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Mentoring Workshop for Startup Mentors within the ENHANCE Alliance
On 29–30 June 2026, a two-day mentoring workshop was held at the Warsaw University of Technology as part of the ENHANCE Alliance and co-funded by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA).
Photo by Piotr Szczepański.
The event was coordinated by Eliza Nowacka from the Innovation Incubator at the WUT Innovation Centre (CINN), who also leads at WUT Work Package 5 "Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation" within the ENHANCE+. The workshop brought together 12 current and aspiring startup mentors, as well as professionals supporting founding teams and the development of academic entrepreneurship.
who also leads at WUT Work Package 5 "Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation" within the ENHANCE+. The workshop brought together 12 current and aspiring startup mentors, as well as professionals supporting founding teams and the development of academic entrepreneurship.The workshop was highly practical, focusing on developing mentoring competencies through case study analysis, work on real-life challenges, and exercises grounded in participants' own experiences.On the first day participants explored the role of the mentor, developed key mentoring competencies, and discussed how to build trust-based mentoring relationships. The programme covered topics such as startup team dynamics, identifying stages of team development, and recognising the most common team dysfunctions. A significant part of the workshop was devoted to designing an effective mentoring process—from setting goals and establishing the rules of cooperation, through monitoring progress, to successfully concluding the mentoring engagement.The second day focused on strengthening the leadership and management competencies of startup founders. Participants examined topics related to team management, task delegation, accountability, and fostering team members' autonomy.The workshop concluded with an Action Learning session based on participants' real mentoring challenges, followed by the development of individual action plans for applying the newly acquired knowledge in their everyday mentoring practice.The workshop provided an excellent opportunity to gain practical knowledge, exchange experiences, and establish professional connections among mentors and individuals engaged in the development of the academic entrepreneurship ecosystem. Participants also became familiar with proven mentoring approaches that they can apply in their work with startups and founding teams.
The workshop was co-funded under the NAWA programme “ENHANCER+ – Support for Short-Term Educational Activities for Students and Staff of Warsaw University of Technology in the International ENHANCE Alliance Environment.”
