OBJECTIVE: The objective of the project is to develop an acceleration program for blue economy based companies in Andalusia and Melilla using agile methodologies such as Lean Startup, Business Model CANVAS, Customer Development and Effectuation.

THEME: Thematically, the project is transversal to any sectoral initiative that values university knowledge for the creation of innovative companies in the field of the Blue Economy.

DESCRIPTION: EL BERGANTÍN is a Blue Economy business acceleration program with the objective of promoting the viability of 42 projects directly linked to the natural marine resources of the South Atlantic and Mediterranean demarcation. Specifically the Gulf of Cadiz, which bathes the provinces of Cadiz and Huelva and whose area has been declared a Special Protection Area for Birds (SPA of the Natura 2000 Network) and has important rivers, such as the Guadiana, Piedras, Odiel and Tinto, Guadalquivir, Guadalete, etc., as well as the northern Mediterranean basin in Andalusia, between the provinces of Cadiz, Malaga, Granada and Almeria. The Autonomous City of Melilla, in this case, would be part of the Spanish southern basin of the Mediterranean and the Alboran Sea.

The program aims to accelerate the acquisition of knowledge about the value proposition, the market and the environment of these projects by obtaining key metrics and indicators through an orderly process based on agile methodologies. A main objective of an acceleration program is to boost the viability of a project in the shortest possible time, allowing its promoters to learn quickly by obtaining and reflecting on metrics about the value proposition of their product/service, the market and the environment.

At the same time, the objective of mentoring is to help the promoters of the entrepreneurial projects to make better decisions with the least number of false steps, increasing their confidence in facing the challenges they face, and in the shortest possible time.

The program combines the two concepts, developing an acceleration and mentoring program for projects related to the Blue Economy and the Marine Environment that are developed in the Atlantic and Mediterranean basin of the coast of Andalusia and the Autonomous City of Melilla.