Introduction
The 2019 Startup Europe Comes to Silicon Valley (SEC2SV) mission, created and organized by Mind the Bridge as part of the Startup Europe Partnership initiative and co-organized with EIT Digital, brought together a group of entrepreneurs, investors, and policy experts from both sides of the Atlantic in the Bay Area.
The week-long program of activities featured a Policy Hack in partnership with Dell, to explore innovative ways to address some of today’s most pressing policy issues faced by global innovators and entrepreneurs.
Teams of five to six ‘hackers’ were given two hours to brainstorm and draft solutions for four cities and regions: Sardinia Region (Italy), Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (Norway), City of Alcobendas (Spain), City of Palo Alto (US). Each solution was then pitched to a team of judges. Teams were asked to draft a solution that had a reasonable level of utility and featured the ability to be replicated as well as prospects of being adopted.
The “hacking” process exposes policy matters to a group of policymakers, entrepreneurs, and investors, using problem-solving processes that are closer to the world of entrepreneurs. The Policy Hack is an innovative and collaborative effort to advance policy reform. The below recommendations should be considered as input to developing actionable proposals.
The below recommendations should be considered as input to developing actionable proposals.