The presentation of the Mondragon City Challenge brought together the main players in Basque cooperativism on February 17 in Mondragón. The aim of this first international co-operative entrepreneurship competition is to achieve new technology projects in the fields of health, energy transition and digitalisation, among others.

The presentation in Mondragón was attended by: Elena Pérez, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Security; María Ubarretxena, Mayor of Mondragón; Iñigo Albizuri, Director of Institutional Relations at MONDRAGON; Iker Estensoro, Deputy for Economic Promotion, Tourism and the Rural Environment; Idoia Peñacoba, Secretary General of Mondragon University; Rosa Lavin, president of Confecoop; Patxi Olabarria, President of the Supreme Council of Basque Cooperatives; Juan María Concha, President of ASEkoope; Miguel Ángel Lazpiur, president of the Friends of Arizmendiarrieta; Josean Aparicio Chana, Director of Debagoiena and Goierri at Laboral Kutxa; Iñigo Arrieta, President of the Board of Directors of EIKA; Iñaki Zaldua, commercial director of Ecenarro; Gonzalo Soto, Head of the Initiative Line for Entrepreneurs at Caja Rural de Navarra; and Jon Giménez, Vice President of the River Governing Council.

Defense of cooperativism

All the collaborating entities that took part in the event valued the same model of the cooperative. "It's the future. The social economy in general, and cooperativism in particular, create wealth and quality employment in the environment," said Elena Pérez, the Basque Government's deputy minister of labor and social security.

The Mondragón City Challenge competition will take place in two age groups: "the former will promote projects among young people aged 16 to 18, and the latter among entrepreneurs aged 18 to 24." In both cases, the aim will be to promote a cooperative initiative.

Mondragon City Challenge

The Mondragon City Challenge is organized through a public-private partnership agreement, and the first edition is presented by the organizers: El Diario Vasco, Mondragón City Council, Basque Government, Supreme Council of Cooperatives, Konfekoop, MONDRAGON Corporation, Gipuzkoa Provincial Council and Mondragon Unibertsitatea . It is an International Cooperative Entrepreneurship Competition, aimed at high school, graduate and university students, which aims to promote cooperative entrepreneurship behaviors and bring the cooperative model closer to young people, starting from the development of business projects based on a similar model.

Participants: The Mondragon City Challenge is aimed at high school, middle and high school and university students from public, private and charter schools around the world. Each school can form as many groups as it wants, between two and four members. In order to maintain a balance between the level of study and age of the participants, the following categories have been defined by the organizers:

• Category of 16 to 18 year olds (2021-2022 academic year)
• 19 to 24 year old category (2021-2022 academic year)
• Challenge: Participants in the Mondragon City Challenge will have to face the challenge of creating a business project from scratch, meeting any of the following challenges:
• Technological-Digital Challenges: Digitization, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, Technology at the Service of Citizens, Automation, Cyber ​​Security, Promoting a Digital and Competitive Economy, etc.
• Health and Social Challenge: Health System, Pandemic Risks, Demography and Healthy Aging, Migration, Gender Equality, New Care Models, etc.
• Energy-Climate Challenge: Climate Neutrality, Decarbonisation of the Energy System, Efficient Use of Resources and Energy, Sustainable and Intelligent Mobility, Fair Energy Transition, “Fromfarm to Table”, etc. It will be essential that the project developed by the working group is built on a cooperative management model. The finalist groups will defend their project in front of a professional jury at a ceremony to be held on 19 November 2021 at the Amaia Theater in Mondragón.
• Tutors and training: There will be tutors in the Mondragon City Challenge competition, from the consulting company ASECOOP (co-operative senior consultants) and the Friends of Arizmendiarrieta Association; These advisors are former members of the management teams of the cooperative companies, and from the experience they provide, they will help and care for the young participants. there will be, above all, the criterion for making such appointments.

During the process, training actions adapted to each category will be organized, with the aim of providing more tools and strengthening the quality of each project.

The organizers will also, through the website www.mondragoncitychallenge.com, provide some guidelines to help participants prepare for the project so that everyone can follow the same script.

More information:
mondragoncitychallenge.com