This year, students of the Department of Electronics and Computer Technologies of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv took the courses "Innovations and Entrepreneurship in the IT field" (for 4th-year undergraduates) and "Preparation of scientific and innovative projects" (for postgraduate students).
During their training, students were able to:
• identify IT potential for new valuescreation;
• evaluate their own idea in terms of its innovative implementation and the prospects of its ‘propagation’ in business;
• learn about business models and demonstrate their intention to start their own business (startup);
• build a team that is working on transforming an idea into a real business project; learn how to work in a team, and demonstrate leadership skills;
• create their own business model for the startup;
• prepare the concept of a business project;
• deal with various business financing mechanisms; understand how financial institutions operate in the investment market;
• identify and define potential partners;
• build a promotional strategy.
December 7, at 1:30 pm, the Department of Electronics and Computer Technologies (located in the University building at 50 Drahomanov Street) hosted the final session of the “Startup Battle” of these two courses, during which 16 student teams presented their innovative projects.
Before it started, the panel discussion tool place with the participation of:
Taras
Kytsmey, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Board Member, SoftServe
Lviv, Ukraine
Thomas
Arctædius, CEO, Ph.D.
CEO, Ayond AB
Stockholm, Sweden
Andreas
Nilsson, Ph.D.
Head of Research & Innovation
Intelleqt Information Technologies AB
Stockholm, Sweden
Taras
Nenchuk, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of System Design Subdepartment,
Department of Electronics and Computer Technology,
Ivan Franko National University of Lviv
Lviv, Ukraine
Ihor Katernyak,
Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Radiophysics and Computer Technologies Subdepartment,
Department of Electronics and Computer Technology,
Ivan Franko National University of Lviv
CEO, UDL System
Lviv, Ukraine
Teachers
and course experts addressed the students:
Each of us has had such moments in life when we made up our dreams, thought about our mission in this life. Someone has a plan to build a "rocket" for his or her super-idea, but it requires a lot of resources, a lot of time, complete confidentiality, and it does not necessarily mean that such a mission will be a success. Someone chooses a "civilian plane" for his or her journey, such as the Boeing 747 or the Airbus A380, which already has 40 to 400 passengers aboard, and may have to make several transfers, from a company to a company, in order to reach one’s destination. Such a flight is quite safe, but still its comfort depends on weather conditions in the corporation and possible legal turbulence in the state. Though someone builds his or her own "aircraft" looking like a military plane (fast and manoeuvrable), so that the adverse conditions (general uncertainty) ensure its competitiveness on the way towards achieving the goals. Therefore, assemble your professional ‘crew’ who share your ideas, so that each of your intentions to start your own business (startup) ensures your movement forward, combines you with another success, and brings you closer to your dreams. Make your mission successful!
IhorKaternyak, lecturer of the course "Innovations and Entrepreneurship in the IT field”
Follow your heart and do things you love and that give you energy. Be stubborn and persistent, don't give up too easy. Be friendly and create your network.
Thomas Arctædius, expert of the course
Congratulations to all students for taking their first step towards becoming entrepreneurs. Find your problem, and fall in love with it. Good luck!
Andreas Nilsson, expert of the course
After completion of the course, students shared their thoughts, impressions and emotions. Among the main advantages they mentioned the opportunity to work together in teams, to develop projects in cooperation with interesting people, to freely express their opinions and implement their ideas. Students got new tools and knowledge to develop their own projects, and they realized that they should not be afraid of failures, they have to go on. The students were encouraged to be courageous and positive; they believed in their own strength, they got motivated to develop new products. The students were most impressed with the very modern approach, the openness of the teacher who is always eager to help. Many of them noted that the course also developed their skills of public speaking, moreover – in English.
5 student teams have won the Startup Battle:
EasyVisit, with the slogan «We won’t let you starve to death». The goal is to create a tool that will help a client to obtain service and to make it more efficient and successful for food providers. Both restaurant owners and visitors will benefit from using this app "Easy Visit". Startup team: Iryna Halenok (Executive Director), Anastasiia Kozubska (Creative Director), Veronika Khlibyshyn (HR/Human Resources), Lesja Sikora (Fundraising), Olha Zarytska (Designer).
PresentUp, with the slogan «Share your ideas effectively». The project is a web service and a mobile application that solves the problem of interaction between a speaker and the audience during the performance and offline. Team members: Alexander Seredenko, Victor Apopiy, Rostyslav Harvanko, Vitaliy Lyashenko, Sergiy Hrabarskiy.
SetClef, with the slogan «We will help to hear and change the music».Web-based service that converts musical notes out of scan or high quality photo to music XML, which will allow a user to change notes easily for making covers. Team members: Orest Kychma (Back-End Developer), Oleh Kaskun (Front-End Developer, Project Manager).
DK-team, with the slogan «Live with clear conscience!».GSM socket-device that allows you to automatize and remotely control any electronic devices connected to it. GSMs01p has a number of improvements, like an ability to connect additional sensors, control via SMS, ability to integrate with smart home systems and other, not that significant but demandable functions. Team leader: Markian Timchishin.
New court, with the slogan «Save time, money and nerves».Solving legal problems takes a great amount of time and nerves. Our platform would help people solve them online. They describe a problem, pay for services and, in turn, lawyers interested in this matter can take it for consideration. People can transfer affairs to the lawyers without F2F meeting, thus saving their time significantly. Team members: Matviy Kurylo (Team Leader), Ostap Pavlentiy (Resource Explorer), Halyna Liashkevych (Executive Officer), Ludmila Rubas (Creative Director), Uliana Lysiak (Strategic Analyst).
All winners received
the certificates and valuable prizes from SoftServe Ukraine; besides the New Court team received a special prize
(recognition award)from the experts from Sweden.
The
students have remarked on the Startup
Battle event:
• Presenting your project to real investors is the invaluableexperience;
• Public speaking is the best experiment on oneself;
• We could see the truegauge of ourstrength;
• We got acquainted with well-known representatives of IT industry from Lviv;
• Frankly, I could not think it would be such a cool and exciting event!
