The Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) held a meeting of the competition commission to sum up the results and determine the winners of the all-Russian competition of youth projects. There are two projects of young scientists from NSTU NETI among the winners: "HORIZONS of OPPORTUNITIES: developing career paths in the digital economy and high-tech business", which is aimed at developing a startup ecosystem for students, and student club development program "Look for me in the club", aimed at creating and maintaining youth activity.
The total amount of the grant for the University was 3.2 million rubles. Both projects received a grant of 1.6 million rubles. The mentor of the young scientists is Yevgenia Gorevaya, PhD (Economics), the head of Garage, the student business incubator (SBI), NSTU NETI.
In total, 2,214 applications from 352 universities were submitted for the competition for the overall requested amount of 3.8 billion rubles. Universities could submit no more than three projects in each of the 12 categories, but only one project in one category can be the winner. Young scientists need to complete their projects by December 20, 2020.
The project "HORIZONS of OPPORTUNITIES: development of career paths in the digital economy and high-tech business" is aimed at developing startup activity in SBI Garage. Its head is Ilya Dymov, the founder of the Smart Kengoo startup, head of students project work at the Faculty of Mechatronics and Automation, Assistant Professor at the Department of Electric Drive and Automation of Industrial Installations, NSTU NETI post-graduate.
The goal of the project is to help Novosibirsk students launch their startups. The project "HORIZONS of OPPORTUNITIES: development of career paths in the digital economy and high-tech business" plans to launch several events: workshops, hackathons, accelerators in industry areas (transport, energy, agriculture, social service, tourism and electronics).
The project implementation makes provisions for training mentors who will accompany teams not only during the entire project, but also after its finalizing. "At the end of all events we scheduled Startups Fair with investors, partner companies, regional and federal accelerators", — says Ilya Dymov.
"The project creates opportunities for young people's social lift in start-up environment and gives them the opportunity to continue working on their projects in a large company. It is unique in its immersion in the specifics of regional business and active involvement of young people in solving the problems of regional companies. The events will give opportunities to embrace the experience, technologies and problems of regional companies, to form an understanding of what technologies and competencies are now required by regional businesses, as well as introduce the participants to the basic steps of designing a startup and to prepare the first pitch to investors," said Yevgenia Gorevaya.
Another project is aimed at students’ engagement in SBI Garage activities. The idea of the program authors is that many students who are involved in the life of student associations can later turn their hobby into a startup. Its head is Natalia Kiryanova, a post-graduate student, the Department of Automated Electric Power Systems at Power Engineering Faculty, NSTU NETI. The goal of the project is to create new student clubs and develop existing ones at NSTU NETI.
The authors of the project plan to create a system for initiating, launching and managing a student club. "We want to make sure that students' initiatives receive active support on the existing University sites and there are all necessary conditions for them to pursue their interests. Five student clubs of NSTU NATI will be launched: VR, SumOm, Eco-club, TechArt, business games Club, " Natalia Kiryanova said.
According to the head of SBI Garage, today's youth have different requirements for education, living environment and employers. "The interests of students are very diverse, and to ensure full leisure and maximum opportunities for self-realization, we create a space for youth club work. It is important for us that University students have their own comfortable space for communication in accordance with their interests, so that they can engage in the activities of their choice. I think that in the future it can either form the basis of their future career, or launch a successful startup," says Yevgenia Gorevaya.
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The competition is included in the Grant competition of Rosmolodezh youth initiatives which is part of the "Russia is the country of opportunities" platform. It was launched at the world festival of youth and students in Sochi in October 2017 on the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin.It combines various educational, human resources and social projects that contribute to the self-realization of citizens and the promotion of public initiatives. The autonomous non-profit organization "Russia is the country of opportunities" was created in May 2018 to develop the platform of the same name by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation on May 22, 2018.