Under the auspices of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Ms Marija Pejčinović Burić
November 30th - December 2nd
EVENT & IMPACT REPORT Supported by
Supported by
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EUROPEAN YOUNG INNOVATORS FESTIVAL 2020 DIGITAL. PURPOSE DRIVEN. EUROPEAN. The climate crisis, the glass ceiling for women, inclusion and equality, the UN SDGs and the Europe of the future - all of this and much more are burning issues of the 21st century. Under the patronage of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Ms. Marija Pejčinović Burić , and with a welcome by Ursula van der Leyen, President of the European Commission, the European Young Innovators Festival united high-level experts and social entrepreneurs from all over Europe. The European Young Innovators Festival brings together the pan-European community of young innovators who use digital technology to achieve the UN SDGs. WSA, with the regional initiative of the European Young Innovators, connects and highlights purpose driven digital entrepreneurship across Europe. This year the Festival program offered pitches of the European Young Innovators in front of an international jury, knowledge and mentoring sessions and an interactive workshop program. International speakers discussed how digital entrepreneurs can help to tackle the global pandemic, the economic crises and other societal challenges of Europe Climate change, the future of Social Entrepreneurship, and Gaming for Good are only some of the highlights discussed.
The European Young Innovators Festival during Covid-19 in Graz - a virtual journey Since more than 5 years each November, Graz turns into a hub for social innovation, entrepreneurship and European youth exchange. In 2020 Graz was the starting point of a virtual journey across Europe, to connect people and exchange ideas. To discuss the future and the Europe that we want. To connect young purpose driven innovators to increase social impact. Graz was the Festival´s homebase with its universities, its green tech cluster, as city of human rights and as city of design. At the festival, local stakeholders met and interacted with their peers from Europe.
Festival Highlights • • • • • • • • •
Innovation Pitches by the WSA European Young Innovators 2020 - digital solutions impacting society by Young Entrepreneurs Engaging Workshops Interactive discussions how one can contribute to a united Europe, showing solidarity and learning from each other Ask me anything sessions with international experts Youth for Innovation - Collaboration between international students from all across Europe The European Young Innovators 2020 Award Ceremony Entrepreneurial excellence during the Covid-19 pandemic Interactive Discussions about Green Tech The latest on Games for Good
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FESTIVAL WELCOME STATEMENTS BY THE HOSTING PARTNERS OF THE CITY OF GRAZ Since many years, Graz is the host of the Festival – the perfect festival location with its universities, the green tech cluster, as city of human rights and city of design - turning into a hub for social innovation, entrepreneurship and European youth exchange. In 2020, Graz was the starting point of a virtual journey across Europe.
"[...] we need young entrepreneurs like you, who shape the future and the Europe we want. It´s my pleasure to welcoming you in Graz at this Festival. [...] I wish you meaningfull connections, conversations that turn into collaboration and sustainable knowledge exchange with people from Graz and all accross Europe." Siegfried Nagl, Mayor of the City of Graz, Austria Watch full video
"As Regional Minister for Science and Research I am very pleased that Graz is the hosting partner of the European Young Innovators Festival. With nine universities and a high number of research facilities Styria is an international hub of research and knowledge. The exchange of knowledge across borders is essential and an important component of our success story. With a research and development quota of about five percent Styria is the innovation leader in Austria and one of the leading regions in Europe. The main factors of success are the courageous and innovative researchers and companies in our country..." Barbara Eibinger-Miedl, Regional Minister for Economy, Tourism, Regions, Science and Research, Austria Watch full video
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EUROPEAN WELCOME STATEMENTS
"Welcome to the European Young Innovators Festival in Graz! This year demonstrated how important digital solutions can be for society - in terms of education, health, in order to stay in touch and connect. Covid-19 was especially challenging for the youth and the elderly, for young entrepreneurs and startups. During the next days we will discuss how we can stand together, how to show solidarity and empathy. But also find new solutions and ideas how to build the future we want instead of the „old“ economy." Peter A. Bruck, WSA Chairman, Austria
"We're aiming for more sustainable, more digital, more prosperous economy and society. The transition we strive to achieve needs everybody. And this is why initiatives like the Young innovators are vital. You are the ones who connect, cooperate and who create bonds across Europe and beyond. We need your ideas to drive innovation in which people can trust. To ensure our digital leadership and to shape Europe's future Your future!" Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, Germany Watch full video "The global pandemic invites us to consider how important digital innovations are. To address societal challenges, to work together, to access relevant information. To educate, to provide health solutions. And include all parts of society and to foster European solidarity and cooperation." Alexander van der Bellen, Federal President of the Republic of Austria, Austria Watch full video
"[...] events like the European Young Innovators Festival 2020 play a crucial role in our ecosystem. They provide a special opportunity where cutting-edge knowledge from all over the world is pulled and shared, where new networks are created and innovative ideas can be explored." Leonore Gewessler Federal Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Austria Watch full video
"This Festival is a great opportunity to learn from each others solutions and to see how to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. [...] I´m delighted that the European Young Innovators Festival is taking place during these challenging times as digital innovation is more relevant now than ever." Gernot Blümel, Federal Minister for Finance, Austria Watch full video
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EUROPEAN YOUNG INNOVATORS FESTIVAL 2020 STATISTICS With over 470 participants from over 50 countries worldwide, the European Young Innovators Festival turned out not only being virtual, but truly international. The attendees joined from Russia to Canada and from Botswana to Finland, with an average 8 hours spent at the event. This truly remarkable participation not only reflected the actuality of the topics, but also that digital content has become a real problem solver, be it for online learning, digital healthcare, or environmental challenges. Over 50 international speakers discussed new approaches on the Green New Deal, Circular Economy, Gaming for Good, resilience during the pandemic or impact investment. In total, 16 young digital entrepreneurs presented their innovations.
