies with an existing product and applications for the first three-month programme on the topic of smart cities are already open. The ABC accelerator was founded by the companies BTC, Xlab, AmCham Slovenia and ABC TIM, with IBM Slovenia and the University of Ljubljana as strategic partners. The Slovenian subsidiary of the American company Microsoft will also offer support for start-ups, the accelerator’s director Dejan Roljić said at today’s presentation. Every year, two three-month programmes will be carried out. When the programme is completed, the teams will have the opportunity to establish contact with various partners around the world for another three months with the accelerator’s help.
At the ceremony of signing the declaration on strategic partnership with the University of Ljubljana, its Rector Professor Ivan Svetlik, PhD, said: “We see the accelerator as a form of support where students, researchers and anyone with entrepreneurial ambitions and ideas can find their space to network, develop entrepreneurial know-how and bring together initiatives for successful placement on the market.”
Photos by Damjan Glazer.
Partners at the ceremony of signing the declaration on strategic partnership for the ABC accelerator. Left to right: Dejan Roljič, Director of ABC TIM, Jože Mermal, President of the Management Board of BTC, Professor Ivan Svetlik, PhD, Rector of the University of Ljubljana, and Julij Božič, Executive Director of IBM Slovenia.
"The University of Ljubljana strengthens the pillar of knowledge transfer and supports various forms of collaboration with the economic and non-economic sector," said Professor Ivan Svetlik, PhD, Rector of the University of Ljubljana.
There was considerable interest in the ABC accelerator, the aim of which is to advance Slovenia%u2019s business environment and provide innovative entrepreneurs with access to international investors and speed up their penetration into the global market.
Professor Maja Makovec Brenčič, PhD, Vice-Rector of the University of Ljubljana, Professor Ivan Svetlik, PhD, Rector of the University of Ljubljana, and Jože Mermal, President of the Management Board of BTC, were very interested in reading the ABC accelerator cards on which attendees had written their hopes for the development of this type of entrepreneurial accelerator in Slovenia. Its founders allocated an incredible 900 m2 of space to the project.