The programme provides the participants with relevant education and gives them the opportunity to participate in workshops with practical exercises. They also receive expert feedback on their ideas. Activities focus on systematic verification and refinement of the business ideas through in-depth contact with customers and users.
鈥淭he aims of the programme agree well with LiU鈥檚 ambition to demonstrate in translating ideas and research results into practical applications. The participation from our side is handled by the university innovation office, LiU Innovation,鈥� says Vice-Chancellor Helen Dannetun.
The programme, which consists of three 2-day workshops, started at Dublin City University and then moved to Aalborg University. It concluded this week at Link枚ping University. The participants here have worked with, among other things, how to build an efficient startup team. At the end of the programme, the projects demonstrated what they had to offer at the Venture Arena event (in which innovators are paired with possible investors). Here, Happy Scribe from Dublin City University, which offers a transcription service for researchers and journalists, was chosen as best ECIU Student Startup. The winning project received a prize of EUR 2,000, to be used for participation in a freely chosen innovation conference.
Link枚ping University鈥檚 contribution was the 鈥淲orldish鈥� project, with its digital translation tool 鈥淗elen鈥�, intended for use within medical care. The service removes language barriers between patients and healthcare personnel.
鈥淓ven though the projects cover an enormous diversity of fields, they face many of the same challenges. The various startup projects have benefited greatly by exchanging experiences with each other and establishing international networks,鈥� says Gio Fornell, head of LiU Innovation.
The projects
Nine projects were selected to participate in the pilot programme in Dublin, Aalborg and Link枚ping University during the autumn of 2017. They are all at preliminary stages, and come from several fields. Examples: The use of robots to teach programming in schools, a transcription service, the offer of financing to entrepreneurial projects of newly arrived refugees, and an automatic translation service in medical care.
The mission of the innovation office at Link枚ping University, LiU Innovation, is to support students, researchers and employees at LiU as they develop their ideas. LiU Innovation also plays an important role in knowledge transfer between Link枚ping University and the business world in the region.听
ECIU 鈥� the European Consortium of Innovative Universities 鈥� is a network of 12 universities with much in common. All are known as innovators within higher education, while entrepreneurship and collaboration with the society around is central for all. All universities are active in both technology and the social sciences. ECIU is a strategically important network for LiU.
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