9 Panel Discussions
9 Panel discussions 7 Workshops
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FESTIVAL FORMATS INTERACTIVE. PROCESS ORIENTED. IMPACT DRIVEN In order to facilitate an interactive process, networking and engaging discussions - the European Young Innovators Festival 2020 took place on the virtual event platform Hopin.
THE WSA EUROPEAN YOUNG INNOVATORS FESTIVAL FEATURED THE FOLLOWING FORMATS
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•
• •
Pitch Perfect Training for Winners - 1 on 1 training by international coaches 1:1 mentoring sessions between international mentors and winners Interactive Panel discussions by international speakers about Circular Economy & Green Tech, Gaming for Good, Learnings from the global pandemic, Urban Mobility, Impact Investment and Market Opportunities Innovation Pitches by European Young Innovator Winners in front of an international expert jury Open Mic Session Interactive Hands-On Workshops and Skills Training Ask Me Anything session with international experts Youth for Innovation program - students from across Europe analyse Winners businesses
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EUROPEAN YOUNG INNOVATORS FESTIVAL 2020 The UN SDGs are the metrics of success also for digital content driven solutions
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FESTIVAL PROGRAM INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSIONS Over the course of the 3 Festival days international speakers discusseed new and diverse approaches on topics such as the Green New Deal, Circular Economy, Gaming for Good, resilience during the pandemic and impact investment.
Social Innovation across Europe What happens after winning the European Young Innovators? Former winners shared their stories, their solutions and how they made social entrepreneurship work for them - the perfect session for this year´s winners and everyone who was interested in utilizing social entrepreneurship in Europe as well as other parts of the world. Mathias Haas: "Collaboration is the keyword! How can we use the expertise we have built to support each other in what we do now.'' Connor Sattely: "If there is one thing I would recommend it is to plugin to the WSA community, there is always support." Moderated by: Peter A. Bruck, WSA Chairman, Austria Tijana Lezaic, Forest and Climate, Serbia Connor Sattely, SEMA, Uganda Christian Erfurt, Be My Eyes, Denmark Mathias Haas, CEO Super Social, Austria Sana Hawasly, Founder Daraty, Syria
Watch the panel discussion
Hack the Crises | Entrepreneurial stories and learnings from the global pandemic It is a global fact - Covid-19 hits startups all over the world and many entrepreneurs are forced to halt operations. On the other hand, the crisis brings forth new smart solutions for new challenges - be it in health, education, access to information or to rebuild the economy. In this discussion participants could learn from international entrepreneurs who turned the challenge into an opportunity. George Ulmann: "Technologies are borderless and we can tailor our solutions to any specific area. If we are building them for global, we can adopt them for local.'' Keynote and moderation by: Dorothy Gordon, WSA Boardmember and UNESCO Ifap Chair, Ghana Mathis Palm, Accelerator Project Assistant, EIT Health Germany Amr Sobhy, Serial Entrepreneur, Egypt Laura Egg, CEO AAIA, Austria George Ulmann, COO MedShr, UK Saba Khalid, CEO Raaji, Pakistan
Watch the panel discussion 8
FESTIVAL PROGRAM INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSIONS Gaming for Good Gaming is nerdy, addictive and bad for kids? Well, not necessarily! With the right content, games can offer amazing content, educate and create real social value. Festival attendees attended this session to hear from Gaming masterminds how to turn Gaming to Good. Damien Marchi: ''If you take music industry and cinema industry, add them together - you still do not get the revenue stream of gaming. It’s a huge industry.'' Johanna Pirker: 'Games should be considered as a cultural goods. If I watch a movie, I want to know, who was the director behind it. Developer stories behind games are important too.''
