Two finalists from the Business Start-Up Journey selected to attend the European Innovation Academy (EIA) have returned following their educational trip.

The EIA, which took place last month in Nice, France, is a 15-day programme of entrepreneurship education which gives “every participant the opportunity to be immersed in the extreme international start-up environment”.

The EIA, dubbed the “World’s Largest Extreme Accelerator for digital innovations”, features inspirational talks and workshops from speakers of Stanford University, Google and University of California Berkeley.

Brenda Okandju (Keynes, 2012) and Mate Tukacs (Medway, 2012) attended the programme following their success in the pilot of the Kent Business School’ Business Start-Up Journey (BSUJ) during the academic year 2015-16.

Mate, a full-time Entrepreneur and recent School of Computing graduate remarked: ‘The EIA was one of the best experiences in my entrepreneurial life. Amongst the 400 participants, I met some of the most open minded people I have ever come across, resonating completely with my mentality and outlook on life. The talks and lectures were exceptional in quality, deep, to the point, and very practical.’

Select student finalists from across the University who complete Stage 5 of the Business Start-Up Journey (BSUJ) are selected to attend the European Innovation Academy at the close of each academic year.

The BSUJ is an extra-curricular start-up accelerator programme for students of the University of Kent. The Journey scales up in the new academic year and will run from the purpose-built and philanthropically funded ASPIRE space, launching in early 2017.

For more information on the BSUJ click here.