12 December 2024

On December 11-12, 2024, the forum of innovative entrepreneurship «Startup Generation» was held on the site of the Hi-Tech Park business incubator. It is an important milestone in the cycle of events to develop a unified ecosystem of innovative entrepreneurship and startup movement in Belarus, organized by Hi-Tech Park during 2024.

For two days, more than 200 young entrepreneurs from all over the country present and defend their projects before the expert jury. Representatives of the Ministry of education, universities, HTP startup center and resident companies sum up the results of the year, analyze the state of infrastructure in universities and discuss new directions of innovative entrepreneurship development.

Welcoming the participants, Director of Hi-Tech Park Alexander Bazanov has emphasized: “The Startup Forum is a message to the youth. It implies that in the near future you will become leaders in your fields of competence, bring innovation and investment to increase our country’s prosperity.”

The contest program features 32 projects and only five most promising, according to the expert committee, reach the finals. On the second day of the event, young entrepreneurs had a unique opportunity to present their ideas to potential customers and even to address the First Deputy Prime-Minister of the Republic of Belarus Nikolai Snopkov, who took part in the forum and indicated that the best and in-demand ideas and startups will always be supported by the Government.

The following projects made it to the finals. A mini-application for convenient search of clothes “WearMe” from the students of the Belarusian State University and the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics, an innovative product “Fresh-mark” for objective assessment of the quality of products from the Y.Kupala State University of Grodno, an electronic system for tracking customer experience at retailers “RS ASSISTANT STORE” from the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics, as well as the project “CartON” from the Belarusian National Technical University and the Belarusian State University, which helps to conveniently transport groceries home from the store.

Alexander Egorov, Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the  Republic of Belarus, congratulated the participants and confirmed his intention to continue supporting youth entrepreneurship: “Success depends on the ideas you generate. We will think about how to involve the projects into the economy”.

The victory and a valuable prize from HTP resident Game Stream went to the team of the Sukhoi Gomel State Technical University studnts with the project “Clifffort” - a digital platform for the delivery of loose construction materials, which connects the customer, transporter and supplier. The audience's preferences were given to the project “StudFlow” from the Belarusian State Technical University, which is a platform that allows students to apply for post-graduation placement and and find one.

The Minister of education of the Republic of Belarus Andrei Ivanets came to support the participants of the event and noted the high potential of the launched startup movement: “We saw great potential in those 12 universities that we selected together with the HTP Secretariat, but we do not close the possibility of joining such a program for others. Today, supporting youth entrepreneurship is a state policy”.

Despite the fact that not all the projects reached the final, the contest participants highly appreciated the time spent in the HTP business incubator, because they gained valuable experience, knowledge and advice from experts, representatives of business and public sector, made many useful acquaintances, and some even got a real opportunity for further cooperation and implementation of their ideas.

Yuri Chebotar, Minister of economy of the Republic of Belarus, supported the young entrepreneurs and emphasized: “Rome wasn't built in a day. We know the success story of many companies that started from scratch”. I saw today that there is a drive, there are fresh ideas. Do not stop! Our state assistance is at your fingertips”.

On the margins of the forum a dialogue platform “Prospects for the development of innovative entrepreneurship in the Republic of Belarus” was also organized and a panel discussion “Ecosystem of innovative entrepreneurship development: the role of higher education institutions” was held.