Keynote and moderation by: Damien Marchi, VP Operations at Vivendi, France Adrian Wegener, CEO of Eye Build It and chairman gamesAHEAD, Germany Leena Kejriwal, Founder Missing, Game for A Cause, India Johanna Pirker, TU Graz, Game Dev Days Graz, Austria Daniela Hauswirth, Bongfish, Austria
Watch the panel discussion
The Green New Deal - Circular Economy & Green Tech Yes, we all want to be part of slowing climate change - but how? How can entrepreneurs work on climate friendly solutions and company set-ups? What can we all do to contribute? In this discussion participants got input and fresh ideas on concrete solutions to reduce the carbon footprint! Moderated by Craig Matthews, Science Park, Austria Katharina Rogenhofer, Spokeswoman of the Klimavolksbegehren, Austria Bernhard Puttinger, CEO Green Tech Cluster Graz, Austria Hannah Kromminga, Founder Silfir, Germany Peter Sänger, Green City Solutions, Germany Brieuc Saffré, CEO Circulab, France
Katharina Rogenhofer: "There are two things that governments can do. They can do the right thing. They can stop doing the wrong thing."
Watch the panel discussion
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FESTIVAL PROGRAM INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSIONS Urban Mobility - what can we expect? More and more people live in big cities. With the challenge of climate change, urban mobility with eco-friendly and citizen friendly solutions is key. Drones, bikes, public transports, e-cars, sharing economy - in this session experts discussed what to expect in the upcoming years. Moderated by Marko Javornik, CEO Voyego, Slovenia Andreas Perotti, Director of Marketing & Communications FACC AG, Austria Holger Friehmelt, Head of Institute of Aviation - FH Joanneum Graz, Austria Matteo Consonni, EIT urban mobility, Italy Helena Guggenbichler, Doppler, Austria Ehsan Zadmard, CEO of ALVERI GmbH, Austria Hans Kinsky, CEO Cyclotech, Austria Andreas Perotti: "People are forced to move into cities, because the jobs are accumulated there. At the same time real estate is getting so expensive and need to drive by car to get home, while we are talking about the sustainable development goals. Here I see huge chance to find a new means of transportations. Urban Air transportation might be interesting, as we don´t need much infrastructure."
Watch the panel discussion
Impact Investment - how to get funding for your social innovation Participants could learn from the perspectives of Impact Investors and get important insights from social entrepreneurs, who succeeded with their business models Moderated by Selma Prodanovic, 1 Million Startups, Austria Uli Grabenwarter, Deputy Director Equity Investments ,European Investment Fund, Austria/Luxembourg RĂźdiger Wetzl-Piewald, CEO Compuritas and Director Social Business Club Styria, Austria Kanini Mutooni, Managing Director at Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, UK Sanny Gaddafi, 8 Villages, Indonesia
Kanini Mutooni: "Patient capital. How long are you willing to wait to get your investment back? Anything less than 10 years is not an impact investor, it's a traditional investor." Uli Grabenwarter: "How can we monetize societal value that we create? How can a social enterprise create societal value that someone is ready to pay for? Impact conscious investors Watch the panel discussion are needed, to invest in social value"
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FESTIVAL PROGRAM INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSIONS Market Opportunities for Entrepreneurs around the Globe Go global - It´s an interesting fact that some companies spread their wings towards the global markets before they succeed in their home country. In this session participants heard why Nigeria, India, Israel, Lithuania, Austria and Chile could be interesting markets for their businesses. Caro Rossi: "Go to the markets you like, because it's your business and your life at the end of the day."
Moderated by Lisa Fassl, Female Founders, Austria Susanne Urschler, SFG, Austria Anshul Tewari, YouthKiAwaaz, India Nkem Begho, Futuresoft, Nigeria Carolina Rossi, Moon Advisors, Chile Roberta Rudokiene, Startup Lithuania Omri Boral, Tech for Good, Israel Watch the panel discussion
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FESTIVAL PROGRAM
INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS To offer social businesses and start-ups hands-on experience, valuable input and skills training, WSA invited international experts and offered a diverse and engaging workshop program.
