Two-Day Entrepreneurial Bootcamp of Junior Achievement Cyprus
70 UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FROM MEDICINE, ΙΤ, ENGINEERING AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SCHOOLS PARTICIPATED AT THE TWO-DAY ENTREPRENEURIAL BOOTCAMP OF JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT CYPRUS
For the very first time in Cyprus the Beyond Pre-Accelerator Entrepreneurial Bootcamp was held, aiming to promote the innovation in the healthcare sector. The Bootcamp took place in Limassol on the 13-14th November, giving the students the great opportunity to be educated, trained and to exchange perspectives in the field of health.
The Beyond Pre-Accelerator programme is a bridge between entrepreneurship training programmes implemented in universities and specialized Incubators and Accelerators. Essentially, students of all levels (Bachelor, Master, PhD) and different backgrounds, medicine, IT, Business, Engineering and other create multidisciplinary groups and are guided to develop their own business ideas in the field of health, up to the creation of a minimum viable product.
Beyond Pre-Accelerator specifically focuses on cancer related challenges aiming to improve prevention, early diagnosis, treatment-recovery, psychosocial support – reintegration – palliative care, data collection and analysis – Cancer Registry and research.
The programme will be implemented for the first time in Cyprus in the academic year 2021-2022. It is coordinated by Junior Achievement Cyprus with the support of 8 partners / organisations: The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, the Karaiskakio Foundation, the Cyprus Oncology Society, the Cyprus Patients’ Associations Federation, Cocoon Creations, IDEA, Cyprus Seeds and Cyens Centre of Excellence.
The program is sponsored by Novartis Oncology Cyprus.
During the two days the participants completed the first stage which was the training, the creation of groups and the presentation of their ideas.
At the beginning of the programme we had greetings from Ms. Komodiki Antigoni, CEO of Junior Achievement Cyprus, Mr. Andreas Papadopoulos Chairman of the Board of JA Cyprus, Ms. Stalo Charalambous on behalf of Novartis and Mr. Salvatore Nigro on behalf of JA Europe.
The introduction to the program and the explanation of the platform was undertaken by Mr. Kyriakos Masonou, Programme Coordinator. The presentations included cancer patients’ testimonials and the problems they face both in relation to the disease and in their daily lives.
A distinguished group of speakers shared their knowledge, concerns, and challenges in the field. Dr. Simos Malas presented the National Strategy for Cancer followed by a panel discussion including Dr. Anastasia Konstantinidou (Bank of Cyprus Oncology Centre), Dr. Pavlos Kosteas (Karaiskakio Foundation), Mrs. Anna Dimitriou (Ministry of Health), Dr. Kyriakos Kyriakou (Institute of Neurology and Genetics), Mr. Andreas Christodoulou (Cyprus Federation of Patients’ Associations) and Mrs. Elena Georgiou-Strouthos (Cocoon Creations). The discussion was coordinated by Mrs Antigoni Komodiki and Dr.Daina Nicolaou.
Following, Dr. Michalis Papageorgiou from the Lifepal and Dr. Marianna Prokopi Theramir presented their innovative companies as best practices. The first day ended with the presentation of Mr. Michalis Strouthos regarding the entrepreneurial mindset.
During the second and last day of the programme, the students attended presentations by Mrs. Maria Markidou and Mrs. Maria Eugeniou of “Cyprus Seeds” and “IDEA Innovation Center” respectively. While then students were given only a few hours to work collectively with their teams and come up with an innovative product, service or solution, which can be applied in the field of cancer.
At the end of the day, all the groups presented their ideas to a special committee of experts who provided the students with feedback on their ideas. The committee consisted of Mr. Michalis Strouthos and Mrs. Elena Georgiou Strouthos from Cocoon Creations, Mrs. Angela Panagiotou from IDEA Innovation Center, Mrs. Maria Markidou from Cyprus Seeds, Dr. Kyriakos Kyriakou from the Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Dr. Pavlos Kosteas from the Karaiskakio Foundation, Dr. Andri Ioannou and Dr. Natasa Christou from CYENS Center of Excellence.
The programme will move forward with workshops and trainings on the 4th of December. The final presentation and pitching of the ideas will take place on the 5th February 2022. More information will be announced soon.
JA Cyprus is a member of JA Worldwide, the biggest Non Profit Organisation in the world that promotes the development of entrepreneurship, financial literacy and work readiness in youth. For more you can visit www.jacyprus.org or contact us at 97-715909.
