Startup Weekends and a „Creathon“ on the horizon

Startup Weekend is a global network of passionate leaders and entrepreneurs on a mission to inspire, educate, and empower individuals, teams and communities. It centers around events where teams together with coaches work on business ideas. In the coming weeks Startup Weekends will be held in Basel and Neuchâtel (both 24 to 26 October). In addition the first Startup Weekend in Switzerland is planned that is focussing on creative business (Zurich, 3 to 5 October). The organizers are driven by the belief that, in the long run, high quality art can only be created and sustained if it is integrated into a commercially successful system. Reinforcing the entrepreneurial spirit within the cultural field is important to us because we love art and culture.

Beginning with Friday night pitches and continuing through brainstorming, business plan development, and basic prototype creation, Startup Weekends culminate in Sunday night demos and presentations. Participants create working startups during the event and are able to collaborate with like-minded individuals outside of their daily networks and are supported by experienced coaches.

A somewhat similar event is the Creathon organised by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences (29 to 31 August). Supported by coaches participants have the chance to create a prototype out of their business idea following the design thinking method. In addition the event has two prominent speakers: Larry Leifer, co-developer of design thinking and Stanford University und Sergio Ramos, National University of Distance Learning in Madrid.