Boosting your imagination and creativity Think outside the box! Start from scratch! Come up with something creative! Wise recommendations - but how to do it? This workshop gave participants all the tools to start their creative journey. The workshop was full of fun, interactivity and a real imagination boost! Adam Montandon, Associate Professor, Teacher | Design for People and DigiHub, Design School Kolkding, Denmark/UK
The founders mindset: How successful entrepreneurs think This workshop was for all entrepreneurs and founders! Victoria Masso, a behavioural psychologist has made it her mission to learn all about the mind of successful entrepreneurs. This session was interactive and mind-changing! Victoria Masso, Behaviour Hackers, Venezuela, UK
Funding Opportunities for Purpose driven tech entrepreneurs Struggling with your revenue streams? Looking for an investor? Applying for a grant? Thinking of Crowdfunding? Nelly specializes sourcing female founders and purpose driven entrepreneurs - her workshop was THE how-to guide for fundraising! Nelly Cornejo, Founder Taal Project, Mexico/Netherlands
Youth and Leadership in today´s world
Stella Langthaler & Moara Fonseca, AIESEC Austria
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FESTIVAL PROGRAM
INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS SKILL DEVELOPMENT FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS How to create a culture of innovation Most likely, if you ever met someone from the WSA Community, they told you about the inspirational talks and workshops of Paul. So here he is, once more rocking your way of thinking! Paul Hughes, 10 Meters of Thinking, Ireland
"Purpose = Who am I going to be? "
Watch the workshop
How to measure your impact Be it journalists, investors, partners, or just your customer, the question will arise: How do you actually measure your impact as social business? The right numbers are the key to sustainability this workshop was all about impact measurement! Anna Riedl, Effective Altruism, Germany/Austria Watch the workshop
Doing Good versus Doing Well You've reached the point where you have to decide on growth or keep the principals of your social business? You're in the dilemma of Impact vs. Profit? This workshop offered key strategies on how to approach this dilemma - and keep doing good, while doing well. Linda Kleemann, Heldenrat, Germany
Ask me Anything Sessions This was THE session to ask successful entrepreneurs everything participants always wanted to know. Ralph Simon, „Father of the Ringtone“ Mobile Entertainment Specialist, worked with Yoko Ono, Shakira or Madonna, UK Marta Tomovska, Former Minister, Innovation Advisor, Startup Coach, DJ, North Macedonia Julia Dujmovits, Olympic gold winner in Snowboarding and entrepreneur, Austria 13
FESTIVAL PROGRAM
1:1 MENTORING & PITCH TRAINING CONNECT FOR IMPACT Non-financial support is a vital factor behind the success of entrepreneurs and mentoring and training are crucial. Therefore this year´s European Young Innovator Winners were able to select 2 international mentors with whom they want to work with, using their vast experience and insights to prove new thoughts and ideas on business modeling, reaching target groups, expanding international or improve their reach through marketing and communication. Pitching online is even more challenging than on stage - in order to support the winning teams, each received a 1:1 training by international experts, preparing them for their 3 minutes.
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FESTIVAL PROGRAM
OPEN MIC SESSION - TAKE THE STAGE TO SHARE YOUR PASSION WSA believes in the power of its community. In order to open the stage for everyone and provide the opportunity to share ideas, WSA provided an open mic session for the Festival audience. 2 minutes per person. Topics: - Need of reliability, of connectivity - Benefits of educational games for social good - Finding out European support here is a relief - A human sight to technology
"When you are facing the hard realities of life, we tend to go back to the concept of peace. How can we move with peace? The way to move with peace is to enjoy. So I invite all the EYI and others to connect with us, with joy and reach the natural state of ecstasy by making the difference." Yusuf, Maldives
"I encourage all the students and young people who would like to change something in this world to participate actively in the organisation of WSA and not to be afraid to connect with people and communicate."
"We are a group of young women who work for inspiring, empowering and celebrating sciences and technology. Reaching the islands far away from Malé is a priority for us."
Simona Dimitrievska, North Macedonia
Afnan, Maldives
" I have the feeling that what we are talking about here is about spirituality as well. Who we want to be as a human being? Where we want to go and how? How do we want to use technology? Realizing that flashed me. I had not realized that it was possible to mix those topics. It's warming my heart. It's very lovely that we, as human beings, are to decide to combine our hearts with technology. I had the impression that technology was becoming a really hard thing and not a human thing. But I believe that when we use it right, we have a lot of fun and we experience the ecstasy as my colleague said before, we will come up with good ideas, helping each other, through co-creation processes."
Markus
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EUROPEAN YOUNG INNOVATORS 2020 WINNERS From an air pollution detector to the care of elderly - social entrepreneurship to tackle Europe´s pressing issues! In total, 16 young digital entrepreneurs presented their innovations. The innovators projects focus on Europe's most pressing problems - be it climate change, health, agriculture or gender equality - and offer digital solutions to also close the gender gap.
