Crowdfunding-related pilot action: Simulated Crowdfunding (O.T4.1)
- The pilot action was the first of six pilot actions carried out simultaneously in all seven partner regions to test and introduce the new services on the SYNERGY platform for Crowd Innovation.
- The crowdfunding-related pilot action “Simulated Crowdfunding” was comprising of two parts:
- Collecting the crowdfunding campaigns on the SYNERGY Platform
- Workshops on crowdfunding
- The main challenge was to create crowdfunding campaigns, to bring people to use the platform and to test the newly designed crowdfunding service on the SYNERGY platform. Besides this, the challenge was to award the best campaigns and to describe the users the system of investing in die crowdfunding campaigns (as a virtual game).
- The first step in the development of the pilot action was to collect crowdfunding campaigns related to the Key Project Areas Additive Manufacturing and 3D-Printing, Nano- and Microtechnologies and Industry4.0 on the SYNERGY platform. Then, beginning of February 2020, the SYNERGY Project Team conducted seven regional workshop and networking events on "Simulated Crowdfunding" (example Simulated Crowdfunding workshops at WrUST). The participants got the opportunity to learn more about alternative funding mechanisms such as crowdfunding and acquire hands-on-experience on the workings of a crowdfunding campaign in the Simulated Crowdfunding pilot action.
- In addition to testing the recently published SYNERGY Platform, the participants received high-quality feedback on their project ideas and connected to other innovation actors and potential new business and cooperation partners. The best & most successful projects were awarded a voucher to the value of €2000 that could be used for different services like consultancy, training, business plans, market analysis, research ordering and a lot more (article winners of the Simulated Crowdfunding pilot action).
- In general, the actions was well received in all regions. The participants all showed interest and at least the awareness was created that crowd innovation is more than crowd financing. The recommendation resulting from this pilot action is that clear focus on Small Companies, Researcher, Start Ups and Spin offs must be given to bundle the available resources. Regional authorities should be informed in a separate way to promote the regional actions.
By including various interest groups from all partner regions, the pilot action had a transnational character. The reproducibility of the pilot action is given, the pilot action can be carried out well in this format in other partner regions or subject areas to raise awareness on alternative funding mechanisms and test crowdfunding.
- In the following we provide you with links to all relevant outputs and tools:
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- SYNERGY Platform Crowdfunding Service https://synergyplatform.pwr.edu.pl/campaigns.
SYNERGY Crowdfunding Pilot Action; Image Source: SYNERGY Project
