Central European University yesterday announced that it is closing the CEU InnovationsLab operation as of December 31, 2022. CEU iLab will not recruit a new cohort, the current cohort will graduate in October, 2022. iLab started in 2016 in a repurposed classroom with a single staff and has become the best incubator in Hungary within 18 months. Today iLab is a highly selective program with 2 cohorts a year, with 150 volunteer mentors helping the teams. In the last 7 years iLab was THE place where aspiring entrepreneurs could practice entrepreneurship, work with 150+ CEU student interns, also bringing their entrepreneurial experience to the classrooms. iLab startups have raised more than EUR 13M in external funding and have created 230 jobs. Many of the iLab startups have become successful and all the ideas were innovative, responsible, improving or innovating something within their domain. Most of all, iLab has been a community. A place where startup teams worked under the same roof, could exchange knowledge, share network and support each other in the rollercoaster startup life. We are thankful for everyone who has been working with us in the past 7 years in our effort to promote entrepreneurship, innovation and helped us contribute to the Hungarian and Austrian startup ecosystems.
