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Renewable energy start-up seeks to restore balance in the maritime sector with innovative business

Lisbon, Portugal, 04 July 2015

University ‘Start Up Programme’ students from Denmark win top honours at the 2015 JA Europe Enterprise Challenge. Competing against 23 other companies from 16 European countries, Gas2Green won the overall award for best enterprise, additionally winning the ‘Hyundai Brilliant Young Entrepreneurs Award’. The team was chosen based on their innovative idea and strong business potential, which offers a solution to an increasing problem in the maritime sector, where the ships discharge waste material into the oceans. The team’s solution will recycle this unused waste material, by using renewable energy to power an electrolysis cell and produce hydrogen or biofuels.

“The JA Start Up Programme helped us push ourselves to the point that we are today. Winning the award will definitely push us further to develop as a business and help us breakthrough to the people we want to get to.” - Rasmus Andreas Kunø Tarp, Gas2Green 

On 2-4 July, over 90 students were welcomed to compete at the European-level in Lisbon, Portugal after participating in a year-long Start Up Programme and qualifying at the national-level. A JA Europe initiative, the Start Up Programme annually engages over 14,000 University students from 300 schools, giving them the opportunity to experience running a business from top to bottom.

In the last 12 years, more than 115,000 students across Europe have participated in the Start Up Programme. Supporting European goals of improving youth employability and the start-up ecosystem, the programme fosters key competences to ensure that they are prepared for success after university.

Thomas A. Schmid, Chief Operating Officer of Hyundai Motor Europe, commented: “Congratulations to Gas2Green for winning in a very tough competition, full of innovative ideas. Through our Brilliant Young Entrepreneurs Award, we are helping to support the business leaders of tomorrow. We’re proud to support bright talents and to help shape them into business leaders who will lead European industry and the economy to future prosperity.”

Moving students from ideas to action, students gain crucial insights into self-employment, business creation, risk-taking and coping with adversity with the support of specially trained teachers and mentorship of business volunteers. The long-term success of which, can be seen through the countless alumni who continue to grow their innovations and ideas after the programme’s completion, turning them into sustainable businesses.

“Our Start Up Programme propels students forward by growing their self-confidence and business acumen, empowering them to turn ideas into action. Together with the support of our partners and business volunteers, we are able to connect universities and the entrepreneurial ecosystem, effectively filling the skills gap often faced by European youth today.” – Caroline Jenner, CEO for JA Europe

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NOTES

Jury members

·Joanna Drake, Principal Advisor, Task Force Collaborative Economy, DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission

·Luis Pedro Duarte, Managing Director, Head of Accenture Strategy – Portugal

·Mei Li Powell, Managing Director & Division Head – Communications, Marketing & CSR, Euroclear

·Bertrand Sava, Managing Director of Southern Europe, Visa Europe

·Tim Vieira, Special Edition Holding/Entrepreneur and Venture Capitalist – Shark Tank

·Dorothee van Vredenburch, Chief Change and Organisation, NN (JA Europe Board Member)

JA Europe Enterprise Challenge Awards

Winner:

Gas2Green, Denmark

1st runner-up:

CosyTech, Norway

2nd runner-up:

Lotics SB, Norway

ElevAkademiet, Denmark

European Signature Awards

‘Cisco Technopreneurship Award’ recognises the best young technopreneurs, who were able to put their digital skills into practice and come up with an innovative idea.

Winner: VisionBot, Romania

‘Hyundai Brilliant Young Entrepreneurs Award’ recognises the best start-up enterprise that demonstrates strong business potential, innovation in their sector and a clear plan for becoming a real business.

Winner: Gas2Green, Denmark

‘NN Care & Impact Award’ recognises the start-up enterprise that best embraces the values “care and impact” in their business strategy while remaining a realistic plan in today’s marketplace.

Winner: BT-ASC, Belgium (FR)

‘Visa Europe Award for Everywhere Commerce’ recognises the best start-up enterprise that demonstrates Everyday Commerce, which is frictionless commerce, everyone in business and my control.

Winner: CosyTech, Norway

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About JA Europe

JA Europe (www.jaeurope.org) is Europe’s largest provider of education programmes for entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy, reaching 3.2 million students in 39 countries in 2014. It was founded in 2001 when Young Enterprise Europe and Junior Achievement International Europe merged. JA works with the education and business communities as well as governments to provide young people from primary school to university with experiences that build the skills and competences they will need to succeed in a global economy. JA’s activities have been endorsed as best practice by the European Commission. JA Europe is the European Regional Operating Centre for JA Worldwide®.

For more information, please contact:

Marie Hargitt
JA Europe Communications
+32 2 893 44 36
marie@jaeurope.org

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