Entrepreneurship and Innovation Summer Program in Portugal

Incredible opportunity to learn how to develop and launch your very own start-up company in a vibrant, international start-up environment in just 15 days!
This was definitely one of the best experiences of my life: super-interesting lectures and key-note speeches covering wide variety of topics aka “all you need to know about start-ups”; great deal of practical hands-on lessons and advice on how to create a company; invaluable mentoring support and overall flawless organisation coupled with amazing location!
Would totally recommend this program for every motivated young professional coming from any field and eager to learn more about start-ups and Entrepreneurship!🙌🏼

European Innovation Academy was truly a once in a lifetime experience. The opportunity to interact with people, get out of my comfort zone and create something together was incredibly satisying.

Portugal was definetely a great choice in my opinion. The location was convenient for most participants and easy to get to. The structure of the programme was well designed to accomodate most people's skills and the support from mentors was definetely valuable.

EIA was a learning experience different from any other university experience. I learned more in 3 weeks and what followed those weeks than I could have in any classroom setting. My key takeaways from Eia are:
- networking
- friends
- personal growth and learning
- learning about people, different backgrounds or cultural barriers and working with them
I can’t explain what I learned or give a true measure of the value because it was a foundation for so much more. It broke down barriers for me and pushed me to be a better problem solver, communicator, and entrepreneur.

This was one of the most rewarding experiences, personally and professionally. I learned incredible life skills and met a huge business network for life. Highly recommended.
You also, are exposed to numerous venture capitalists and mentors who become great contacts for career opportunities and friends. The nightlife and culture is enlightening and you meet people from all over the world. With the rate of globalization, it can only help to be exposed to so many different types of thinking.

EIA was a amazing, life changing experience. The program takes you out of your comfort zone for 3 weeks to learn, grow and meet some amazing people. If entrepreneurship is something you're interested in this program is great. it fast tracks you through all aspects from business development. From idea to launch. I had no real knowledge of the tech world. But this experience introduced me to a whole new industry.

After coming back to the UK and working on my own start-up, the process we went through in EIA have helped be in so many ways, from developing an air tight idea and going forward to raising funds.

Even if being an entrepreneur isn't something you're interested in, the program will allow you to expand on the skills you have already. I met amazing young people with great skill and knowledge in software development, artificial intelligence, programming, coding and much more. You will be around like minded people for 21 days from all over the world. Its an amazing opportunity to network and build on ideas and concepts.

As well as all of this, the personal development that will take place. I picked up skills that I will need throughout my career. Including communication skills and time management.

As well as all of the hard work, we were located in beautiful Cascais, with a beautiful beach in direct view from our accommodation. The greatest memories i have from this experience, is relaxing on the beach with amazing people after a long day of work and learning.

I attended the 2017 summer EIA event representing Loughborough University London. The event was well organised, in a great location and the staff were friendly and helpful from start to finish. The location was beautiful, staying in Cascais was expensive in terms of daily costs but Lisbon was cheaper and only a short train ride away. The programme was intense, insightful and a great learning experience. The speakers were a fantastic mix, from silicon valley mentors to business start-up specialists, something for everyone. Prepare to be thrown into the deep end though, the hours are long and you have to be able to work hard to achieve team targets.

The best part of the experience for me was the people you meet. I'm still close friends with my roommate who'd id never met before attending EIA and our team made it to the final top 10, they were a great group of guys to work with and I miss them a lot. I would recommend the programme to everyone. you will learn a lot, make great connections and visit Portugal which is a beautiful, fun and cheap country to explore.