Investing in innovation

Innovation is a substantial part of Telenet's DNA. The company was the first to introduce high-speed Internet and taught the whole of Flanders to watch digital TV. With Yelo TV, Telenet was also the first operator in Europe to develop the first app to watch TV on your tablet. Even within the worldwide Liberty Global group, Telenet is a prominent hub for innovation. Telenet sees innovation as extremely important for the future, guaranteeing job security and economic prosperity in Flanders.

Young entrepreneurs starting up often face all sorts of practical problems. Telenet wants to take responsibility by helping them in that process. Telenet will invest in young entrepreneurial talent by working together with Idealabs and iMinds. That way, they can help start-ups accelerate and grow. At the same time, those start-ups can enrich and inspire Telenet by nurturing and improving innovative ideas that emerge within Telenet. Telenet also wants to keep stimulating its own in-house innovation culture, and hopes for a cross-fertilization.

Telenet Idealabs

Telenet will initially join forces with Idealabs, the start-up community that will now be called Telenet Idealabs. Flemish start-ups with a digital business idea can come to Idealabs for an ambitious accelerator and growth programme. Telenet will set up a Telenet Idealabs fund to give financial support to those programmes. Besides financial support, Telenet will also offer product development, finance and marketing know-how.

Between 15 May and 31 July, start-ups can submit their project to telenetidealabs.be. The most innovative entrepreneurs will be selected by a panel of judges to complete the four-month intensive accelerator programme. Telenet Idealabs will coach the entrepreneurs in the process of developing their ideas into products and services that are ready to conquer the market. The start-ups also have a network of 80 mentors to fall back on. Each start-up is entitled to financial backing of up to 25,000 euros under the accelerator programme. Subsequently, they can pitch their ideas back to the panel. The most successful start-ups will be admitted to a four-month growth programme with up to 50,000 euros worth of financial backing. This programme will give the start-ups a leg-up to the next level of entrepreneurship.

The investment comes from the Telenet Idealabs Fund. Telenet will have no control, rights, options or ownership over those firms.  After the programmes the start-up will always be able to work together with Telenet on a non-committal basis. Telenet Idealabs will also organize pitch days where entrepreneurs can present their business to various investors.

John Porter, CEO Telenet:"Flanders has a high-quality education system, a unique knowledge of languages, and a great broadband Internet infrastructure. All the building blocks are available to create a dynamic climate of innovation. Nevertheless, extra support is needed to keep innovative industries here, which is key to creating long-term economic prosperity. Since innovation is very important to us, we want to lend a helping hand. We see that often the start-up is the most difficult part, and this is where we want to intervene. With Telenet Idealabs, we want to offer operational support to budding entrepreneurs in the production of their ideas and give them financial backing. They are the future companies that will boost our digital economy and enable us to reap the fruits of the innovation potential and the great broadband infrastructure which we have in Flanders." 

Nicolas Verellen, founder Idealabs: "For two years now, we have been actively promoting entrepreneurship from our physical hub in Antwerp.  We built an offline & online community of entrepreneurs that we bring together via events, activities, classes, workshops and a startup accelerator. The partnership with Telenet increases the impact and enables us to build an even better start-up programme. Starters will benefit the coaching of mentors and specialists in the areas of sales, marketing, product development and internationalization.  Telenet Idealabs is also supported by Deloitte and Laga to supply the young companies with consultancy on accountancy fiscal, , and legal advice."

iMinds

Besides the partnership with Idealabs, Telenet is also committed to supporting the iStart entrepreneurship programme of iMinds. The iMinds iStart programme inspires and trains budding entrepreneurs, and helps them turn their innovative ideas into a successful business. So far, iStart has resulted in more than 50 high-tech start-ups. Telenet acknowledges the added value of iStart for the Flemish economy, and from that perspective it will offer all newly selected firms an all-in-one business solution for one year with high-performance Internet connectivity and telephony (Telenet Fluo range) and CloudOffice (Microsoft 360) for the staff. This allows the entrepreneurs to make more funds available for - and focus on - their business activities. In the long term, Telenet hopes to create a symbiosis between all innovation initiatives in Flanders, so that valuable business ideas which Telenet Idealabs helps to give shape in start-ups can subsequently develop further inside iMinds.

Wim De Waele, CEO iMinds: "This initiative of Telenet helps to build a healthy entrepreneurial landscape in Flanders, with growth opportunities for innovative ideas. The partnership between Telenet on the one hand and Idealabs and iMinds on the other further strengthens the entrepreneurial scene in Flanders, which is perfectly in keeping with the iMinds philosophy of giving structural support - where possible - to entrepreneurs through partnerships with key players in our economic fabric."

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