On July 31st
, 17 people representing 25 partners from Lebanon 
, Tunisia 
, Jordan 
, and Palestine 
met to exchange experiences and explore collaboration opportunities as part of SPARK’s program in collaboration with the EU “From Innovation to Creation”. The initiative is organized by Bloom with plans to hold these meetups on monthly basis.
The meeting was a great opportunity for everyone involved. We learned a lot from each other about our different experiences in the innovation support field. We also identified several areas where we could collaborate, such as collective databases, resources and knowledge sharing.
In addition to the learning and collaboration, the meetup was also a chance to build community. We got to know each other better and developed a sense of camaraderie. We are all excited to continue working together to support innovation in the region. We also had the chance to share our secret recipes for a productive week 
, and the types of music we listen to while working 
.
Here are some lovely and exciting announcements shared by the partners in the meetup:
- Palestine
- Intersect Innovation Hub has kicked off its first cohort of incubated tech-startups in their newly-opened hub at Nablus City.
- Palestine Technopark is getting ready for an exposure event for supported startups in Palestine, in partnership with Intersect Hub.
- Jordan
- Ruwwad has finally got the officials’ approval on the funding to start working on the planned project with SPARK.
- Tunisia
- Smart Capital has launched its 1st cohort of business angels in Tunisia, where themy train the participants about angel investment, in addition to providing matching grants (30% of the amount invested).
- Lebanon
- cewas has completed a bootcamp for regional enterprises in Lebanon and Jordan under SPARK prgram.
- Bloom’s HerMeNow applications are open til Aug 7! (teams are eligible across MENA+East Africa), and there’s an open house on Aug 3!
- Bloom is also launching a series of investor mixer events.