The programme provides the participants with relevant education and gives them the opportunity to participate in workshops with practical exercises. They also receive expert feedback on their ideas. Activities focus on systematic verification and refinement of the business ideas through in-depth contact with customers and users.
“The aims of the programme agree well with LiU’s ambition to demonstrate in translating ideas and research results into practical applications. The participation from our side is handled by the university innovation office, LiU Innovation,” says Vice-Chancellor Helen Dannetun.
The programme, which consists of three 2-day workshops, started at Dublin City University and then moved to Aalborg University. It concluded this week at Linköping University. The participants here have worked with, among other things, how to build an efficient startup team. At the end of the programme, the projects demonstrated what they had to offer at the Venture Arena event (in which innovators are paired with possible investors). Here, Happy Scribe from Dublin City University, which offers a transcription service for researchers and journalists, was chosen as best ECIU Student Startup. The winning project received a prize of EUR 2,000, to be used for participation in a freely chosen innovation conference.
Linköping University’s contribution was the “Worldish” project, with its digital translation tool “Helen”, intended for use within medical care. The service removes language barriers between patients and healthcare personnel.
“Even though the projects cover an enormous diversity of fields, they face many of the same challenges. The various startup projects have benefited greatly by exchanging experiences with each other and establishing international networks,” says Gio Fornell, head of LiU Innovation.
The projects
Nine projects were selected to participate in the pilot programme in Dublin, Aalborg and Linköping University during the autumn of 2017. They are all at preliminary stages, and come from several fields. Examples: The use of robots to teach programming in schools, a transcription service, the offer of financing to entrepreneurial projects of newly arrived refugees, and an automatic translation service in medical care.
LiU Innovation
The mission of the innovation office at Linköping University, LiU Innovation, is to support students, researchers and employees at LiU as they develop their ideas. LiU Innovation also plays an important role in knowledge transfer between Linköping University and the business world in the region.
ECIU
ECIU – the European Consortium of Innovative Universities – is a network of 12 universities with much in common. All are known as innovators within higher education, while entrepreneurship and collaboration with the society around is central for all. All universities are active in both technology and the social sciences. ECIU is a strategically important network for LiU.