Following yesterday’s post on the manifesto put together by the Startup Club, the Startup Europe team points out that they’re looking for an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Startup Team of the EU, which might be an interesting option for someone in our region who is in-between projects. The senior or young entrepreneur would participate and lead some of the Startup Europe actions, such as the type of projects found in their digital agenda.
On a more practical level it would mean working with contractors and acting as the voice and prospective of European startups in how these projects are developed. This would also require organizing meetings and preparing briefings on specific technical matters relating to web-entrepreneurship for the Commission services and Vice-president Neelie Kroes.
When asked why they’re looking for an Entrepreneur in Residence rather than a standard contractor or employee, Isidro Laso Ballesteros, the Team Leader at Startup Europe replied,
“We want to have an experienced entrepreneur who could attend meetings with Neelie Kroes, and other commissioners and even potentially Mr. Barroso and provide his/her advice without any constrain coming from a contract signed with us.
“A traditional call for tender would impose many constrains, in terms of timings and delievrables, that many really busy entrepreneurs would not be willing to commit upfront. This formula allows us more flexibility to agree on the best way to work together, even using videoconferences facilities and other modern ways of work.”
It will require of the entrepreneur something that isn’t in the standard entrepreneur job description – preparing a CV and cover letter, but you have to do what you have to do. More information can be found here. The deadline is October 10th.
The Nordic and Baltic countries have their faults when it comes to supporting entrepreneurship, but in many ways we do have a more solid governmental support and backing than most parts of the EU. Perhaps what an entrepreneur has experienced up here could be applied to the EU as a whole.
