GOe and the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa launch HAMARRAK to foster new FoodTech entrepreneurial talent in Gipuzkoa
The initiative will select ten people with entrepreneurial potential to join the GOe ecosystem for four months, where they will develop their initial ideas, acquire new knowledge and explore opportunities for collaboration and growth from Gipuzkoa.
HAMARRAK is aimed at people in the early stages of an entrepreneurial initiative related to food, gastronomy or technologies applied to the sector. The call is open to a diverse range of profiles, including entrepreneurs with early-stage business ideas, students and recent graduates, researchers interested in knowledge transfer, and professionals working in fields such as gastronomy, health, digitalisation, sustainability, or the design of new products and services.
A new pathway for activating entrepreneurial talent
HAMARRAK focuses on people with entrepreneurial potential who are at an early stage of their journey, when they are still defining or developing their initial ideas. The programme aims to provide a specialised environment where participants can acquire knowledge, test and refine their ideas, and build connections with other stakeholders working across food, gastronomy and applied technologies.
The initiative will prioritise participants with links to Gipuzkoa, particularly those who intend to develop their activity and generate an impact in the territory. In this way, HAMARRAK seeks to contribute to bringing new talent into Gipuzkoa’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem and to foster the emergence of future initiatives in food and gastronomy.
Four months to develop ideas within GOe
The ten selected participants will join a specialised community focused on gastronomic innovation and entrepreneurship for four months. During this period, they will follow a programme combining training, inspiration, mentoring, access to infrastructure and participation in activities across the GOe ecosystem.
The programme will include workshops, meetings, working sessions and complementary resources designed to broaden participants’ knowledge, identify opportunities and address the challenges associated with each initiative. Participants will also have access to workspaces at GOe, providing an environment for experimentation and the development of their proposals.
The programme is based on active participation in the ecosystem and learning through action. Its activities will create opportunities for interaction, enabling participants to share experiences, test their ideas and move their initiatives forward through experimentation and iteration.
Gipuzkoa as an environment for developing new initiatives
Connection with the territory will be another key element of the programme. Where it can contribute to the development of their initiatives, participants will have the opportunity to connect with companies, projects and professionals linked to Gipuzkoa’s food and gastronomy ecosystem. This will allow them to bring their ideas into real-world contexts and gain a better understanding of the opportunities available in the territory.
The initiative builds on the favourable conditions Gipuzkoa offers for the development of FoodTech projects: a strong gastronomic tradition, companies across the entire food value chain, universities, technology centres and specialised innovation organisations, as well as a growing entrepreneurial community. HAMARRAK seeks to strengthen these capabilities by attracting and activating new talent.
Open call for ten participants
Applications will be assessed according to criteria including motivation and interest in entrepreneurship, the development potential of the initiative, its connection to the FoodTech field, its links to Gipuzkoa, and the complementarity of the profiles selected.
Following the selection process, the programme will run from October to December 2026. It will combine group sessions, mentoring, participation in ecosystem activities, and different opportunities for connection and learning. The first edition will culminate in December with an event open to Gipuzkoa’s entrepreneurship and innovation community.
A pilot programme with a vision for continuity
HAMARRAK is launching as a pilot project to evaluate a model for the early activation of entrepreneurial talent based on interaction between people, community, knowledge, capabilities and territory. Throughout this first edition, the evolution of the participating initiatives, the connections generated and the experience of the selected participants will be assessed.
Through HAMARRAK, GOe – Gastronomy Open Ecosystem and the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa are strengthening their commitment to entrepreneurship as a means of attracting new talent to the territory, fostering the creation of new initiatives related to food and gastronomy, and leveraging Gipuzkoa’s existing capabilities to drive innovation.