G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance: 2017
Futurpreneur Canada Update – G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance (G20YEA) Berlin Summit 2017
Futurpreneur Canada is proud to facilitate international opportunities for young entrepreneurs. This year, 30 innovative and growth-oriented young Canadian entrepreneurs were selected by Futurpreneur Canada to represent Canada at the 2017 G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance (G20 YEA) Summit in Berlin from June 15-16th, 2017.
G20 YEA Berlin Summit: Digital Trends for Future Business
The G20 YEA Berlin Summit built on the Beijing 2016 G20 Leaders’ pledge to encourage digitalization and entrepreneurship as a means for sustainable development. Nearly 400 young entrepreneurs met in Berlin to share innovative ideas, make valuable connections and discuss how to advance youth entrepreneurship across the G20 nations.
Click here for more on the Summit theme and agenda, which included inspiring remarks from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other government and business leaders across the G20 nations.
Significant Contributions from Canadian Delegation
Canadian delegates showed considerable leadership during the 2017 Summit, including:
- Three Canadian entrepreneurs appearing as expert panelists, including Martin Dionne (Artificial Intelligence), Sem Pinnambalam, Panelist (Cybersecurity) and Denny Hollick (Digital Platforms).
- Two Canadian entrepreneurs pitching in the international pitch competition Get in the Ring, including Tom de Haas of Interface Fluidics and Ilya Broski of VanHack.
- Articles from four Canadian entrepreneurs were featured in the official G20YEA magazine, including Kelly Lovell, Sally Ng, Shingai Manjengwa and Olivier Demers-Dubé.
With delegates Tynan Wenarchuk and Kelly Lovell taking over the @Futurpreneur social media accounts, the delegation shared real time updates and inspiration with Canadian entrepreneurs back home in Canada.
Trip Highlights
The 30 Canadian entrepreneurs participated in a variety of business-building, policy-making and networking activities in addition to the official Summit, with support from Futurpreneur Canada, the Trade Commissioner’s Service and others, including:
- Visits with partners in Berlin’s entrepreneurial and business development ecosystem, including Ahoy! Berlin Coworking and Innovation Space, Berlin Partner for Business and Technology, Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI), EUREF Campus and the Smart Data Forum
- Presentations and an evening networking event with the Canadian Trade Commissioner’s Service in Berlin
- B2B meetings with German businesses, entrepreneurs and investors, including presentations from successful Canadian tech entrepreneurs in Berlin, including Noel Wigdor of Jaspr, Nathan Williams of Minespider and Trent McConaghy of BigChain
- Four bilateral meetings with delegations from other G20 countries
- Nine Canadian entrepreneurs participating in a comprehensive Social Entrepreneurship Day, including expert workshops and a tour of Berlin’s Social Impact lab
G20YEA 2017 Communique
Supported by global consultations with young entrepreneurs and endorsed by the B20, the newly-released 2017 G20YEA Communiqué is a call to action for G20 governments to focus upon entrepreneurship to address job creation and youth employment. The Communiqué made the following three recommendations to G20 leaders, voted on by entrepreneurs:
- Quality Education: We call upon G20 governments to review educational priorities to ensure young people have access to knowledge and skills vital for new technological and business realities, including digital competencies, STEM education, and venture creation skills.
- Smart taxation schemes. We call on G20 leaders to enable SMEs to scale through tax incentives for scale-ups and investors by adopting progressive policy measures like a separate tax category for young entrepreneurs working in priority areas of innovation and social entrepreneurship. We further encourage the harmonization of taxation schemes in the G20 countries to lower barriers for doing business across borders, including reducing barriers and creating tax incentives for cross-border access to capital in the G20.
- Ensure the mobility of entrepreneurs through a G20 Entrepreneur Visa and administrative simplification. In particular, the delegation would like to see Canada take a leadership role in implementing a youngentrepreneur visa program for Canada alongside the Working Holiday visa.
Please see the official 2017 G20YEA Communiqué and press release.
Next Steps
Following the Summit, the delegates will continue to advance their businesses, and will work with government and corporate leaders to implement the Summit recommendations to support youth entrepreneurship at home in Canada.
About the G20YEA
Futurpreneur Canada is proud to be a founding member of the G20YEA, a global network of more than 500,000 young entrepreneurs and the organizations that support them. In advance of every G20 Leaders’ Summit, the G20YEA brings together hundreds of the world’s top young entrepreneurs to advance youth entrepreneurship as a driver of economic growth, innovation and social change.
The Summit is an important opportunity for young entrepreneurs to become part of a network of champions for youth entrepreneurship, advising on issues of importance, sharing ideas and proposing solutions. It is also a critical opportunity for young entrepreneurs to advance their businesses, make international connections and explore international growth.
