The Sumy State University Startup Center promotes the development of business ideas and innovative projects:
- Conducting educational seminars, training sessions, and business games with the participation of entrepreneurs;
- Organizing presentations, crash tests, brainstorming sessions;
- Supporting participation in national and international competitions;
- Developing partnerships and mentorship with leading startup projects, startup hubs, and investment funds.
Learn More about the Center:
The startup movement at the university provides an opportunity to seek investments and commercial deals in the conditions of modern entrepreneurship, attracting more students to collaborate in existing laboratories and research areas. Startups involve training with the involvement of business owners and real market experts, searching for creative business ideas and innovation implementation, brainstorming sessions (“Crash tests,” “Pitches”), building a business plan and an effective business model, active information marketing work, team formation, and leadership development, “Crowdfunding,” etc.
To support and develop new ideas in close partnership with businesses at SumDU, a startup center has been created: convenient infrastructure, specialized training, constant search for creative solutions, and a partner network. Within the TEMPUS SUCSID project, similar centers were created at partner universities in Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus.
One successful example of developing technological startup projects is the creation of the 3D Innovations group. It started as a student initiative that, in the 2015-2016 academic year, reached the level of self-sustaining services in 3D printing. Prospects for development include establishing a research laboratory and joining the worldwide “Fab Lab” association. Practical achievements of the 3D Innovations group include signing contracts to produce scientific products for enterprises in the cities of Sumy and Dnipro.
The startup center has organized a series of events to develop the promising direction of “Industry 4.0” jointly with representatives of state structures, business partners, university departments, and laboratories. Support has been provided for the “Industry 4.0 in Ukraine” Charter, developed by the Association of Industrial Automation Enterprises of Ukraine. A memorandum proposing the creation of a SumDU-based “Industry 4.0” cluster has been introduced.
For further development of the startup movement, joint participation has begun with leading universities in Ukraine in the project to establish a Startup School at the University using the methodologies of the “Sikorsky Challenge” Startup School. An agreement has been signed between SumDU, the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute,” and the Sikorsky Challenge Business Incubator. The agreement envisages cooperation in the development of an innovative environment that promotes the creation of as many startup projects and high-tech companies as possible based on Ukrainian universities, the organization of an innovative ecosystem, assistance in attracting investors to support startup teams, and the establishment of a university business incubator.
