On the 15th and 16th of March 2017, the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria organized the Kick off Meeting in order to launch the ERASMUS+ project: INSTART project (Euro-African Network of excellence for entrepreneurship and innovation). This project belongs to the call of the European Commission for the Development of Capacity Building in Higher Education.

The two day meetings took place at the Institutional offices of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, and covered all aspects to launch the INSTART project. Partners from the South Mediterranean Region (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia) and from Europe (Italy, Poland and Portugal) attended this meeting.
The INSTART Project was approved with a total budget of 704.491,66€ aims at aims at improving the knowledge triangle by promoting an effective Innovation culture in Higher Education, and starting up Innovative modes of association and interaction between Universities, Businesses and Society in order to enhance the socio-economic environment across the South Mediterranean Region (MED).

During the 2016 call for proposals, the European Commission received a total of 736 proposals, out of which 147 were selected for funding. Capacity Building projects are transnational cooperation projects based primarily on partnerships between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from Partner countries and Programme countries.