On May 17th, “Business Laboratory” demo days took place at the Rezekne Academy of Technologies. The course is part of the ESI student innovation program. During the event, seven teams presented innovative products developed during the study semester.
“Business Laboratory” is a practical entrepreneurship course during which students from different faculties at the Rezekne Academy of Technologies could work on new product or service development and test the viability of their business ideas.
This time 32 students from 7 teams worked for two weeks to create and test different solutions, such as event planning and beauty service registration tools, healthy food delivery services and a platform for improving working efficiency. On the demo day of the course, the teams presented their solutions to the external jury and showed early-stage prototypes.
In addition to the practical work, the students also learned innovation theory and gained knowledge about team-building, organizational culture, finance attraction and project presentation principles. During the course, two founders of the startups shared their experience stories with the students.
The jury placed “Kiberklubs” in the first place – their business idea was to create the first cyber club in Rezekne, which would unite video game enthusiasts. The team “Dveselu nams” placed second, and their idea was to create a professional animal crematory. In third place, “Perfume by ME” presented DIY kits for perfume making and workshops.
The jury had members from different fields – marketing specialist Raimonds Platacis, SEB bank representative Inga Matvejeva, RTA professor and SIA “Safira-L” owner Lienite Litavniece.
“During the presentations at the Rezekne Academy of Technologies, I had a chance to see the achievements of seven different teams, and I was surprised by the idea variety. Students researched the defined consumer problems and solution strategies, which is a wonderful experience for starting entrepreneurship and future career development. The prototypes for solutions were well-considered, which can keep the customer's attention and provide a convenient consumer journey. All the ideas presented were suitable for the market situation, and each could attract the target customer's attention, but whether to proceed with the entrepreneurship ideas depends on the student motivation and goals. ”- shared Inga Matvejeva, SEB SME segment sales support manager and jury representative.
ESI project number: 1.1.1. 3/21/A/008.a. ESI project is supported by Rimi Latvija, SEB Latvija and European Regional Development Fund. Program partners: Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Latvijas Mākslas akadēmija, Rezekne Academy of Technologies and Riga Graduate School of Law.