AgroSmart HSI – mobile flying laboratory for sustainable agriculture Lithuania
Sustainable and efficient farming. Productive and high-quality agriculture is essential to providing society with the required food resources. AgroSmart HSI from Lithuania combines spectral imaging technologies, aerial vehicles, geographical information systems, and AI to enable farmers to efficiently scout big areas and identify potential threats faster. A mobile flying laboratory can determine complex crop processes and detects non-visual signs of crop metabolism under field conditions.
art21.lt Augustas Alešiūnas, Laurynas Jukna, V aldas Rapševičius & Dmitrij Radin
AirCare МојВоздух North Macedonia getaircare.com Gorjan Jovanovski, Dragan Gelevski & Elena Andreeva
Know what you breathe! Air pollution is hard to detect for a person. 90% of the world’s population is exposed to air pollution over the safe limits, causing 7 million people dying prematurely every year. By aggregating air pollution data from the government and satellite measuring, AirCare from North Macedonia provides understandable air quality information and precautions in over 40 countries, triggering movements for better air policy across the Balkans.
Augmented Reality for Tourism - Die Vergangenheit ist jetzt Uncovering the hidden history of structure and buildings in Vienna through AR. Augmented Reality for Tourism from Austria utilizes modern AR technology combined with historical data to locate buildings that no longer exist and brings destroyed places and unknown treasures of the city back to life. Augmented Reality for Tourism creates interactive treasure hunting tours through Vienna, offering great content in addition to the available tourism
Austria www.vars.at Franco Lanfur
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EUROPEAN YOUNG INNOVATORS 2020 WINNERS
Plant-for-the-Planet App Support the trillion tree campaign. The planting of trees is the most effective tool to restore ecosystems and sequester CO2 from the atmosphere. Based on a customizable app, Plant-for-the-Planet App from Germany makes donations from individuals, corporations, and governments to fund tree planting, especially in the global south - transparent and easy. Using gamification, it educates the public and provides a global reforestation monitoring.
Germany plant-for-the-planet.org Felix Finkbeiner & Sagar Aryal
XVision Romania xvision.app
AI for smarter healthcare. The growing availability of X-rays, CT and MRI imaging creates a challenge for radiologists. XVision from Romania uses automated medical imaging analysis based on deep learning algorithms and AI to provide accurate and fast interpretations, supporting radiologists in their decision-making process.
Stefan Iarca, Cristian Avramescu, Bogdan Bercean & Andrei Tenescu
Perguntas da Especialidade Connecting medical students with doctors. Required in-person lessons make it hard for medical students from rural areas to prepare accordingly for their medical board exam in Portugal. Perguntas da Especialidade is a digital medical education platform, offering videos, clinical cases and connection to medical professors from all over the country, guaranteeing that all students have equal learning opportunities throughout their entire medical education.
eevie - Your Climate Guide Eevie helps you to change your daily habits, reducing your CO2 footprint. Climate change has come to a critical stage, and it becomes more essential than ever to pursue a sustainable lifestyle. Through AI, Big Data and deep learning, Eevie from Germany supports users worldwide to track their carbon footprint and gain an intuition of the carbon impact of their daily actions.
Portugal perguntasdaespecialidade.pt Tomás Pessoa e Costa, Margarida Caldeira, Sofia Alcântara
Germany eevie.io Antonius Willms, Lennart Paar & Alexander Kurnikowski
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EUROPEAN YOUNG INNOVATORS 2020 WINNERS
MySkillCamp
Belgium
Learn today‘s skills, prepare your future
myskillcamp.com/en
Great learning content for employees. MySkillcamp from Belgium provides employees and professional learners with an adjustable allin-one learning experience platform, that enables companies to centralize and connect all their sources of learning in one place. The platform provides engaging learning experiences that drive engagement, increase skill acquisition and encourage knowledge sharing among employees.
Kevin Tillier, Émeline Martin & Justine Henri
Educraft – Edukraftas Lithuania edukraftas.lt Darius Kniūkšta, Dovilė Pakutinskaitėm & Tadas Bielskin
Learning while playing. Educraft from Lithuania is a collective learning platform based on the popular computer game “Minecraft”. By simulating real life, students adapt their scientific know-how on various subjects, from physics to mathematics, the Lithuanian language to informatics and in virtual situations. All of that in the “block” world, that is so well known and attractive to kids.
