With the Involvement of British Experts, a Large-Scale Project ‘Innovative Ideas Competition’ Announced at GTU

To promote the generation of innovative ideas among students and graduates and their practical implementation, taking into account the experience accumulated in the format of a long-term partnership with Keele University (Great Britain), a large-scale university initiative “Innovative Ideas Competition – Future Projects” was officially announced at a specially invited organizational meeting.

The organizational meeting attended GTU Vice-Rectors – Tamar Tsereteli and Tamar Lominadze, deans of various faculties, and heads of relevant administrative departments of the university. The meeting was attended by partners from the UK, namely, the Director of Entrepreneurship at Keele University Business School, Dr. Colin Rigby, and the school’s Partnership Development Manager for Digital and Creative Industries, Emma Bonfilio.

As noted at the organizational meeting, the goal of the large-scale university initiative “Innovative Ideas Competition – Future Projects” is to share new entrepreneurial knowledge and experience among students, graduates and young employees, develop entrepreneurial skills of young people, promote the launch of new businesses and support their functioning, which, in general, will stimulate close and effective cooperation between the Georgian Technical University and industries.

According to the statement of the Vice-Rector, Professor Tamar Lominadze, the implementation of the university competition for innovative ideas, which includes the generation of innovative ideas among young people and their practical implementation, will be carried out in several stages.
 

“We believe that competitions of this format are a key component of the sustainable development of the university space. The innovative ideas competition will promote the integration of students and graduates into real business and economic processes, deepen cooperation between the academic sector and industries, and, for young contestants, a kind of university platform that significantly accelerates their professional, entrepreneurial, and career advancement. It is important that this initiative reflects modern educational trends, effective collaboration with international partners, and local or international industries. Ultimately, these processes contribute to the formation of the Georgian Technical University as a center of scientific and practical innovations. The innovative ideas competition will be held in three main categories. These are: “Digital Technologies”; “Social Impact”; “Creativity”; In addition, we will consider “Fantasy” as a separate category. It is noteworthy that innovative ideas will be generated and implemented in practice through incubation and consulting work with professors and teachers. The winning young people will be identified according to each category. Within the framework of the project, a special jury at the Georgian Technical University will identify a maximum of 10 innovative ideas, which will be presented by the authors at the final stage of the event, in December of this year. Participation in the main stage of the competition is possible both individually and as a team. In the case of a team, the number of members should not exceed three. Contestants who present their projects at the final stage and win the competition will be awarded with various prizes. We want our youth to take into account that students of any level of the Georgian Technical University, academic and administrative staff, our graduates – people aged 18 to 35, who are able to present innovative entrepreneurial ideas and, at the same time, want to turn their ideas into real business projects, can participate in the competition,” noted Tamar Lominadze.
 
According to the decision made at the organizational meeting, detailed information about the innovative ideas’ competition, registration deadlines, competition conditions and stages will be published on the official website of the Georgian Technical University and on social networks in the coming days.

The innovative ideas competition is organized by the GTU Technology and Grant Projects Office and the University Center “Together”.

The main partner of the competition is the GTU Department of Student Services, Sports and Culture; the event is academically supported by the Entrepreneurial Management Educational Program of the GTU Faculty of Transport Systems and Mechanical Engineering, and British experts will provide consultations to the participants during the competition.