A few weeks ago, on 28 February, I received an invitation to take part in a participatory meeting at Bilbao Berrikuntza Faktoria (BBF). The message was clear: I was invited as a key agent of innovation to, together with other people, promote the innovative ecosystem of Bizkaia. The idea was to bring together “a fundamental part of the current innovation network and the inhabitants of the BBF to understand how to take care of this ecosystem that gives us life and decide what steps we can take together”. Of course, I went there, after all, it is “my topic” and if I could contribute something, it was one of those moments I couldn’t miss.
For those of you who don’t know, the BBF, or as it is also known, the Mondragon Team Academy Bilbo Lab, is:
A pioneering project for learning, innovation and entrepreneurship, promoted and managed by Mondragon Unibertsitatea, in collaboration with the Bilbao City Council.
If you want to know a little more about the BBF I encourage you to browse its website.
Some people say that it is a unique concept, a living faktoria, a place of doers (not only thinkers or ideators), who from openness (open doors) and madness, try to build a better world, and they do it among people, teams, public and private institutions and the inhabitants of the BBF.
On 28 February, I met people with very different profiles, collaborators, students, mentors, workers, entrepreneurs, innovators, agents, people from Torre bat, Team academy, Tazebaez, Bolunta, Eroski, Bilbao portland, Netafora, Leinn, BBK Kuna, University of Deusto, Eraikune, Zorraquino, Coworking BBF, Aero, NGO AFAE, and many more people with names and surnames.
We spent three hours that flew by because when you prepare dynamics as well as Karitte Alegria and her team from ideas4innovation.com did, you know that the experience is guaranteed. And so it was. I can tell you that, if it was about Connecting, Sharing, Co-Exploring, and Co-Caring, I got all that and a bit more, which I will share with you below. Because for me, participation in the session was:
- To collaborate
- To cooperate
- To share
- To exchange
- To create synergies
- To connect
- To innovate
- To support
To contribute
- Learning by living/Living by learning
- Knowing that the path is made by going step by step
- Receive and give/give and receive
- To continue learning and training
- Transforming
- Facing the unknown
- To be open to new opportunities
- To continue to support entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs
- To think about how to generate open spaces
- To talk again about technology
- To insist on the importance of initiative
- Ah, and to invest in early-stage start-ups
- To meet business angels
- Networking (social)
- To insist on social and environmental impact
- To focus on circular economy
- Talking about talent
- To work in teams (coworking)
- To access to business incubators
- To start and continue projects
- Mentoring
- To evaluate
If you are also a curious person, want to do things differently, want to keep moving forward, or start an adventure together with a connected and global community, in a decentralised network and with a world of diverse people (each person with their own profile and skills, weaknesses and strengths), I encourage you to join Bilbao Berrikuntza Faktoria (BBF).
See you in a couple of weeks to say goodbye to March.