We work with universities, technology transfer offices, incubators, innovation agencies, and other organizations responsible for enabling entrepreneurship and startup creation.
Our role is to bring practitioner depth to your programs: the kind that comes from having built startups from zero, helped founders do the same, and invested at the earliest stage before revenue. That combination is specific. Most institutions do not have it in-house, and most program providers do not bring it either.
We complement your team. We handle the founder-facing work — the coaching, the methodology, the validation facilitation — so you can focus on what you do best: building your ecosystem.
Today, many startup support programs are measured by participation: teams enrolled, hours delivered, events held. Those metrics reward activity, not business outcomes. They push providers to optimize for throughput rather than quality, and they push founders to focus on impressive pitch decks rather than deep customer understanding.
The result is a readiness gap. Founders get better at pitching weak opportunities instead of finding strong ones. Programs deliver cohorts without delivering companies.
We exist to close that gap. Not by running more events, but by helping founders make better decisions at the stage when those decisions matter most.
With a deep understanding of the operational realities of academic and public institutions, we are your specialist partner to support early-stage entrepreneurs.
What sets Ideas Forward apart is how much they strive for quality support to founders. They dive deep into what each and every founder in a program needs, and this personalization translates to great results.
Four examples from five years of work with universities, research bodies, and innovation organizations across Greece and Europe.
2023–ongoing Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Implementation partner for AUTh's innovation accelerator, delivering multiple startup acceleration cycles and founder bootcamps for students, researchers, and faculty. A multi-phase structured journey from idea validation to venture readiness, supporting 65+ teams to date across completed programs.
2023 Architectural Aluminium Academy & I4byDesign
Open innovation program connecting industry partners ALUMIL, ISOMAT, and KLEEMANN with startups and research labs. A two-month acceleration responding to 11 industry challenges, with mentoring, training, and Demo Day. 10 teams awarded, 8 Letters of Intent signed, and over €35,000 in prizes distributed.
2024 AUTh, WALK & Alexander Innovation Zone
Three-week in-person program focused on commercializing cutting-edge research and emerging technologies. 8 selected teams worked through business model risk management, competitive analysis, and financial opportunity assessment, with one-on-one coaching and direct access to investors and corporate executives.
2023 Alexander Innovation Zone
Ten-day intensive bootcamp targeting early-stage teams working on solutions aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with emphasis on energy and agri-food. 8 selected teams presented at Final Pitch Day to a jury of industry experts, investors, and ecosystem stakeholders.
