Masaryk University strives to support students in many ways, one of which is to provide a stimulating environment for developing ideas and their own business plans. To help students find all the relevant information in one place, the university has launched a separate website on entrepreneurial activities. The website was created by the MU Technology Transfer Office and offers an overview of courses, events and activities that can serve as a stepping stone to turning ideas into real business projects.
“Our mission is to help good ideas spread beyond the university grounds and make sure they lead to useful results. These ideas do not come only from researchers or academics, but also from students who are driven to improve services and processes,” said Eva Janouškovcová, director of the Technology Transfer Office.
Masaryk University directly offers several educational courses on intellectual property and project management. The seminars are part of credit-rated courses at several MU faculties. Examples include the Introduction to Entrepreneurship course sponsored by the Department of Information and Library Studies at the Faculty of Arts and the Business in Sport course at the Faculty of Sports Studies. The Innovation and Entrepreneurship online course offered by the Faculty of Informatics can help build the basis for starting a successful business. The Technology Transfer Office has collaborated with the South Moravian Innovation Centre (JIC) and other partners to launch the innovative From Ideas to Business course in the autumn semester of 2022, which will be taught annually. Students can find a list of other courses, including information on current entrepreneurship workshops at MU and beyond, on the aforementioned new portal.
The Start Your Business competition is another initiative supporting entrepreneurial spirit among students. Students and student teams participating in the competition can receive financial support for their start-ups, as well as valuable mentoring assistance for the implementation of their projects.
“We refer students who have the best ideas to experts who can advise them on the next steps in their entrepreneurial careers. Networking among student entrepreneurs is another benefit of participation in the competition,” said Jana Joklová Kaňová, the competition coordinator.
Last year, Martina Jemelková from the Faculty of Medicine and Adam Veverka from the Faculty of Economics and Administration were awarded for their projects ‘Staying in Motion with MS’ and the ‘Discover LVA (Lednice-Valtice Area)’ application, respectively, as the contestants with the greatest entrepreneurial potential. Both students received CZK 60,000 for further development of their projects and are now preparing to study abroad.
The next round of the Start Your Business competition for students with ideas that have entrepreneurial potential will be announced in January. The competitiveness of the projects will be judged by an expert panel consisting of representatives of the Technology Transfer Office, JIC, MU Faculty of Economics and Administration and partner companies.