KPI will develop medical startups in its Silicon Valley
The Igor Sikorsky KPI together with the Heart Institute of the Ministry of Ukraine will work on the creation of modern medical equipment. The new equipment will be used both at the institute and in the medical science park. Developments will be presented at the Sikorsky Challenge Festival of Innovation Projects.
It was also decided that the authors of the three most progressive projects in all areas, according to the decision of the international expert jury of the 9th Sikorsky Challenge Festival, will receive scholarships from sponsors throughout the school year.
This was discussed during a meeting of the administration of the Igor Sikorsky KPI with General Director of the Heart Institute of the Ministry of Ukraine Boris Todurov, President of the Union of Entrepreneurs of Small, Medium and Privatized Enterprises of Ukraine Roman Romanov and founder of the SEMC by Mosquito Control startup Anastasia Romanova.
“The purpose of our meeting is to exchange ideas and opinions regarding future cooperation. We also offer our guests to work at the 9th Sikorsky Challenge festival as an international expert jury”, – said the KPI Rector Mikhailo Zgurovsky.
At the meeting, they introduced the innovative Sikorsky Challenge ecosystem, on the basis of which they decided to implement joint projects. The guests noted the prospects of this system for the development of the medical industry, namely, the creation of modern medical equipment that can be used for a scientific medical park is being developed today. Boris Todurov was inspired by the Kyiv Polytechnic Science Park to create such a complex.
“KPI has become a center for innovative entrepreneurship. Talents give birth to ideas, knowledge capital accumulates, and this then turns into a business. At the entrance there is a whole range of creators who create intellectual property: schoolchildren, our students and scientists, entrepreneurs can come. Some of the scientists need to learn what innovative entrepreneurship is, for this there is the Sikorsky Challenge Startup School. Someone needs help in promoting the product – there’s a business incubator for this”, – says Vitaliy Pasechnik, Vice-Rector for Research at KPI.
“We discussed several completely new directions in cardiac surgery in particular and medicine in general. With these pilot projects, we want to go to the Sikorsky Challenge and present them to investors there. At one time, we were amazed at the creation of a science park based on your university.
Now we have submitted documents for the creation of a medical science park. It will have three main components: the clinical part (the clinic itself), the scientific part (several buildings where new developments will be developed), the educational part (we plan to place the department of a medical university there)”, – Todurov shares his plans.
To provide production resources, to support the best students financially, and in the future – to offer them work in enterprises, Roman Romanov promised. The entrepreneur is confident that the successful functioning of the economy requires the coordinated work of science, production and the consumer, creates demand.
“We decided to support the best startups and give scholarships to students with the most advanced technologies. The scholarship will be paid from November until the end of the school year 2020/2021. Our task is to help at the first stage, at the idea level, and if we see the commercial component, we will definitely support projects with our production capabilities. The next stage is that we are ready to accept students as a team and give them first jobs. These are metalworking, construction and automotive companies”, – says Roman Romanov.
The culture of startups in Ukraine is actively developing – young people exchange experience and purposefully go on to create their own business. Anastasia Romanova knows how the startup system works in our country. She herself is the author of a startup – a system that allows you to clean mosquitoes from open areas without using chemicals. Anastasia represented the development in the USA and is ready to share her experience with polytechnics.
“I was familiar with the Sikorsky challenge Startup School about five years ago. This is an extraordinary system that provides the basis for the growth of very effective ideas in truly effective business. When I learned about this ecosystem created in Ukraine, the first analogy was from Stanford, Silicon Valley. This is the bridge between education and the real economy. For young people, these are great chances to build successful businesses in the future”, – Anastasia Romanova shares her impressions.
For students developing and creating medical equipment in cooperation with the Heart Institute – a chance to prove themselves outside the campus, in front of potential employers and investors and find out the most urgent needs of hospitals and medical centers.
Source: kpi.ua