The Junior Enterprises Europe (JEE) announced this Monday, February 1st, that JUNITEC- Junior Enterprises at Instituto Superior Técnico is a finalist of the “JEE Excellence Awards”, in two categories: “The Most Entrepreneurial Junior Enterprise” (JUNITEC won the award in this category last year) and the “The Most Promising Enterprise”.
According to João Alves, president of JUNITEC, being nominated in two categories is unprecedented in JUNITEC history, and “it is a consolidation of the excellent work of all members over the last year, which makes us very proud and willing to continue bringing innovation to JUNITEC”.
Although 2020 was a remarkably difficult year due to the pandemic, João Alves feels that “the team is very motivated”. “We have made an enormous effort to maintain a spirit of closeness and to keep the team motivated”, he says. “In fact, the number of projects and collaborations with companies has increased, and we have made a huge logistical effort to organise events and online team building sessions, which involved all JUNITEC members”, adds João Alves.
The JUNITEC incubation program has steadily increased, which reflects “the consequent generation of startups with increasingly more support and potential”. TecStorm, the technological marathon organised by JUNITEC, has also shown a sustainable growth. “In addition, we have been working not only on our external component, but also on developing a series of internal processes and building a strong strategic base, with the aim of becoming a reference in the national Junior Movement, as well as in Europe. Fortunately, the results of this effort are already visible”, points out the Técnico student.
According to the JUNITEC president, winning for the first time the Excellence Awards last year “was a motto for this year’s competitions and for those in the future”. The Técnico student stresses the exponential growth of the junior enterprise in recent years and highlights “the award we won last year contributed to JUNITEC growth”.
The Técnico team will compete for the two awards in a round of pitches at the usual international event, the JEE Winter Conference 2021, which takes place at the end of February.
“I truly believe that this year we can win “The Most Entrepreneurial Junior Enterprise” category once again, and win “The Most Promising Enterprise” category”, says João Alves. “We will do our utmost to promote JUNITEC and Instituto Superior Técnico in Europe”, the student says.
The JEE Excellence Awards reward European Junior Enterprises for their work over the past year. According to JEE, the winners “are not only creating an impact within the European Network, but also inspiring other junior enterprises to do so”.
