THE Links in partnership with the Sebrae for Startups held on September 22, 23 and 30, 2022 the 2nd edition from the Academy of Projects, a training program for entrepreneurs/researchers and qualification of proposals submitted to Call PIPE FAPESP Sebrae StartUp – Company – Technological validation with the Customer (PoC/MVP).

the covenant Fapesp-Sebrae promotes the selection of projects within the scope of Phase 3 of PIPE, focused on research for the development of innovative solutions and the introduction of these solutions to the market. With resources of up to R$20,000,000 from Sebrae-SP, it is expected to finance technological validation projects with potential customers in strategic areas.

Sebrae for Startups supports and promotes the strengthening of the São Paulo innovation ecosystem by facilitating connections between startups and business partners with the aim of boosting new science and technology solutions and fostering innovative actions in the State of São Paulo. Since 2020, more than 50 partners have been connected to the mission of serving the diverse profiles of São Paulo entrepreneurs with quality solutions and practical knowledge from founder to founder (F2F), more than 30 programs have been launched, serving more than 1000 startups and in more than 150 municipalities in São Paulo. In 2022, Sebrae for Startups was recognized as the best accelerator of 2022 by Startup Awards, reinforcing its commitment to the potential and creativity of researchers and entrepreneurs who want to build innovative companies in the State of São Paulo.

THE Project Academy Program is an initiative that offers training and mentoring for the development of projects in various promotion and credit programs. The objective is that, at the end of the program, researchers/entrepreneurs will be able to write better proposals for these programs, addressing a demand from institutions that promote innovation for better written projects. The first edition of Academia de Projetos took place in 2021 and had the participation of 60 technology-based companies.

Linkages' expertise in innovation, technological development and entrepreneurship is aligned with the purposes of Sebrae for Startup, which favored the holding of the 2nd edition of Academia de Projetos. In total, 149 startups signed up for the 2nd edition of Academia de Projetos. Participants were grouped into two groups. Group 1 had 65 companies that presented more mature proposals for technological validation of solutions with the potential client and were able to receive mentoring. Group 2 had a total of 84 companies registered with the potential to participate in future calls for promotion and support for innovation.

The first stage of training at Academia de Projetos consisted of carrying out online training sessions between the 22nd and 23rd of September for Group 1 and on the 30th of September for Group 2. Guidance and specific information on the scope of the project were provided during the training sessions. call notice, qualification and evaluation criteria, tips for completing the validation proposal, concepts present in the Call, clarifying doubts about required documentation and inserting them in the electronic system for submission of proposals. Group 1 also had the opportunity to participate in dynamics for writing validation proposals in virtual rooms.

Startups also had the opportunity to submit, in the online classroom environment, a draft of their technological validation proposals with the potential client for evaluation and selection by the Linkages team for the mentoring stage. In all, 30 startups received up to two hours of individual mentoring, between October 3rd and 13th, led by a mentor. In the mentoring sessions, the companies' research projects were discussed with a view to clarifying doubts about the suitability of the proposals, writing style and registration steps in the Call.

At the end of the 2nd edition of Academia de Projetos, the participating startups were more prepared to submit their validation proposal with the potential client in the Call PIPE Fapesp-Sebrae in order to accelerate the journey of introducing your innovative solutions to the market.