The Vice-President of the Junta de Castilla y León, Mr Juan García-Gallardo; the Regional Minister of Industry, Trade and Employment, Mr Mario Venganzones; the Regional Minister of Education, Ms Rocío Lucas, the Director General of Social Economy and the Self-Employed, Ms Emma Fernández Rodríguez, and the Director General of Universities and Research, Ms Blanca Ares, have already confirmed their attendance at the event. Unicorns such as the co-founder of Angry Birds, Peter Vesterbacka, the co-founder of Bla Bla Car, Vicent Rosso, and the general co-founder of BQ, Rodrigo del Prado, will also attend.

The National Police and the Guardia Civil will hold major technological exhibitions and displays to make the big event even more visible to society, especially to young people and children. The organisers have made a great effort to ensure that children, accompanied by their parents, can attend an international event of this scale.

The Puerta Zamora fountain will be lit up in red and yellow, the colours representing Startup OLÉ, on 5th and 6th of September.

The main novelties this year will be the large participation of companies and institutions from Castilla y León through the CYL-HUB project, as well as the celebration of an impact and sustainability forum and a large forum with startup villages in Europe, Startup Village, within the framework of REInA (Rural European Innovation Area). Other new highlights of this edition are the holding of two meetings of two prominent university alliances, such as the Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and the University Alliance, promoted by the European Commission and the University of Salamanca.

Salamanca will once again be the world capital of technological entrepreneurship and innovation. The eighth edition of Startup OLÉ 2022 is already arriving with absolutely spectacular figures in terms of both participants and attendees. In fact, the participation of more than 700 speakers and nearly 160 startups (more than 40 of them from Castilla y León) has already been confirmed. The total estimated number of attendees to the event already exceeds 2,000 people.

In this way, the great global entrepreneurship summit will bring together in Salamanca, from next Monday until Wednesday 7th of September 2022, the national and international entrepreneurial ecosystem with the support of public institutions, corporations, investors, startups, freelancers, SMEs, universities, science parks, business schools and accelerators, with networking being one of the main attractions of the event.

The working sessions will take place over three days at the Hospedería Fonseca, the Colegio Arzobispo Fonseca and the Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de Castilla y León. The programme is almost ready and the activities will include round tables, pitch competitions, startup fairs, business rounds between startups, SMEs, freelancers with corporations and investors from all over the world (matchmaking) and networking activities.

Startup OLÉ 2022, as in previous editions, will have a networking platform, which will allow attendees to connect and schedule meetings, encouraging networking, allowing each of the registered attendees to connect based on their interests, verticals and technologies. Meetings can be held in person or via videoconferencing, which strengthens the generation of synergies.

Another attraction of the programme will be the concerts that will be held, which will provide a cultural addition of special interest to an event of a markedly technological nature, favouring networking and business rounds among the attendees. The group Picoco's will perform their best songs at the concert on the evening of Monday 5th September at the Colegio Arzobispo Fonseca, a concert sponsored by Huawei Europe.

Among the long list of entities that have joined Startup OLÉ are the Junior Achievement Foundation, which focuses on training young entrepreneurs, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which promotes innovation and technological excellence.

Leading Speakers

This eighth edition will be attended by leading specialists. Proof of this will be the outstanding participation of the current European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, who will speak at the official opening of the meeting on the morning of 6th September at the Palacio de Congresos. On the other hand, the participation of leading institutions and companies from different sectors has also been confirmed, such as Oracle, Acciona I'MNOVATION, CDTI, Iberdrola, Accenture, INCIBE, Capital Energy, Sek Lab Accelerator, Elewit and Hispasat, Enagás, Fundación Once, Cruz Roja, BF Auto, Caixa Capital Risc, Spain Cap, Mondragon, FACSA, KAUDAL, Cofares, Cinfa, BME, etc.

The president of ICO, José Carlos García de Quevedo; the general director of CDTI, Javier Ponce; the CEO of Enisa, José Bayón; the unicorn and co-founder of Bla bla car, Vincent Rosso; the main representative of Huawei to the institutions of the European Union, Tony Jin; the president of the European Startups Association, Jan Bormans; the mayor of Salamanca, Carlos García Carbayo; the rector of the University of Salamanca, Ricardo Rivero, and the president of the Provincial Council, Javier Iglesias, will also attend. Prior to the event, a wide range of activities will take place throughout Monday, such as forums for universities, investors and accelerators. Also participating in this eighth edition will be the director general of the National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE), Félix Barrio, who will speak on Monday afternoon. INCIBE is the leader in the cybersecurity sector at the Startup OLÉ fair.

This year will also see the participation of the self-employed, innovative SMEs, startups, scaleups and institutions of Castilla y León through the CYL-HUB project, a project to boost innovation and entrepreneurship in Castilla y León financed by Next Generation EU funds channelled through the Junta de Castilla y León with a total budget of 1,342,280 euros. It is a transnational project based on the fields of open innovation and entrepreneurship of the self-employed, innovative SMEs, startups and scaleups based on five transversal axes: job creation, ecological transition, social and territorial cohesion, digitalisation and gender equality, which promotes reforms that help and accelerate the economic and social recovery of Castilla y León, with support from the Recovery Funds through the Mechanisms for Recovery and Resilience (MRR).

Three days full of activities

The event will start on 5th September and will run until 7th September. Open innovation, investment models from the point of view of women, new investment strategies and the approaches and commitment of public administrations and institutions will be some of the issues of particular interest and topicality that will be addressed in the various round tables scheduled.

One of the most outstanding events of this edition will be the rural innovation forum Startup Village/Rural European Innovation Area (REInA), which will deal with issues related to rural innovation initiatives at the European level and will be attended by local action groups, local authorities, local authorities and institutions.