Her Impact
Poland
Smashing the glass ceiling. Her Impact from Poland tackles the global lack of gender diversity in the workplace. Aimed at woman at the beginning of their career path and especially those who aim for managerial positions – Her Impact offers a personal development plan for learning new skills, based on the status quo of the learner. The platform provides a collection of articles, books, videos, and podcasts developed by experts from around the world.
herimpact.co Magdalena Linke, Karolina Cwalina-Stępniak & Aleksandra Perepelytsia
Future Heroes Estonia
Estonia futureheroes.ee Eva K. Ponomarjov, Maria Heinsar, Elina Liina Heno, Laura-Liis Järvela & Britt-Lauren Oltsmann
“You can´t be, what you can´t see”. Women constitute 52% of the total European population, but only 30% are entrepreneurs. Future Heroes from Estonia is a leadership & business accelerator for teenage girls focussing with a blended approach of digital learning solutions, combined with face-to-face workshops, project deep dives and mentor sessions on entrepreneurial skills and a growth mindset.
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EUROPEAN YOUNG INNOVATORS 2020 WINNERS
LevelUp
United Kingdom thelevelupgame.com
Educational content through a multiplayer online role-playing game. Through psychometric testing and an integration of online and offline learning, LevelUp provides a learning platform that adapts educational content to the individual users algorithmically, generating profile-specific real-life activities that parents and teachers can use to help improve educational outcomes and holistic development for K-12.
Nicholas U Jin, Patricia Vlad, Aqil Faruq, Daniel Gordon
Fit für Immer Germany fitfuerimmer.info Sebastian Lammers, Christoph Lennartz, Nicholas Ulmke
Digital entertainment for old people´s homes. With an aging population, countries like Germany are struggling to provide sufficient workforce capacities in the health sector. Fit für Immer supports residential homes with an easy to use digital entertainment program, specially designed for the needs of the e lderly – engaging quality videos instruct the elderly on different task like sports, singing and relaxation exercises.
English Gym 2.0
Russian Federation
Learning English while playing. English Gym 2.0 is an English learning app for children from Russia, providing an environment for self-education, containing high quality content in English to promote a healthy lifestyle, good behavioural models and to facilitate communication between children and their parents in a playful and entertaining manner.
kid.engym.com/eng Andrew Boiko
Kidola Luxembourg youtube.com/watch?v=Sge WoPZL-pQ Jonathan Kindermans, Quentin de Madre & Simon Lelorrain
More time for the kids, less bureaucracy – or Simplifying the day in a nursery. Utilizing AI and Big Data, Kidola from Luxembourg provides a tailored interface for nurseries and day care centres. By digitizing daily administrative tasks, it relieves the educator’s workload, while parents are able to get reliable information on their child’s progress. Kidola focusses on the people not using the app – kids. European Young Innovators Festival, Graz 2020 EVENT & IMPACT REPORT
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EUROPEAN YOUNG INNOVATORS 2020 WINNERS
English Gym 2.0 AgroServ Empowering farmers. More than 40% of the Georgian population lives in rural areas and is engaged in agriculture. AgroServ from Georgia provides a supply-demand chain between farmers, agricultural staff, and consumers through an easy to use platform and database.
FESTIVAL PROGRAM
WINNERS INNOVATION PITCHES
Georgia agroserv.ge Lado Khasaia & Dato Chachibaia
Fit für Immer
All European Young Innovator Winners were pitching their digital solutions to an international jury. This session gave Festival participants the perfect overview about the latest youth entrepreneurship and social innovation from Europe! 1st pitching session, moderated by Geena Whiteman, Cardiff University, UK Augmented Reality Tour for Tourism, Austria Perguntas da Especialidade, Portugal Kidola, Luxembourg Educraft, Lithuania MySkillCamp, Belgium XVision, Romania Her Impact, Poland Future Heroes, Estonia
Watch Innovation Pitches
2nd pitching session, moderated by Abdul Rahman AlAshraf, Founder FreeCom, Syria/Germany English Gym 2.0, Russian Federation eevie, Your Climate Guide, Germany Plant for the Planet App, Germany Agro Smart HSI, Lithuania AirCare, North Macedonia Fit für Immer, Germany Agro Serv, Georgia LevelUp, UK
Watch Innovation Pitches
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EUROPEAN YOUNG INNOVATORS 2020 EXPERT JURY MEMBERS WSA invited international experts in order to evaluate the pitches of the winning teams. The jury had the challenge to select this year´s winners, voted on Product. Pitch. Impact.
