EUSAIR - Final Report

14.30–15.15
AWARD CEREMONY
Young POPRI Award
The awardees were announced
by Karin Žvokelj, Deputy CEO
of SPIRIT Slovenia, and Tanja Kožuh,
CEO of Primorski tehnološki park.
AMAZING FIGURES
Members and participants of the EUSAIR Forum, students, ladies and gentlemen, It
is both a great honour and a pleasure for me to stand here on the big stage and
represent Primorski tehnološki park, and all the 9 technology parks with which we
have closely cooperated over the last months. I’m happy because it was our great
goal to organize an international competition of the best business ideas, and we
succeeded. The POPRI competition developed as a local story and became a national,
Slovene brand. It’s much more than just young, enthusiastic students learning
about business, it’s a process by which technology parks, business communities
with start-ups and companies, schools and policy makers, all go hand-inhand
to provide quality support to youth. It’s a process by which all stakeholders learn
from each other and, consequently, we all grow and develop.
You can imagine the EUSAIR POPRI youth event, which involved all the above institutions
in all 9 countries of the Adriatic and Ionian Region. A separate learning
process took place in each country, in which the best national ideas were identified
and selected. In Slovenia alone, there were 134 participating teams, or 344
participants, involved in the selection process, and 58 mentors and 62 participating
institutions. Multiply this number by 8 and you get amazing figures.
And here we are, at the final stage of the event. It’s time for the announcement
and for the awards. Before that, though, let me say again. I’m very proud of you,
our students. Over the last two days we’ve heard your fantastic business ideas,
your excellent presentations and your interest in learning. You are all winners.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the institutions that have supported
our work. It would take too long to mention them all and, anyway, I’d probably
forget some. However, special thanks go to the European Commission and to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, as well as to all technology
parks and schools in the region.
Thank you very much. I really hope that we’ll repeat this event next year!
See you in 2022!
Tanja Kožuh,
CEO of Primorski tehnološki park
YOUNG POPRI WINNERS
The winning teams were VISUS among high school students and Magnet
Strap Winder among university students, both from Slovenia. The winners
of both categories will participate in a 14-day online seminar hosted by the
California-based M Accelerator. The PODIM Start Up Conference in Maribor
will be attended by the second and third placed teams: Leaflife from Italy
and VAH from Serbia in the high school students category, Voćaka from
Montenegro and Eklinika from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the university
students category. Special recognition for the most creative “borderless idea”
was given by the representatives of Nova Gorica and Gorizia as European
Capital of Culture 2025. It was awarded to members of the Bioneers team
from North Macedonia.
68 | EUSAIR Slovene Presidency