UNIRSM News Students of the University of San Marino in an international competition for business ideas: applications are open

Students of the University of San Marino in an international competition for business ideas: applications are open

They will participate in the POPRI International Youth Business Model Competition together with San Marino Innovation and Evolution Forum

In 2024, for the second consecutive year, students of the University of the Republic of San Marino will represent the Titan at the POPRI International Youth Business Model Competition, an international competition for innovative business ideas organized as part of the Union's macro-regional strategy European “EUSAIR”, in collaboration with San Marino Innovation and Evolution Forum.

After participation in the 2023 edition held in Bosnia - Herzegovina, with a project curated by four members of the University of San Marino focused on an eco-sustainable cigarette butt recycling system called "CIG-BUSTER", the republic will confirm its presence with a new business idea as part of a competition that has involved over 3 thousand participants over the last two decades. Seven main sectors envisaged: environment, blue economy, energy and sustainability, circular economy, digital and artificial intelligence, advanced technology, cyber security.

Among the various applications, the project that will represent the Titan in the edition scheduled for next May in Croatia will be identified, for the first time, in the context of a call aimed at students and open until February 23rd. A jury composed of figures from bodies, institutions and private entities is expected: the Department of Foreign Affairs, the University of San Marino, San Marino Innovation and Evolution Forum. In addition to the winner, the second and third place winners will be rewarded.

“Guided by the positive feedback obtained during the last edition – explains Dr. Giovanni Righi of San Marino Innovation, who in 2022 took on the role of contact person for the competition in collaboration with the Department of Foreign Affairs – the objective will be to improve what has already been accomplished. Thanks to the collaboration with the academic coordinators of the University, we have outlined the structure of an internal competition aimed at selecting emerging entrepreneurial projects in the area. At the same time, we have established a partnership with the sponsor Evolution Forum in order to encourage applications. We will select the best local project, which will have the opportunity to shine on the international stage of POPRI".

A horizon, the one described by Righi, reiterated by the teachers Karen Venturini and Leonardo Tagliente, delegates for innovation for the University of San Marino: ""This is the first competition in the San Marino territory dedicated to the entrepreneurial ideas of university students", they say. “The aim is to promote the development of local entrepreneurship and the culture of innovation through a mechanism aimed at encouraging the birth of new businesses in the republic, generating a virtuous circuit between young people, institutions and private entities”.