Startup Spark 2.0 is an acceleration program implemented in Lodz Special Economic Zone in 2017-2021, in cooperation with 12 Partners: international corporations, i.e. Ericsson, PwC, Procter & Gamble, Robert Bosch, Siemens, Airbus, HackerU and local companies developing globally Polish technological thought: Bluerank, Indigo Nails, Ceramika Paradyż, Grupa Pietrucha and WDX.

As part of acceleration, the startup is connected with a Business Partner and an operational mentor (startup guardian). A team composed in this way works together for a maximum of 6 months in order to develop a product or service, and then its commercialization.

At Startup Spark, we have developed acceleration in the Venture Building model. This means that the mentors in the program are available to companies in an operational way. Each startup is looked after by one of the mentors, who should be treated as the coordinator of the acceleration process. All Spark operational mentors remain at the startup’s disposal, according to its needs. The Venture Building model, i.e. commitment in an operational way, means actual work on the project during the acceleration, and not only consulting and advisory activities.