Held at Tomsk State University, U-NOVUS—a forum for early-career scientists—hosted about 80 students from various Russian cities who tried on the role of tech entrepreneurs as part of the startup constructor workshop. Guided by a business trainer, they generated startup ideas, pinpointing the relevant target audiences and discussing the problems that their potential products could solve. As a result, three teams have shown their willingness to participate in the TSU accelerator Biomedtech and New Materials. Encouraging entrepreneurship among students will enable them to create and manufacture technologies to strengthen the country’s import independence.
After the end of the workshop, the participants went on to pitch their ideas and subsequently received feedback from their business trainer. Additionally, all teams were invited into the TSU accelerator program Biomedtech and New Materials, which started on April 14.
During the workshop, 11 teams gathered information for creating a minimal viable product and determining their target audiences through profiling and segmentation. Then they tested the target audiences and conceptualized the tasks that the potential product was supposed to solve. Team members learned how to work in a team, by trying out different roles: being a leader, speaker, analyst, designer, and so on.
The visiting expert Igor Kovalyov, owner of several startups and president of the company DI Group, shared his experience as a tech entrepreneur, outlined a number of successful cases in this field and advised continuing to believe in your idea.
“Startups and tech entrepreneurship can be very unpredictable. That is why you do not listen to anybody. Going into a venture project means you cannot rely on others’ opinions—you just have to try and do it, and that is how you win. And if you are dedicated enough, you will win despite all the odds,” shared the expert. “Tech startup will not bring you income in the short-term perspective. It is a marathon, and only by believing in yourself and being ready to dedicate your life to it will you be able to conquer it.”
Tatiana Kuklina, the director of the TSU Center of Entrepreneurship and Senior Professor at TSU Institute of Economics and Management, shares that the workshop was great for giving the students immersive experience in tech entrepreneurship.
“Our experience in organizing such events shows that seamlessness is key: After the workshop, we instantly offered the attendees to take part in a new accelerator. They can enter it with an existing project or create a new one beforehand. Having completed the accelerator, they can apply for the Student Startup competition and get the 1 mil-ruble funding for their project,” Tatiana Kuklina added.
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The 8th Forum for Early-career Scientists U-NOVUS-2023 was held in Tomsk and sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Platform for Tech Entrepreneurship among Students, Administration of Tomsk Oblast, Tomsk State University, Tomsk Polytechnic University, and Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics. The forum’s key idea is to foster an ecosystem that will combine the tech entrepreneurship potential among students, federal support, and regional frameworks, with the latter including the University of Tomsk, the Triple Helix model of innovation and communication, accelerators based in schools of advanced engineering studies, technology parks, and R&D centers.