Accelerating internationalisation of young innovative companies - EU|BIC (CEEI) Asturias

Author: Lydia Alonso Díaz, Responsible for Organisational Innovation at EU|BIC (CEEI) Asturias

BIC ASTURIAS & ASTUREX jointly launched the programme “Accelerator for Internationalization – Quick Global”. This innovative programme aims to speed up the internationalisation of young companies in the technology sphere with a potentially global market or multi-market companies. 

As outstanding objectives, the programme aims to create a culture of early internationalization in the environment of regional entrepreneurship, working collaboratively with other organizations and institutions involved in regional economic development, entrepreneurship and internationalization. Furthermore, it prioritises the integration of various promotion services in a single programme, as well as the creation of an agile methodology to support the internationalization of young companies, testing their effectiveness and efficiency.  

QUICK GLOBAL is a 6-month programme, which provides participating companies with a variety of services. Among others, these include: 

– Entrepreneurial tutorials and international commerce, enabling participants to design and validate their internationalisation plan and contact potential clients / advisers in a specific target market. 

– Mentoring and accompaniment with the heads of consolidated international companies 

– Access to potential investors or other funding sources to facilitate this process.  

A QUICK GLOBAL participant’s insight: 

“We participated in the first edition of Quickglobal. 

After several months of training, webinars and 1-on-1 training sessions: 

– We re-validated our business model and how it adapted to international markets. It was great to review our evolution since the foundation of the company until that moment. 

– We received training on how to sell our service in other countries. Additionally, we also learned how to deal with the bureaucracy in other countries, payment methods and other cultural factors that influence international sales. With all this training and the support of a consultant, we managed to hold meetings with companies in other countries to validate our way of selling and our product. 

– We got in contact with four potential customers in Mexico, one of which we managed to sign a contract with. The client has been with us for more than a year. 

For us, the participation in QuickGlobal was a great help to start selling outside our borders.”