Politehnica University Timisoara prepares future entrepreneurs among students
Politehnica University Timisoara prepares future entrepreneurs among students
Politehnica University Timisoara, through the InoHubUPT Student Entrepreneurial Society, held a boot camp for future entrepreneurs in November 2020 - Start-up Your Future - an event that aims to support UPT students in launching their own business and also to create a professional network of young entrepreneurs among UPT students. The network would contribute to the organization of future events of this kind: https://sas.upt.ro/bootcamp.
Based on the entrepreneurial courses they participated in, but also on the original business ideas they briefly described, 15 students from several faculties were chosen, both undergraduate and master's degree, who participated in the two weeks of boot camp. The sessions took place both synchronously, live on Zoom with the trainers, but also asynchronously, through activities that the participants performed on the Virtual Campus of UPT.
Initially, students self-assessed their 10 entrepreneurial skills through the Gallup BP10 Profile. Then they learned the importance of action and initiative in launching their own business, through a virtual simulation created by Harvard University. The following sessions consisted of writing down the business plan, using the Lean Canvas method, but also the art of asking potential customers questions, through another virtual simulation, which allowed them to experience the discussion with customers in a safe environment. The last sessions were dedicated to the debate of their ideas with UPT students who have already succeeded with their start-up but also to the discussion with investors from the local community.
Among the trainers were Dani Rada, co-founder of the start-up Pe Șleau and Andrei Cosmin Munteanu, CEO of the well-known Cowork Timișoara community. Mentors at the boot camp were Ciprian Man, a business angel at Growceanu, co-founder of the digital marketing agency EBIG and leader of Fintech Unifiedpost's country operations, and Ștefan Iarca, UPT graduate and co-founder of XVision, a software system for automatic analysis of radiographs, based on artificial intelligence algorithms.
"For me, this boot camp was unique. Ever since I was in high school I wanted to learn about entrepreneurship. During the sessions I met very nice and very dedicated people, which motivated me to continue with my project. I'm glad I finally understood how a start-up should start. I would always repeat this experience and that is why I highly recommend it", said Lucian Godeanu, a participant in the event.
The event was coordinated by Assoc. prof. Liviu Cădariu-Brăiloiu, Ph.D., vice-rector of UPT, and Silviu Vert, Ph.D., Vlad Mihăescu, Ph.D., and Ph.D. student Ion Panfilii contributed to the implementation.
The Start-up Your Future boot camp is part of the series of events dedicated to the Centenary of Politehnica University Timișoara - Politehnica 100 and the 100th anniversary of university education in Banat, celebrating the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit demonstrated over time by members of the academic community in UPT.
The project was co-financed by the Institutional Development Fund for state universities - FDI 2020.
Bootcamp information is available at the following addresses:
- Accessing the website - https://sas.upt.ro/ and https://sas.upt.ro/bootcamp
- Facebook - https://facebook.com/uptsas/
- Instagram - @ sas.upt
- E-mail - sas@upt.ro
