“We are in the midst of a wave of social innovation,” highlighted the executive director and co-founder of the strategic consulting firm Innuba, David Alayón, during his speech at the Dialogues session at La Vanguardia “Innovation with purpose: social startups and technology.” The meeting brought together some of the professionals involved in the Cellnex Bridge initiative, a program promoted by the Cellnex Foundation, with the collaboration of Innuba and AticcoLab, which aims to “accelerate startups focused on reducing the digital, social and territorial divide”, as highlighted by Cellnex's transformation project director, David Sanz.
For the third consecutive year, Cellnex Bridge has broken its own participation record. “We have received 70 applications,” celebrated the executive director and co-founder of the entrepreneurship support network AticcoLab, Quino Fernández. Furthermore, the expert highlighted the relevance of the program to consolidate the social technological ecosystem since “impact startups need help in their initial stages,” he noted. In the case of Cellnex Bridge, each accelerated startup receives a financial award of 15,000 euros, in addition to personalized, “tailor-made” advice.
As a novelty, this year the duration of the program has been extended from six to eight months, allowing greater support for startups, both in their business plans and in their social impact purposes. The startups accelerated by Cellnex Bridge will also have special advantages at their disposal when subscribing to different services and digital platforms with AticcoLab partners such as Amazon, HubSpot and Stripe, among others, as well as the possibility of being present alongside the telecommunications company Cellnex. Telecom at the next Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024.
Based on his experience since the Cellnex Foundation launched the program together with Innuba and AticcoLab three years ago, Quino Fernández recalled that, in social innovation, “specific impact indicators are measured” related to the purpose of each startup. The “impact measurement” coexists with the usual growth indicators, since the social achievements “are not incompatible with the economic sustainability of the project,” highlighted the director of AticcoLab, Quino Fernández. “We must break the myth that social startups depend on contributions, since positive impact projects can be generated that, at the same time, generate business,” agreed the executive director and co-founder of Innuba, David Alayón.
After pre-selecting 15 projects, in the third edition Cellnex Bridge opted for five startups: Biofood Network, which technologically supports producers, retailers and ecological entrepreneurs; Citizens Immigration, whose mission is to help migrants living in an irregular situation obtain their papers in a simple, transparent way and at a fair cost; Dive, which prevents fires through real-time image processing using deep learning algorithms, reducing reaction time and providing very valuable information for emergency teams; ForestChain: which applies blockchain technology to the timber industry to facilitate forest certification; and NeurekaLab, which applies artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and intervene in learning difficulties in school-age children.
The promoters of Cellnex Bridge highlighted that a large part of the success of the call increasingly comes from the recommendations made to other social entrepreneurs by the startups that have participated in previous editions. This is the case of BlindStairs and eAgora, whose executive directors and co-founders also participated in this meeting held last Monday at La Vanguardia.
The executive director and founder of the startup BlindStairs, Marta Rodríguez-Tobalo, stressed that her project works for “equal opportunities in personnel selection.” By applying AI, you avoid “unconscious biases” that cause wage gaps, discrimination against women or ageism. In the latter case, she recalled, “a person over 50 has to send three times more resumes than the rest to receive a call for an interview.”
“BlindStairs is based on the skills and experiences of the candidates, eliminating all data that can cause bias,” Marta Rodríguez-Tobalo. According to the social entrepreneur, 95% of discrimination occurs especially in the first phases of the selection processes, in which resumes are screened. AI can be a tool to avoid this. However, she clarified that, although BlindStairs uses this technology, “AI does not decide who is going to be hired.” “Finally,” she continued, “we certify those companies that have carried out bias-free processes.” The board of directors of the startup BlindStairs, Marta Rodríguez-Tobalo, rates “very positively” the passage of her startup through Cellnex Bridge in the second edition of the program. For this reason, she has recommended her to other social entrepreneurs whom she has encouraged to apply.
The executive director and co-founder of eAgora, Martín Garrido, is another of the entrepreneurs who recommends and especially values the mentoring received from the accelerator. In their case, as participants in the first edition, they especially emphasized the accompanying role of their mentors, specifically Thais Ruiz de Alda, founder and executive director of Digital Fems, to find female talent with the aim of achieving parity from the start in your startup. “The program is tailor-made,” she added.
“Each startup is different and the support must be personalized,” also noted the executive director and co-founder of the strategic consulting firm Innuba, David Alayón. “Each program is custom designed and then the development of each startup is different and has its own calendar,” added the executive director and co-founder of AticcoLab, Quino Fernández.
The Cellnex Bridge acceleration program makes four or five mentors available to each startup, one of whom is always a Cellnex Telecom professional, said the executive director and co-founder of the entrepreneurship support network AtticoLab, Quino Fernández. This relationship has advantages for both the large corporation and the startup. The mentors provide their knowledge and experience in the technological ecosystem. In turn, entrepreneurs spread the “fresh spirit” of the startups to their mentors, who bring their “desire to dream” to their companies, acknowledged the director of transformation projects at Cellnex, David Sanz.
One of these projects that dream of transforming society is precisely eAgora. The purpose of this platform, as highlighted by its co-founder and executive director, Martín Garrido, is “to connect citizens with the public administration to carry out any interaction, including participation consultations.”
With an international presence in eight countries, among which the implementation in Peru and Portugal stands out. Recently, eAgora is in the entry phase in the United States, since this year it won the ICEX San Francisco Challenge, it was selected for a three-week immersion in Silicon Valley to enter the US market.
In Catalonia, the platform has more than 400 municipalities, from cities with large populations such as El Prat de Llobregat to smaller ones among which Susqueda mentions. As an example of the use cases of eAgora, Martín Garrido explained that in Montroig del Camp a public consultation was carried out to “feminize the names of the streets”. The impact measurement in his case shows, for example, that the use of his platform “quadruples citizen participation.”
The startups accelerated by Cellnex Bridge apply all types of technologies to reduce digital, social or territorial gaps, including AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, or virtual and augmented reality. “The technology is totally open,” clarified the director of the strategic consulting firm Innuba, David Alayón. Whatever technology is applied, “they all require connectivity,” added the director of Cellnex transformation projects, David Sanz, who announced the vocation for “continuity of the program” and its objective of creating a formed community, in addition to by the promoting entities and the mentors, also by the entrepreneurs accelerated in previous editions.
Technological advances “open up a world of possibilities to solve problems that we have or that will come,” predicted the executive director and founder of BlindStairs, Marta Rodríguez-Tobalo. “Social innovation is the present and the future, society is increasingly demanding that companies have values and contribute positively to the community,” insisted the social entrepreneur accelerated by Cellnex Bridge.
In the third sector, technological development will be key to “increase its impact,” said Innuba executive director and co-founder, David Alayón. “Social entities, but also administrations, companies and citizens must agree, because any project that does not have a positive impact on society will not be viable,” added the executive director and co-founder of eAgora, Martín Garrido. “Technology is changing the world. We cannot allow it not to do so with social impact,” claimed the executive director and co-founder of AticcoLab, Quino Fernández. “Access to technology and connectivity with equal opportunities is essential to reduce the digital, social and territorial divide, where the Cellnex Foundation acts as a driving force with its mission and values,” concluded the director of Cellnex transformation projects, David. Sanz
