Danobatgroup is committed to new cooperative ideas in the Mondragon City Challenge 

• The industrial group has had a prominent presence in the initiative as a sponsor and mentor of two entrepreneurial projects, one of them a winner.
• Before the final, the teams mentored by Danobatgroup in the third edition had the opportunity to visit the facilities of the Goimek cooperative and Danobatgroup's innovation engine, Ideko.

Once again, the industrial group Danobatgroup has sponsored the Mondragon City Challenge 2025 tournament, designed to encourage and promote cooperative business ideas among young people from around the world. The final of the third edition, held yesterday at the Amaia Municipal Theatre in Arrasate-Mondragón, was attended by the president of the group, Andres Mazkiaran, and the president of Goimek, Francisco Javier Fernández. 

Moreover, one of the two teams mentored by Danobatgroup during all phases of their project development, DIANOR, from Mexico, was named winner in the 19–24 age category. Their innovative idea involves designing wallets with RFID protection, a technology that blocks the electromagnetic signals through which contactless card theft takes place. The final product combines craftsmanship, design, and environmentally friendly materials.

The group made up of the young women Joselyn Cruz, Genesis Zamora and Adriana Cristina Chacón had the opportunity to gain a first-hand understanding about the reality of the industrial group and its cooperatives. 

Visits to Goimek and Ideko

Likewise, the day before the final, on 9 April, both the DIANOR team and CONFRITURA, another project team participating in the Mondragon City Challenge 2025, also mentored by Danobatgroup, visited the Goimek facilities and the group's innovation engine, IDEKO.  

During the day, the young people were able to gain a first-hand understanding of the inner workings of the Danobatgroup organisations, and were explained the differences between cooperative and conventional companies, as well as the initial challenges that were eventually overcome with this type of business model, so that they could grasp both the advantages and disadvantages of entrepreneurship in the cooperative world.

The Mondragon City Challenge International Cooperative Entrepreneurship Championship is an initiative organised by El Diario Vasco, Mondragon City Council, the Basque Government, the Governing Council of Cooperatives (Konfekoop), Mondragon, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and Mondragon University.

Danobatgroup's support for this tournament is part of the industrial group's social commitment to developing professional talent capable of facing future challenges, mainly in the advanced manufacturing sector. This sponsorship adds to other initiatives in which the group actively participates, such as the Ada Byron and Gladys Saria awards, or the TFG-TFM Mondragon Sariak competition.