What have we succeeded in this year in Košice in the field of Innovation?
2020 was not an ideal year for innovation, which we almost all felt, but what it was was certainly a year of opportunities. The need to innovate and constantly improve came to the fore, and it was organizations that had not been in the past in years to support their employees in creativity, more successful in this period than those who believed that their comfort zone would not change even after this crisis. Innovations in the Košice region underwent a difficult test, which on the one hand showed us better the reality in which we live, on the other hand brought a new vision and enthusiasm to change these things.
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In 2020, we again discovered how important science and its benefits are for society, how important healthcare and its quality are for the lives of ours and our loved ones, and many problems have opened up that will have to be urgently addressed in the near post-crisis period. If we write about problems, they are the basis for the correct identification of the need and are therefore an ingenious basis for the creation of new ideas and innovations. Yes, we have a new foundation, in the so-called new standard, but we will need much more in the innovation ecosystem to be able to start the new year better. The innovation ecosystem itself is built on the basis of a knowledge triangle consisting of academy / education, business and region. If these three components can work effectively with each other, it is a clear prerequisite for the successful creation of innovations and start-ups.
Let's take a look at what we managed to achieve in 2020 in terms of innovation in the Košice Region and what would be good to improve in the future:
Acceleration programs for start-ups
UVP Technic from the Technical University in Košice, who managed to best transform into the online world and thus successfully implemented an acceleration program, which again brought new start-ups to our region, was probably the most successful in this area . The University Science Park is our long-term iron in the fire when it comes to the transformation of our region. The program showed above-standard creativity of students of the Technical University in Košice, as well as available mentors. We must not forget the business-academic collaborations, where they collaborated on this acceleration program
with Innovlab, the start-up center of Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions.
Innovation day
The third annual international competition organized by EIT Health and University College London took place in November. It was attended by more than 50 participants, whose task was to develop the best possible idea in the field of health. We note that last year we managed to create a start-up FaceRehab at this event, which won the award for the best innovative project in 2019. The winner of this annual Innovation Day was the idea of a young lifeguard who can improve crisis management.
The city of Košice succeeded in the call of the European Commission and the Hauts-de-France program Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) out of 222 registered cities from 23 EU countries received a grant worth almost 4.5 million EUR. This grant will significantly contribute to the interdisciplinary interconnection of areas in our region. This is a crucial milestone for our region, where it is planned to create a center where creators, designers and innovators can meet together and work together to create new ideas or solutions that our region definitely needs. According to available information, this center is planned to open in the Kulturpark in Košice.
Hackathon Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions
next year of Hackathon was successfully organized in a new, improved format, where students and participants had more time to better prepare their ideas. In cooperation with the Technical University of Košice and the FEI Department, 140 participants took part in this event and together they created 27 teams that competed for valuable prizes. Deutsche Telekom's Hackathon is traditionally a showcase for the creativity of students at the Technical University of Košice. Even in the online environment, it has been confirmed that students can bring quality and business-oriented solutions. The winner of this year was a project called
Get Help.
Another event was Live IT projects, which have long connected the private sector, which has a need with students who are looking for a solution. As at other events, we managed to implement this concept online. We must not forget the new concept of the Digital League, which was managed to be organized in a combined personal and distance form, which brought a new way of developing and implementing ideas to Košice.
As for our existing start-ups, we did not have the opportunity to see as many successes as last year, but what we managed to achieve is the success of the already mentioned start-up FaceRehab
from Košice, which won the award for the most innovative project at ITAPA 2020 and placed in the top three at the prestigious European Innostars Awards 2020. Another start-up that is from Košice and continues to drive success is STEMI, which placed fifth in the Unicorn Cup 2020, which is the largest start-up competition in the world. Many may not know it, but the services provided by STEMI are already available in the Slovak healthcare system and help save the lives of our inhabitants.
In previous years, we have been accustomed to many conferences and a busy program of events that have managed to make Košice a unique place for the growth of start-ups and the support of innovation in our region. Unfortunately, this year, due to anti-pandemic measures, many of them could not take place, but similarly, many organizers managed to move into the online world, which was certainly a quality substitute in these difficult times. We will mention in particular the largest innovation conference organized by
Východoslovenská Energetika Holding as under the name VSE UnIT, at which the world's speakers spoke and once again moved the set bar a little higher. Another, you could say, traditional event was the East Innovation Conference,organized by AmCham, which showed a different view of the world of innovation and presented the challenges that await us in the near future. As for our largest technological and innovation conference, Slovakia Tech, it has been moved to next year. This is a unique conference that should be attended by anyone interested in the world of technology. We firmly believe that we will make up for the lost appetite next year and experience many unforgettable experiences at this conference again.
Our region needs a clear innovation strategy, which will not only consist of bold statements about innovation at conferences, but will bring concrete steps in the field of education, entrepreneurship and connecting the main players of the innovation ecosystem. Unfortunately, although we speak of ourselves as an IT bastion, most of the companies in our city are shared service centers that have limited opportunities to create new products. Our region needs new companies that we can all be proud of. If we want to move further, we need to take the example of countries where such an innovative ecosystem has been launched, such as Estonia or Delft in the Netherlands.
Košice Region is a region of creative people who can not only dream, but also realize their dreams. We believe that next year, the efforts of all key players will focus on concrete steps that can kick-start the innovation ecosystem and kick-start it to an even higher level than before 2020.
