On September 5, the "Innovation and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp" of the European Innovation Academy (EIA) started in Batumi, Georgia, which will host students from different countries for 5 days.

The EIA program offers Georgian students a unique opportunity to work with intercultural teams of students from different countries and gain knowledge and experience that will help them transform their ideas into successful startups.

About a hundred students are taking part in this program this year, 22 of whom are Caucasus University students.

The bootcamp is taught by faculty from the UC Berkeley Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology and senior leaders from multiple leading Silicon Valley organizations.

The European Innovation Academy program is made possible by the support of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport of Adjara Autonomous Republic, the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency, the USAID Economic Security Program, and other private sector donors. In September 2022, the program is being held in Georgia in partnership with Caucasus University, US Market Access Center (USMAC) and Startup Connect. The program is planned to be held next year as well and in the summer of 2023, EIA will launch its full, multi-week program for three hundred (300) students from Georgia, Europe, and Central Asia.

The 2023 program will include faculty from UC Berkeley, Stanford University, Google, Facebook, nVidia as well as numerous angel investors and venture capitalists from Silicon Valley and Europe. In subsequent years, EIA plans to increase the number of students to five hundred (500) per summer.

The EIA program will accelerate the development of an innovative ecosystem in Georgia, the formation of a knowledge-based economy, and the development of systematic training and practical entrepreneurial education to strengthen the next generation of entrepreneurs. The establishment of the EIA program and its implementation in cooperation with leading international business companies will contribute to raising awareness of the entrepreneurial and investment potential in Georgia, in particular, in Batumi.