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The Akademia program in Spain offers university students a unique opportunity to apply their academic knowledge, develop skills, and collaborate with peers who are passionate about making an impact. Emphasizing innovative problem-solving, understanding global trends, and building professional networks, Akademia serves as an accelerator for ambitious minds. Many alumni, like Angélica Bellver, have successfully ventured into entrepreneurship through the program. Angélica, who founded a startup specializing in drone-based facility supervision, credits Akademia with broadening her understanding of cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain, data, cybersecurity, and 5G well ahead of mainstream awareness. She highlights the value of learning from real business examples and the enriching experience of working within diverse, multidisciplinary teams.
Angélica’s entrepreneurial journey began with Akademia, leading her to establish and manage her startup, IDS. She shares that adaptability and learning from failure are critical lessons in entrepreneurship, emphasizing the importance of swiftly pivoting away from unproductive ideas or methods. Currently, as Head of Incubation at Demium, a startup incubator, she focuses on team management and supporting early-stage entrepreneurs in validating ideas and securing investment. Angélica praises Demium’s strong commitment to talent and its people-centered approach. She encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to embrace challenges, seek new knowledge, and foster an entrepreneurial culture in Spain, which she believes is growing rapidly but still needs broader societal integration.
We interviewed Angélica Bellver, Akademia alumni, entrepreneur and mentor of entrepreneurs from Demium.
Through our Akademia program, students from some of the best universities in Spain put into practice the knowledge they are acquiring, enhance and develop their skills, and collaborate with other university students who, like them, seek to make a difference.
The program focuses on students learning to solve problems in innovative ways, understanding the trends that are changing the world, and beginning to build their own network of contacts.
Akademia is an accelerator for restless minds and many of the program’s alumni launch themselves into the world of entrepreneurship successfully, as is the case of Angélica Bellver, who created a startup to supervise facilities with drones and now helps create multidisciplinary teams of entrepreneurs from Demium, the groundbreaking incubator founded by Jorge Dobón. the one we had recently in our Café con emprendedores.
Below, we reproduce the interview about Akademia and its experience in entrepreneurship, which we had with Angélica:
Did the Akademia program change the way you see innovation and how to carry it out?
Yes, very much. I remember perfectly how the mentors’ master classes marked me; I discovered the reality of blockchain, data, cybersecurity, … If I remember correctly, 6 years ago 5G was a reality in Akademia, while for the rest of the world they were still theoretical or even non-existent concepts. In the end this helped me to believe that there are many more things to do, that there is a world still to be discovered in many branches and technologies.
What did you like most about the program? Why?
It’s hard to determine what I liked the most. The truth is that the part in which they show you with real examples of companies all these types of technologies, how they are used, the business models behind them and the value they bring to our society is something very difficult to find and that fascinated me. And at the same time, one of the things I valued the most was the creation of the teams, something that I now dedicate myself to and understand, but until then you are usually very used to working with teams from the same faculty, with a similar profile and knowledge. Today I have a very good relationship with some colleagues with whom I formed a team, I really liked working with different profiles, all contributing according to their own knowledge and experiences; it was very enriching.
What would you say to a student who is considering signing up for the program?
Don’t think about it and sign up now! It’s very worthwhile, whether it’s to learn about the technologies and markets of the future, to network more with peers and mentors, or to learn about teamwork and self-improvement. It is an enriching program in every way and that opened up a range of possibilities for me and was decisive in the following decisions that I made throughout my professional career.
You have set up a startup (IDS) of which you were CEO and then you incorporated a strategic partner: How has the experience been? What lessons learned would you like to share?
That’s right, Akademia was the program that opened the doors to the world of entrepreneurship: After this I decided to start with a drone project and ended up setting up the startup together with another colleague. During the first two years I assumed the role of CEO within the company, although I did not disassociate myself from the technological part. When we started working in the energy sector I realized that I needed a powerful CEO, someone who was within the sector, with contacts and who could elevate the company quickly, so I continued to be the visible face of the company, but with a business strategy and expertise behind it that allowed me to grow much faster.
For me, entrepreneurship and self-improvement has been one of the best experiences of my life; also the hardest, but in the end it is worth it. In these years I have made many mistakes, but I also think that I have learned from each of them. Above all, I am left with a lesson that I had a hard time applying, and that is that the sooner you fail and discard everything that does not add value, the better! Whether at the team, product or any methodology, if it doesn’t work, it changes quickly, pivots. Time is the most valuable thing we have and we have to take advantage of it.
You are now at Demium as the incubator manager: Can you tell us about the highlights of your work?
That’s right. In recent years in my company I became a professional in Project Management; I am passionate about all this organization and planning of times, cost and scope, but I was very clear that I wanted to manage innovative projects, within an entrepreneurial ecosystem, breaking the monotony of Engineering and the construction sector. And that’s when Demium showed up, giving me everything I wanted.
My role within Demium is Head of Incubation Program. I manage the projects within the Incubation Program, in which, for 6 months, we select people, form multidisciplinary teams and accompany them by defining a follow-up strategy to validate an idea, take it to the market and get investment.
The most important thing about my work is the management of the teams rather than the projects as such; in the end we work with people who don’t know each other, there is a lot of pressure and times at Demium go very fast. Making all that gear work by itself is our goal.
Why Demium? What are its differential characteristics that have attracted you the most?
In these years I have gone through several programs, accelerators and various training in entrepreneurship. From minute one, Demium conveyed to me that it was a different community, focused on people and talent. It is a program very focused on the earliest phases of entrepreneurship and with a very clear focus
A piece of advice for someone who wants to start a business. A tip for entrepreneurship.
There’s a quote from Kung Fu Panda that I love: If you always do what you already know how to do, you’ll never become more than you are. An entrepreneur does not have to set limits, you have to dare to do different things, to see the world in a different way and if you don’t know how to do something, surround yourself with the best and learn how to do it, but don’t just stay with what you know.
How do you see the future of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Spain?
I believe that the exponential growth that the ecosystem in Spain has had in recent years is undeniable. However, there is a need for a lot of entrepreneurial culture at a general level, in schools, universities and companies; We have to bring the entrepreneurial culture closer to everyone.
From the Bankinter Innovation Foundation we thank Angélica for the interview and for being able to share her achievements with the rest of the Akademia community.
