On the 17th of February UT Startup Lab started with the idea development programme Starter 2022 spring season. The event lasted for almost 5 hours and was held at UT Delta Centre. There were 50 participants and the ideas ranged from the medical field to building wooden houses.

The participants in the Idea Hackathon listened to inspiring speeches and pitched their own ideas. Later they formed teams. The Hackathon was led by trainer in creative self-realization Harald Lepisk, who helped participants validate their ideas and taught pitching. Ermo Tikk, Ecosystem strategist at Startup Day, introduced the Tartu start-up scene, talked about the highs and lows of entrepreneurship and recommended the participants to find an idea that they really believed in. Kaisa Ehrpais shared her experience in the programme, she encouraged all participants to develop their ideas and praised the Starter workshops. She told the audience that she still uses the notes from them. 

The teams discussed which problems their ideas are able to solve and started to test the viability of their ideas. The Hackathon ended with new, clearer presentations. In addition to that, there were ideas introduced on how to make loaning from banks simpler, stop aging with the help of genes and get rid of medical waste. At the end of the day, new teams were formed, who will start to further test the viability of their idea and develop it.

Tartu Starter programme leader Maret Ahonen praised the student’s ambition in creating new technological solutions. 

The event was attended by both students with previous entrepreneurship experience and those who had no previous experience in the field. The students really enjoyed the format of the event that offered more variation in studying. 

Student of the Faculty of Medicine Gaida Kertu Roos commented on the event: „It’s really fun! There is a lot of action in the event and it seems entrepreneurship minded from all areas of Tartu have gathered here.“

Starter programme is financed by the European Social Fund.

Additional information: Kristian Kutsar, Startup Lab Communications and Marketing Specialist, 5628 6536, kristian.kutsar@ut.ee