Nederlandstalige versie

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The Expedition is a track that aims to support and inspire students, researchers and youth to develop crucial entrepreneurial skills with the aim of:

• shaping a scalable business idea; 
• transforming that business idea into a successful startup.

Thanks to the support from an extensive network of experts, early ideas are built into scalable business models. The partners of Gentrepreneur will be part of the expert network, workshops and/or jury team throughout the sessions. The Expedition also prepares participants for acceleration and incubation programmes.

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THE PROGRAMME  

The validation of your idea is central.  

We get off to a flying start with an intensive bootcamp weekend to further develop your business idea. The weekend is followed by regular coaching sessions, workshops and networking opportunities. We focus on the development of your business concept and help you prepare to start up. We end with a final pitching opportunity: you will present your progress and together we'll conclude the track in a festive way.

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WHO CAN APPLY?  

Any (team of) student(s), researcher(s) and/or youth who:  

• want(s) to validate their innovative idea and find out whether it is or could be market ready
  
  or 

• want(s) to explore the greater potential of an existing business and scale it up.

At least one team member must meet one of these conditions at the time of application:  

• be a student or researcher at Artevelde University of Applied Sciences, HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Ghent University;
• be a student or researcher at a Ghent campus of Luca School of Arts, KULeuven or Odisee University of Applied Sciences;
• be an alumnus at one of the higher educational institutions as described above and be less than 25 years old;
• be less than 25 years old and have a link to the city of Ghent (either live here or have your company here).

Teams can register up to 3 active team members for the track. If selected for The Expedition, we expect all active team members to take part in the complete programme. At least one active team member should be present during each of the sessions.

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TIMING  

The exact timing of The Expedition 2026 is as follows:

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• 09-10 March: selection pitches for participation in the programme (each candidate/team will be assigned a time slot)
• 20-22 March: weekend on location, it starts on Friday late afternoon until Sunday after lunch
• 26 March: Customer Validation session
• 2 April: Prototyping session
• 23 April: Marketing session
• 30 April: Sales session
• 4 May: Co-founding session
• 11 May: Financial Plan session
• 21 May: Pitching session
• 24 & 25 June: Test pitches
• 29 June: Final pitches
 

At least 1 active team member per team should be present during each activity.  

PRACTICAL DETAILS  

Teams selected for the programme pay a registration fee of €150 per active team member for the full programme. This registration fee includes all activities (weekend, expert advice, mentoring, coaching, keynote sessions). If you have any questions about this, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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REGISTration

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Registrations are open until Sunday 1 March:
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Register for The Expedition 2026