Educational program in Robotics, a “green” idea and an innovative product are the winners of the final competition of Teenovator
The first-prize winning team will participate in Digital Innovation Hackaton, organized by the European commission
The highly-emotional final annual competition of Teenovator, a program for promoting entrepreneurialism in Bulgarian schools, has been held in an open-air stage. The event marked the end of the second school year of the Program for 17 schools in 3 cities. On June 19th, 2020 start-up teams of students from 10th and 11thgrade from Sofia, Varna and Vratsa presented their business ideas on the Summer Stage in Borisova Gradina Park. The teenagers presented their ideas for the future, innovations and suggestions how to solve everyday problems with start-up companies.
The total number of the presented ideas for start-ups were 12. The first prize was won by EduBots which is already successfully running educational program – it offers sets for assembling robots and training videos in Robotics and has been created by students from Sofia High School of Mathematics, the German Language High School and the National High School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The second prize went to the “Green” start-up team HappyTree, created by students from 119 SU in Sofia. Their idea is everybody to have the opportunity to give a tree as a present to a special person – the company plants the tree and sends a video and a certificate to the receiver of the present. The third place was taken by students from 19 SU in Sofia for their idea Woof Ball – a light up dog ball made from recycled material which solves a widespread problem of dog owners.
The first-place winners will take part in Digital Innovation Hackaton, organized by the European Commission in November 2020. The grand prize is participation in pre-accelerator program Innovation Capital’s XL Bootcamp in Sofia from 13th to 17th July which provides the opportunity of winning funding of 25 000 euros.
The panel of judges included the social entrepreneur and investor, Ivan Dimov; Yavor Gochev from Innovation Capital; Zornitsa Zheleva from Launchub Ventures; Daniel Lorer from Brightcap Ventures and Grigori Grigorov, CEO of Angels Club.
“Congratulations for your ideas and courage. The fact is that, some of the biggest and most successful companies have been created due to the ideas of young people like you; we believe in you” said in his opening speech the Finance and Healthcare Deputy Mayer of Sofia, Doncho Barbalov. Irena Dimitrova, PhD, Head of Sports and Youth Department was also among the guests. Viktoria Blazheva from UniCredit Bulbank awarded the winners.
Meanwhile, the initiative #RUNovator is running until July, 10th. It was started by Teenovator together with Krasi Georgiev, an ultramarathon runner and co-founder of Chair Up and Ivan Dimov, social entrepreneur and founder of Single Step Foundation. The virtual runners’ club in Strava app, https://www.strava.com/clubs/runovator, already has over 300 members who took part in the three-month-long adventure.
Teenovator is supported by the Bulgarian Entrepreneur Centre (BEC). America for Bulgaria Foundation funds the clubs in the two schools in Vratsa. UniCredit Bulbank is Teenovator’s partner for 2019-2020 school year. Sofia Municipality is Teenovator’s partner in promoting entrepreneurialism among students.
About Teenovator
The Program has started in Bulgaria at the beginning of 2018-2019 school year in 4 schools in Sofia. In 2019-2020 school year it is running in 17 schools in three cities – Sofia, Varna and Vratsa. The project focuses on developing students’ creative thinking and entrepreneurial skills. Mentors, entrepreneurs from starting and developed companies in Bulgaria with different experiences help students from 10th and 11thgrades to find their passion and turn it into a successful start-up business. This school year 34 mentors have been included. Teenovator’s training methods are based on successful practice of Stanford University. The Program is running in 9 countries on 3 continents, and Bulgaria has been part of it since 2018-2019 school year.
For more information:
Zornitsa Mitkova
+359 884 511 612
zornitsamitkova@gmail.com
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