Jury Meeting & Selection of European Young Innovator 2020 Moderated by Peter A. Bruck, WSA Chairman
19 JURY MEMBERS from 12 COUNTRIES
7 12
NAME
COMPANY
COUNTRY
Christian Bauer
Bauer & Associates
Austria
Cristina Birsan
UNFCCC
Romania
Nelly Cornejo
TAAL Project
Mexico
Dudu Gencel
Vienna Business Agency
Austria
Attila Horanyi
Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design
Hungary
Dimitar Jovevski
University Ss. Cyril and Methoodius
North Macedonia
Kambis Kohansal-Vajargah
Austrian Federal Economic Chamber
Austria
Katharina Ladewig
EIT Health
Germany
Ligia Pasqualin
FH Joanneum
Brazil/Austria
Sabrina Petutschnig
Science Park
Austria
Simrit Sandhu
Consultant
Austria
Anshul Tewari
YouthKiAwaaz
India
Frederik Tibau
Agoria
Belgium
Susanne Urschler
SFG
Austria
Ieva Žilionė
Baltic Ground Services
Lithuania
Barbara Zuber
Green Tech Cluster
Austria
Lea Plörer
AIESEC Graz
Austria
Aimee van der Wolde
SEIF
Switzerland
Carlos Abler
Chief Relevance Officer
USA
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FESTIVAL PROGRAM
AWARD CEREMONY & WINNERS ANNOUNCEMENTS After long discussions, the jury finally decided on the two overall winning projects 2020. The winners as well as the best Youth for Innovation Projects and the Best Business Potential Award by the city of Graz have been announced at the award ceremony. Ivory Parker took care of the tunes and cheered up the crowd with his beat-boxing! 90% of the world's population is exposed to air pollution beyond safety limits, which kills 7 million people prematurely every year. By aggregating government air pollution data and satellite measurements, AirCare from North Macedonia provides understandable information and precautions on air quality in over 40 countries and sparked movements for better air policy in the Balkans. For this outstanding digital solution, AirCare has been selected as overall winner of the European Young Innovators 2020.
The German project ‘Fit Für Immer’ was selected as overall winner in the European Young Innovators Youth Category, for their excellent solution to support the care for the elderly with engaging video content. The City of Graz selected VR for Tourism from Austria as the project with the Best Business Potential and announced them as their winner.
Winners Trophies 2020 Designed and produced by Oupas! design
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STUDENT PROGRAM YOUTH FOR INNOVATION COLLABORATE. ENGAGE. SOLVE. +120 students from 6 different Universities located in five European countries collaborated to analyse the 16 WSA European Young Innovator projects 2020. In 25 teams, they applied their skills to compile and present business analyses of the recent European Young Innovators Winners. The student teams were formed during the European Young Innovators Festival. Information about their case-studies could be retrieved from the Innovation Pitches where the Winners presented their own projects in 3-minute-pitches and answered questions from the Festival Jury. To gain insights and to dig deep, the student teams met the young entrepreneurs whose companies they were assigned to analyse. Applying their theoretical knowledge gained from their studies on real ventures, meeting the entrepreneurs (online) and discussing the case study with them, was a thrilling experience for the young academics. At the end of the 3 days the students pitched their work in only 3 minutes to an international Jury of experts.
Youth for Innovation Pitching Sessions with an international expert jury Moderated by: Birgit Kolb, Austria and Jon Mark Walls, USA
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FESTIVAL & FEEDBACK
„Der World Summit Award baut eine internationale Startup Community auf, die sich für eine bessere Zukunft einsetzt. Deshalb sind wir als Wirtschaftsagentur Wien dabei. Ich freue mich, dass bei dem diesjährigen globalen Young Innovaters Award das Wiener Startup VARS zu den Gewinnerprojekten zählt. Das zeigt einmal mehr das Potential der Wiener Gründerinnen- und Gründerszene und ist ein Ansporn zur Weiterentwicklung Wiens als internationaler Startup Hub.“ - Gabriele Tatzberger, Wirtschaftsagentur Wien.
„Die Möglichkeit mehrere Mentoring-Sessions mit unterschiedlichen Organisationen die hier in Österreich tätig sind zu haben, war sehr hilfreich für uns. Besonders bei der Mentoring-Session mit Frau Gencel der Wirtschaftsagentur Wien habe ich über viele Programme gelernt, die uns als Wiener Start-Up im unterschiedlichen Bereichen unterstützen können. Wir stehen auch weiter im Kontakt mit der Wirtschaftsagentur Wien bezüglich eines Coaching-Programms und eines Förderungsprogramms.“ - Franco Lanfur, Winner and Co-Founder VARS
Ich möchte Ihnen, Herr Bruck, und Ihrem Team meinen aufrichtigen Dank aussprechen. Ein solch großartiges Offline-Eventformat, bei gegebenen Umständen, in ein Online-Format zu verwandeln, ist eine besondere Herausforderung - allerdings offensichtlich nicht für Sie... Es war ein formidables Event! Vielen Dank an alle in die Organisation involvierten Personen, welche das European Young Innovators Festival zu einem solchen Erfolg geführt haben, sowie für die geschätzte Positionierung des Science Park Graz im Rahmen der Veranstaltung. Das European Young Innovators Festival ist ein wunderbar schönes Zeichen im Sinne einer solidarischen Welt, welche über verschiedene Zeitzonen hinweg an einer besseren Zukunft zu arbeiten. Wir, als Science Park Graz, freuen uns auf spannende, gemeinsame Herausforderungen, und blicken mit Vorfreude in die Zukunft! -Martin Mössler, Science Park Graz
European Young Innovators Festival, Graz 2020 EVENT & IMPACT REPORT
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FESTIVAL BRANDING Promoting Graz as Hosting Partner and its Festival Partners.
