As part of the SUSU Accelerator, a three-day “SkLab. SUSU” laboratory for generation of ideas of technological projects was organized. Its participants gathered a team, created ideas and developed their project. Experts from Skolkovo were invited to act as experienced speakers and mentors.
Students took part in master classes, training sessions, group work on self-presentation, team work and ideas generation. The plan for the laboratory participants included the following: within the course of three days, to generate an idea at the intersection of the National Technology Initiative market (TechNet, HealthNet, EduNet), trend and technology, to investigate and segment the target audience, and then present their idea before the experts.
“SkLab laboratory is an event for generation of ideas of technological projects within the frameworks of the SUSU Accelerator program. Among the participants of this three-day intensive work were 150 students from Chelyabinsk universities. As a result, they managed to come up with more than 20 technological ideas and startup teams. Next, during the following three months of their work as part of the Accelerator, the students must completely elaborate their projects and present them before business experts and investors,” explained Irina Solovyova, Head of the Department of Economics and Finance, manager of the SUSU projects in the field of technology entrepreneurship.
The closing day boosted the feeling of excitement and responsibility: the participants were given only 3 minutes to describe their idea and convince the experts that namely their startup is worth their attention, as well as answer all the jury’s questions.
“I am very grateful to our teachers, experts and mentors. We had many interesting lectures, master classes, and training sessions on business and creation of startups. We also had pitch sessions, where we were asked tricky questions, and this helped us work on the weak points in our projects,” shared Andrei Pakhomov, student of the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science and one of the winners of the ideas laboratory. “I didn’t even think that we could make it to the semi-final, but we ended up as leaders. It was very unexpected, but it means that we suggested a worthy idea if the experts gave big points for it. We will surely keep working on this project and develop our idea at the Accelerator.”
As a result of the projects defence, the participants of the SkLab laboratory were provided with recommendations on how to improve their startups. The experts wished the participants to keep going, continue to develop and not be afraid to turn to more experienced startuppers for advice.
The SUSU Accelerator is held within the frameworks of providing support to project teams and student initiatives in order to form innovative products, powered by the Autonomous Non-profit Organization “Platform of the National Technological Initiative” and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
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