Success Story – Empowering Startups Through a Cross-Institutional Mentorship Framework
Context
As part of the TRIANGLE project’s mission to strengthen innovation and entrepreneurial capacity across European HEIs, the consortium set out to design a structured mentorship program connecting early-stage startups with academic and industry experts. This initiative sought to support student-led and partner-specific ventures while reinforcing institutional collaboration across countries.
The Challenge
At the beginning of Phase 1, launching the mentorship program proved complex. Partners needed to align on several procedural steps, including Data Use Consent, evaluation workflows, and standardized forms, before collecting information from mentors and trainees. Responses from partners arrived at different times, and essential inputs such as mentor lists and startup details were delayed, slowing the onboarding process. Multiple follow-up meetings were necessary to ensure readiness across institutions.
Actions Taken
Despite these hurdles, the consortium worked collaboratively to create a robust mentorship framework. Partners jointly developed a Google Form–based registration system, clarified data governance procedures, and coordinated the collection of mentor and trainee information. Targeted follow-ups helped partners complete their submissions, while the coordination team ensured that all administrative and procedural requirements were met. The group also prepared supporting materials (e.g., startup descriptions, introductory presentations) and aligned expectations for mentorship engagement across institutions.
Results Achieved
By the end of Phase 1, TRIANGLE successfully launched its first cross-institutional mentorship cycle. A core pool of mentors was assembled from academic and industry partners, and the first group of interested startups submitted their information through the shared onboarding system. Startups began receiving individualized guidance, benefiting from expertise that would have been difficult to access otherwise. Importantly, this process created a replicable model for multi-partner mentorship coordination across borders.
Impact on Entrepreneurship Development
The mentorship framework strengthened the entrepreneurial ecosystem within the consortium, increased institutional readiness for supporting startups, and laid the foundation for a scalable, data-driven system for future cohorts. The experience also reinforced the consortium’s capacity to collaborate effectively on entrepreneurship activities, despite administrative and procedural barriers.
Why This Success Matters
This achievement demonstrates the consortium’s ability to transform fragmented processes into a unified support system for startups — a foundational step toward building long-term entrepreneurial capacity in line with EIT HEI objectives.
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