European Young Innovators Festival, Graz 2020 EVENT & IMPACT REPORT
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PR & COMMUNICATIONS PRODUCTIONS
All materials are produced from eco friendly materials. WSA in cooperation with ''Opuas Design'' created and produced Winners trophies from paper, that are ecologically friendly and produces less energy during the shippment process.
European Young Innovators Festival, Graz 2020 EVENT & IMPACT REPORT
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PR & COMMUNICATIONS WEBSITE www.wsa-global.org
WSA created a special event section for the European Young Innovators Festival, to give a special feature for all speakers, the agenda, online event access, sponsors and partners. As well WSA created a special search section and news article for European Young Innovators Winners. The European Young Innovators Award Ceremony was translated Live on the website. Pageviews: 14,985 Sessions: 8,737
European Young Innovators Festival, Graz 2020 EVENT & IMPACT REPORT
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PR & COMMUNICATIONS
SOCIAL MEDIA - FACEBOOK In order to spread the word about ongoing activities, sessions and discussions, WSA used Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin to reach its online communities. European Young Innovators Festival Award ceremony translated Live in the Facebook. Followers: 64,753 Reach: 31,9K Engagement: 4,371
European Young Innovators Festival, Graz 2020 EVENT & IMPACT REPORT
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PR & COMMUNICATIONS
SOCIAL MEDIA - INSTAGRAM In order to spread the word about ongoing activities, sessions and discussions, WSA used Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin to reach its online communities. Specially curated promotion vidoeos for the Festival, uploaded on IGTV. Followers: 2,080 Hashtag: #WSAEurope #HackTheGap Impressions: 13,779
IGTV Videos: 7
European Young Innovators Festival, Graz 2020 EVENT & IMPACT REPORT
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PR & COMMUNICATIONS SOCIAL MEDIA - TWITTER
In order to spread the word about ongoing activities, sessions and discussions, WSA used Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin to reach its online communities. Followers: 4,686 Hashtag: #WSAEurope #HackTheGap Impressions: 54.9K
European Young Innovators Festival, Graz 2020 EVENT & IMPACT REPORT
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PR & COMMUNICATIONS
SOCIAL MEDIA - LINKEDIN In order to spread the word about ongoing activities, sessions and discussions, WSA used Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin to reach its online communities. Followers: 2,524 Hashtag: #WSAEurope #HackTheGap Reactions 788
European Young Innovators Festival, Graz 2020 EVENT & IMPACT REPORT
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PR & COMMUNICATIONS
PRESS & MEDIA - NEWSLETTER WSA sent out informative newsletters about the European Young Innovators Festival program highlights, speakers and sponsors to the worldwide community of more than 12k subscribers.
PRESS CLIPPINGS The WSA European Young Innovators Festival was represented in the digital and print media all over the continent. Examples from Austria, Romania, Georgia and North Macedonia:
European Young Innovators Festival, Graz 2020 EVENT & IMPACT REPORT
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PARTNERSHIPS & SPONSOR COLLABORATIONS The WSA EYI Festival connects institutions, companies and talents from all over Europe. To foster the exchange of knowledge and enable international, multi-stakeholder networking WSA partnered with the host city, regional ministries, companies and academic institutions as well as national and European entities.
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WSA TEAM
Peter A. Bruck WSA Chairman and ICNM president
Nora Wolloch
Manuela Wagner
Matthias Kandler
Luka Kalas
WSA Executive Manager nora@wsa-global.org
Global Community Manager manuela@wsa-global.org
WSA Partnerships, Events matthias@wsa-global.org
ICNM Accounting, HR kalas@icnm.net
Pia Frizberg
Liene Ulmane
Simona Dimitrievska
Margot Bres Jurado
WSA Event Management Youth for Innovation Manager pia@wsa-global.org
Youth Community Social Media, Design liene@wsa-global.org
WSA Project Assistant European Yolunteer simona@wsa-global.org
WSA Project Assistant European Yolunteer margot@wsa-global.org
World Summit Award WSAoffice World Summit Award worldsummitawards World Summit Awards TV
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