Interview with Ángel Uzquiza, director of the Santalucía IMPULSA program

We recently had the opportunity to interview Ángel Uzquiza, Director of Innovation at Santa Lucía, and Program Director Santalucía IMPULSA, who also acts as a mentor in the acceleration program itself. On the occasion of the Start of the second edition we were able to talk to him and ask him some questions. During the interview, Ángel told us about the main differences of the program compared to the first edition, and what the new participating startups can bring.Having been selected startups with a minimum viable product for this second edition, these can be accelerated much faster than those that were submitted to the first edition in the idea phase, Ángel explained to us. Another difference is that last year there was no investment vehicle available, but in this second edition Santa Lucía Will invest in the best, which is a great opportunity for the participants. Ángel told us about What are the specific startups selected, as well as its close relationship with projects that are already being worked on within the company, “the synergy is going to be very fast”, Ángel mentioned, which is possible thanks to the experience gained in the first edition of the program and the already consolidated network of mentors. The program director is confident that they are going to bring some advantages to the company, such as cost savings in the accident rate, innovative digital products and services who marry some of the companies that make up the Grupo Santalucía.

In addition, he explained to us How are the selected startups linked to the intra-entrepreneurial projects which will be accelerated. “It's a pretty strong synergy”, said Ángel, and explained how internal projects have been worked to mature them to achieve a minimum viable product, thus keeping up with external startups and allowing them to learn from each other. However, each project receives its personalized mentoring. In this way, throughout the program we will see synergies emerge between entrepreneurs. The acceleration program Santalucía IMPULSA It has already paid off, what we were able to verify when we received the “ideas4all Innovation 2017” award but internally it has also done its bit, as explained by the company's Director of Innovation, since it has allowed us to discover that There are very innovative people within the company that pushes towards transformation, as well as that there is the capacity to recognize the inner talent of the same. Finally, Ángel Uzquiza told us about what the acceleration program is bringing to him on a personal level.. “Learning, I keep learning both from the outside and from the inside,” Ángel told us. And I ended the interview talking about Great discovery of the second edition of Santalucía IMPULSA, intrapurrecy inside the house, of which more programs will undoubtedly come. We hope that this second edition will be a success and that the startups participating in the program will achieve everything they set out to do, which they will undoubtedly do thanks to mentors such as Ángel Uzquiza, whom we want to thank for his involvement in the program and for giving us this interview.