The grand finale of the UniStart student entrepreneurship program, conducted by the University of Split with the support of NetHub Accelerator, was held on June 20, 2022, at the PICS Pre-incubator of the ICT County (PICS@FESB). As part of the Demo Day, four student teams presented their entrepreneurial ideas, developed through the UniStart program, to an expert jury.
At the start of the event, Professor Goran Kardum, PhD (Vice-Rector of the University of Split), Professor Katarina Vukojević, PhD (Vice-Dean of the School of Medicine in Split), and Professor Nikša Jajac, PhD (Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture, and Geodesy in Split) addressed the students and their mentors. They emphasized that, regardless of the final outcome, all teams were winners due to the extensive knowledge and experience gained throughout the program.
Over the last three months, a cycle of workshops and lectures was conducted where students developed their entrepreneurial ideas and tested them on potential users. The program began at the university’s SPINIT incubator, educational support was provided by the Student Entrepreneurship Incubator (SPI), and the Demo Day was organized in collaboration with ICT County, rounding off the students’ journey through the local innovation ecosystem. On Demo Day, teams had the chance to pitch their ideas to a jury consisting of Damir Brčić (ICT County), Antonia Peroš (University of Split), Antonio Perić-Mažar (Locastic), and Ena Melvan (Metabelly).
The presented projects were designed to simplify the daily lives of elderly people. Victory was claimed by the “Prijatelji zdravlja” (Health Friends) team, consisting of students Iva Klarić (FGAG), Jelena Ležaja (FESB), and Martina Tomić (MEFST). These ambitious students developed a prototype of an interactive board called “ZdravKo”, fully adapted to assist elderly people with daily tasks and social integration. Second place went to the “SmartUp” team, consisting of Mia Kovačević Žižić, Nikola Martinić, Anamarija Kolimbatović, Ivan Gluščević, and Valentina Drmić. They developed the “Angelo app” mobile application to help connect volunteers with the elderly.
In closing, the students expressed great satisfaction with the program, highlighting that beyond new knowledge and experience, they had made new friends and established cross-faculty collaborations.