Apr 15 2015

Startup Tour in Minsk

On April, 14-15 the most brilliant and innovative ideas were concentrated at the premises of the National Library of the Republic of Belarus within the Startup Tour in Minsk.

At the Grand Opening of the event, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus V.S. Matushevski delivered his welcome speech. He stressed that the holding of the Startup Tour in Minsk will give an additional impact to the development of the  start-up movement in Belarus. The Deputy Prime Minister noted the huge innovative potential of our country. He stressed that 900 applications were submitted to participate in the startup round, and encouraged the participants of the tour to “make money together”.

“The country mainly relies on young reserve, on those who are constantly ready for new challenges and discoveries. From the young minds we expect the solutions that will bring the economy of the Republic of Belarus to a new level!”- stated A.G. Shumilin, Chairman of the State Committee on Science and Technology of the Republic of Belarus. He also repeatedly mentioned the activities of Science and Technology Park of BNTU “Polytechnic” in his report.

On the first day of the Startup tour, master classes and mentoring sessions for the development of technological projects with invited authoritative experts were held. One of the master classes was devoted to the experience in youth innovative entrepreneurship support at BNTU and to the activities of Start-up Center of BNTU. The speech was delivered by the Head of the Start-up Centre Vitaly Gmyrak, who shared his experience in management and implementation of innovative projects, dwelled on how to form a project team, find the necessary funding and support for its implementation. Particular attention was given to business planning, marketing and promotion of projects in the market through international programs. Besides, the master class included guidance on the management of intellectual property during project implementation, building a competent presentation of projects for submission to potential investors.

The second day of the Startup tour in Minsk was devoted to the competition part, where the participants, who passed advanced expert selection, presented their innovative projects to the jury.

In general, 73 teams have passed the preliminary selection of experts and presented their innovative projects to the jury. This is the record number of selected projects in the same city during the Startup Tour in 2015.