"Bardzo dobry" – these words were most often heard at the Ukrainian-Polish round table held on April 7 at the Innovation Center of the Igor Sikorsky KPI. The event was a part of the Forum of Rectors of Higher Technical Institutions of Ukraine and Poland and focused on the creation of a European network of start-up schools and a collaborative innovation environment.
The first startup-school in Ukraine was established in 2014 on the basis of our university. In 2016 - in early 2017, start-up schools in Vinnitsa, Mariupol, as well as in the capital of Azerbaijan - Baku, were opened with the help and methods of the Kyiv Startup School Sikorsky Challenge. Soon the startup school is going to be created in the Republic of Belarus. And all schools are created on the basis of universities. Therefore, the round table on April 7 was a logical continuation of the development of the start-up school network, since its purpose was to discuss the needs and possibilities for the development of a common innovation environment for Ukrainian and Polish universities, based on which the Ukrainian-Polish network of university start-up schools could become.
The Ukrainian participants of the round table: Mikhail Zgurovsky, rector of the Igor Sikorsky KPI, Project Manager, Innovative Ecosystem Sikorsky Challenge; Inna Malyukova, Director of the Institute of Postgraduate Education, Igor Sikorsky KPI, Project Manager, Sikorsky Challenge School; Volodymyr Gnat, General Director of the Science Park "Kyiv Polytechnic"; Konstantin Koval, Head of the Sikorsky Challenge Startup School, Vinnytsya National Technical University; Igor Lenzov, Vice-Rector for Science at Priazovsky State Technical University, head of the startup school in Mariupol.
From the Polish side: Katarzyna Valchik-Matushik, Deputy Director, National Contact Point for EU Research Programs, Head of the TOP-500 Innovators Association; Arkadius Mezyk - Rector of Silesian Technological University; Bianka Sivinska, head of the Perspektywy Scientific and Educational Foundation; Przemyslaw Sekalski - co-founder of the Interdisciplinary School of Innovation (ISI), Technological University of Lodz; King Kurovskaya
Katarzyna Valchik-Matushkik, moderator of the round table, familiarized its participants with the organizational infrastructure of innovative enterprises of Poland and the means of their interaction with the EU. Bianka Sivinska, on the example of a purely women's innovative environment, spoke about effective tools and successful examples of science and business cooperation. Przemyslaw Sekalskiy shared his vision of the prospects and strategies for the development of industrial parks.
Polish colleagues also talked about strategies and tools for promotion of local innovation environments and on the effectiveness of the policy of the European Union countries for the development of innovative environments.
Ukrainian participants talked about their own achievements in the development of innovative potential of Ukraine, for example, the creation and operation of the startup schools in different regions of Ukraine: Inna Malyukova - about the first in Ukraine Sikorsky Challenge in Kyiv, Konstantin Koval and Igor Lenzov - about the first groups of graduates of their startup schools and the peculiarities of the innovative climate in their regions.
During the discussions, the director of the Institute for Further Education Yuriy Bogachkov asked: "There are problems of cooperation in a triangle schoolkid-student-employer in Ukraine. How do you solve this problem in Poland?"
Three Polish speakers responded to this question at once. Katarzyna Valčik-Matushkik said that Polish students begin to work during 3rd and 4th courses and that is why they acquire practical skills at the university. Arkadius Mezik noted that the Poles are trying to address this issue systematically: with the youth work begins at school, then - the support of students in the process of studying in universities and communication support after the completion of training. Roman Kazuszki, vice rector of the Bialystok University of Technology, spoke about joint Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian projects to attract young people to innovation in the metallurgical industry.
At the end of the round table, Volodymyr Gnat read out the recommendations agreed by the parties for the future:
- Creation of the Ukrainian-Polish network of start-up schools on the basis of the network of the Sikorsky Challenge KPI Startup School.
- Preparation of joint Ukrainian-Polish innovation projects and submission of applications for participation in the Horizon 2020 program;
- Preparation of the joint Ukrainian-Polish start-ups and submission of applications for participation in European accelerated programs and programs of financing of the European Union;
- Submission of joint innovation projects and participation in the competition for innovation projects Sikorsky Challenge 2017, which will be held October 10-13, 2017 in the Igor Sikorsky KPI.