The event will conclude on 7th September with the final of the Startup Pitch Competition, the award ceremony for the Pegasus Award (participation in the semi-final of the Startup World Cup Semi Finale), the award to the winner of the "Innovation and sustainability in rural areas" challenge organised by Iberdrola in collaboration with the Startup OLÉ and with the support of the European Commission or the Open Innovation Challenge Award organised by Capital Energy Quantum, together with the closing of the event, and a final networking cocktail.

The winning startup at the Salamanca summit will participate in the semi-final of the Startup World Cup, to be held in San Francisco (USA). In this way, the echoes of the Salamanca summit will resonate on a global scale.

Support for the new European innovation agenda

The startup OLÉ community will also make contributions and proposals during the event to the new European Innovation Agenda, an ambitious project that was presented on 5th July by the European Commission and whose main objective is to place Europe at the forefront of the new wave of technological innovation (Deep Teach) and emerging companies. Precisely, Startup OLÉ will include the meetings of two university networks of recognised prestige, such as the Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and the University Alliance. At their meetings they will address and discuss their proposals on the contents of the new European Innovation Agenda and will present them on 6th September to the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, during their meeting with her.

Another important feature of Startup OLÉ is that its wide range of activities will be accessible to all citizens. Those interested in attending the different round tables and workshops can register now through the website and obtain the corresponding free ticket that will entitle them to attend the activities completely free of charge.

Commitment of the state security forces and corps

The event will also feature exhibitions by the State Security Forces and Corps, such as the Civil Guard on 6th September between 13:30 and 14:00 in Fonseca Street, as well as the National Police. The Guardia Civil officers will display their different capabilities, both personal and material means, in the search, location and rescue of injured or lost people. For this purpose, a simulation will be deployed in which the procedure for the search, location and rescue of an injured person during the practice of mountain sports activities will be represented. The purpose of this exhibition is to show and make visible the most technologically advanced solutions available to the Benemérita to carry out this type of service.

In the case of the National Police, its participation in the event will be developed with three relevant actions. On the one hand, a technological exhibition will be organised at the stand set up by the National Police during the three days of the event at the Palacio de Congresos, which will be attended by agents from the Subdirectorate General of the Technical Office, the Telecommunications area, the TEDAX-NRBQ of the Foreigners and Borders units, the Technical Police and Air Resources.

The second action will be a police exhibition, which will be attended by the Air Resources Service, the Canine Guides Section, the Scientific Police and a tactical unit in charge of detecting criminal organisations. It will take place on Monday 5th between 15:30 and 16:00. The third action of the National Police at Startup OLÉ will be a display of vintage vehicles, which will bring together motorbikes, vehicles and specialised trucks in Fonseca Street during the three days of the event.

CYL-HUB's commitment to gender equality

The CYL-HUB project for innovation and technological entrepreneurship in Castilla y León will have a particularly prominent presence in the programme of Startup OLÉ, as it will disseminate one of its five cross-cutting themes, namely gender equality. During the afternoon of Tuesday 6th September, five round tables will be held at the Palacio de Congresos on a purely female theme under the sponsorship of CYL-HUB, with the participation of leading representatives of women's networks. The first of the scheduled round tables has the suggestive title of 'Startups seen from a gender perspective' and will include the participation of directors and founders of relevant startups, such as the founder of Kampanera, Lucía Miguel; Adriana Casillas, CEO of Tebrio; Isabel Monge, CEO of Bosque Rojo; Beatriz Montenegro, head of the Development Team at Ecoitec-Grupo Ecotisa; and Celsa García, CEO of NEA THEA. Milagros Marco, Member of the Spanish Congress of Deputies, will act as moderator.

Another of the round tables is entitled 'Female entrepreneurship: Barriers and challenges faced by self-employed women' and will be moderated by the general secretary of the Association of Self-Employed Workers (ATA) of Castilla y León, Leticia Mingueza. The other three scheduled round tables are entitled 'Women entrepreneurs: what moves us and what stops us', moderated by Virginia Vicente, multimedia director of Infinity Group and deputy director of Woman Leader, 'Women in innovation: an opportunity for the future', which will be moderated by Gracia Sánchez del Real, CEO of Infinity Group and deputy director of Woman Leader and, finally, 'Creating synergies between networks of women investors and entrepreneurs', moderated by the CEO and co-founder of Impulse4Women, Taryn Andersen.

Another major new feature of the event is the holding of two meetings of a markedly university nature that will address the major challenges facing university education, with the participation of a wide range of Spanish and foreign universities. The university alliances that will meet at Startup OLÉ are the Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and the University Alliance.

International projection of CYL-HUB

CYL-HUB continues to take new steps in the development of its ambitious project. To this end, it will select, within the framework of the Europa Pass-CYL-HUB programme, the best startups, micro SMEs and self-employed people from Castilla y León and invites them to attend Web Summit Lisbon, the largest technological entrepreneurship event in Europe, which will be held between 1st and 4th November in Lisbon.

The micro SMEs/startups/self-employed will be selected through a pitch competition at the international Startup OLÉ fair, which takes place in Salamanca on 5th, 6th and 7th September, and at successive local and provincial CYL-HUB events by a jury of experts. Startups, micro SMEs and freelancers can register for the Startup OLÉ fair in Salamanca through the link https://startupole.eu/startups/.

Illumination of the zamora gate fountain

For its part, the City Council has announced that on 5th and 6th September it will illuminate the fountain of Puerta Zamora with the colours red and yellow, the identifying colours of Startup OLÉ, which will give greater visibility in the city and among the residents of the capital of Tormes to this great event of entrepreneurship and technological innovation.

The success of Startup Olé over all these years is reflected in the fact that a total of 120 countries have been represented with speakers and startups throughout these seven editions.