The international forum "Innovative Entrepreneurship of the Vitebsk Region" was held at the "Planeta" Cultural and Entertainment Center.
The entrepreneurship forum specializing in innovation is becoming a traditional Vitebsk event and is turning into a platform for forming a regional innovation environment where innovators, investors, research centers, and local authorities can interact comfortably. This year, the event was held as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week, dedicated to innovative thinking. The organizers decided to focus on youth, as stimulating their business and innovative activity is one of the most important tasks of the state, interested in developing its own economy. The central events of the forum were the "Young Entrepreneur" festival and the final of the "Projects Without Borders" youth competition. Their goal is to identify and support promising youth ideas for creating and implementing business innovations, educational, and social practices. Moreover, each participant had the opportunity to consult with experienced and successful entrepreneurs. More than 30 projects were admitted to participate in the event.
Assessing the competition, the Aide to the President – Chief Inspector for the Vitebsk Region, Alexander Poznyak, emphasized that this is an extremely important event. "We need to develop youth innovative entrepreneurship, involving as many people as possible in this sphere, as it is the new generation that drives progress and generates cutting-edge ideas," he is convinced. Additional motivation to show initiative and determination to organize
its own business should significantly improve the business environment in the country.
The ideas voiced by the participants of the youth competition at the forum and their demonstrated desire to implement them particularly impressed Alexander Poznyak. Of course, not everyone will become a billionaire, there will be mistakes, but today's contestants will find their niche and realize themselves. And the more such people there are in the country, the more comfortable life will become and the more developed the state will be, he emphasized.
The winner of the first youth competition was the project "Application of interactive 3D modeling in marketing promotion of industrial and construction enterprises with the possibility of demonstrating objects in virtual reality" by the web design studio DreamTeam. Its head, 23-year-old Evgeny Ivanov, explained that the project helps to solve a very utilitarian task of optimizing exhibition costs, which UP "Polymerkonstruktsiya" approached them with. As a result, a program was created that allows demonstrating complex technical structures or objects in virtual reality instead of paper drawings. The scope of application of the young innovators' development is wide, which was demonstrated during the ceremony. The event participants had the opportunity to take a virtual tour of the streets, residential buildings, look inside houses and evaluate the interior of the yet-to-be-built residential complex "Aksanovka" on the outskirts of the regional center. Several years ago, OOO "StroyTorgServis" began its construction.
The second prize winner of the competition was Alexander Prudnikov and his development "Library for comparing 3D models for the Kompas-3D computer-aided design system". The third place was awarded to two nominees at once. VSTU students Anna Alshevskaya, Valentina Mikhalovskaya, and Tatyana Silina presented the project "PizzaSmart Pizzeria" to the jury. One of its distinctive features is multifunctional tables. With itswith, the client can place an order interactively, after which it is used as regular furniture. The male quartet, consisting of Andrey Dolgovich, Vladislav Gorlachev, Vadim Bobrov, and Philip Rusalov, captivated the jury with the "Fast Plov Delivery" project. Winners and prize-winners received generous gifts and prizes from the organizers and partners of the competition. Authors of other projects, which were only slightly inferior to the competition winners, were also recognized. And young people filled various forum venues until late in the evening, trying to make the most of the opportunities provided to get advice from experienced business trainers, learn about successful startups, and participate in seminars and master classes. Established entrepreneurs also found valuable insights for themselves.
Work with existing businesses was carried out in several areas, and for each of them, the regional marketing center prepared an exclusive offering. In the "Fair Competition – the Key to Success" section, the recently established main department of the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade for the Vitebsk region was effectively presented for the first time. Another highlight was the presentation of a crucial project – the multimodal industrial and logistics complex "Bremeno-Orsha" in the village of Bolbasovo, Orsha district, on the "Advanced Experience of Investment Cooperation" platform. The national logistics operator OOO "Bremeno Group" has already begun its implementation. Arab, Chinese, German, and Polish investors are already showing interest in it. During the Vitebsk forum, negotiations on cooperation prospects within the framework of the project were held with the Lithuanian logistics company First Logistics. As its director Andrey Lizunov noted, they gladly accepted the invitation from the administration of FEZ "Vitebsk" to visit the forum to seek contacts and establish cooperation for the joint development of trade channels, and if there are interesting proposals, they are ready for deeper integration with potential partners.
Sergey Antonov. Photos by Anton
СТЕПАНИЩЕВА. "Vitebskiye vesti".