Techblog
5 things entrepreneurs must know about the APEC Start-Up Accelerator Initiative
Entrepreneurs understand the value of networking events in finding potential investors and taking their ideas to the global stage. The APEC Start-Up Accelerator Initiative is one such platform ideal for regional startups.
Across the Asia-Pacific region, Micro, Small & Medium Businesses (MSMBs) represent a staggering 97 percent of all businesses, as well as nearly making up half of the entire regional workforce. Projects such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Start-Up Accelerator Initiative present entrepreneurs with valuable networking events and new opportunities to take their ideas into the region.
Since 2013, APEC has dedicated an annual competition centred not just on bringing small and medium businesses together, but also to showcase world-changing ideas and get them funded. This competition, the APEC Start-Up Accelerator Initiative, is a two-day conference where businesses from all over the region come together to present ideas in symposiums and attend networking events.
If you are an startup owner wondering just how you can benefit from the APEC Start-Up Accelerator Initiative, here are five reasons for participating.
1. A chance to show your skills and ideas
Entrepreneurs relish the chance to showcase their new products or services in an environment with like-minded business owners, who could become their partners or investors in the future. Each year, the APEC Start-Up Accelerator helps firms build their ideas into new companies and provides a platform for them to earn venture capital or other opportunities.
2. Attend once-in-a-lifetime training opportunities
At the APEC Start-Up Accelerator, businesses are doing more than just meeting and sharing ideas. The Accelerator Leadership Summit in Taipei also provides one-of-a-kind learning opportunities for building products. Speakers from all over the world meet to discuss ideas, give tips and help grow ideas into realities.
3. Establish your brand and build partnerships
Believe it or not, startups and small businesses can compete in the global marketplace just like multinational firms. The APEC Accelerator Network organises networking sessions that allow entrepreneurs to meet one another, collaborate and potentially find business opportunities through one another.
Startups can also collaborate with not just fellow small and medium businesses, but also large businesses looking for companies to invest in or do business with. Firms such as Intel and Siemens are major partners in the Accelerator’s Global Challenge, among other projects and opportunities.
4. Compete to improve your ideas and win prizes
The yearly Global Challenge is an international opportunity to take ideas developed in the Start-Up Accelerator and potentially win prizes, business contracts and other big rewards. At the challenge, up to US$100,000 is awarded to new projects based off a number of categories. Taking an idea through the Start-Up Accelerator could land your business at the Global Challenge, competing for the chance to sign a major partnership, earn venture capital or win one of the APEC prizes.
5. Live on the cutting edge of innovation
There is no other place in the world where small and medium businesses can see exactly what the future of technology and innovation will be. The APEC Start-Up Accelerator is ground zero to all future world-changing ideas from regional start-ups, and the APEC Global Challenge is a place like no other where ideas collide to improve the world.
For entrepreneurs dreaming to go big with their MSMBs, the APEC Start-Up Accelerator is the perfect platform to
- showcase your ideas to venture capitalists
- learn from the expert speakers and potential mentors
- seek out partnerships, even with big enterprises
- submit your idea to stand a chance to win US$100,000
- get inspired by experiencing the future of innovation and technology