{"id":39392,"date":"2024-12-19T15:12:32","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T14:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/en\/?post_type=news&p=39392"},"modified":"2025-01-27T12:20:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T11:20:31","slug":"empowering-teenagers-and-simplifying-organic-certification-for-farmers","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/en\/news\/empowering-teenagers-and-simplifying-organic-certification-for-farmers\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering teenagers and simplifying organic certification for farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In November, University of Luxembourg Incubator and Entrepreneurship Programme<\/a> proudly hosted Ideation Camp<\/em><\/a> 12<\/em>, an immersive five-day course designed for teams selected through the My Big Idea competition<\/em><\/a>. Kicking off on 26 November on the Belval campus, the 12th<\/sup> edition of Ideation Camp began with a vibrant Opening Ceremony, where 16 teams showcased their innovative ideas and introduced themselves to an eager audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of the camp, 10 teams were pre-selected to pitch in front of the executive jury for a \u20ac10,000 in-kind prize during the Closing Ceremony on Saturday, 30 November. The winner of this edition was The Debate Academy<\/em> team, consisting of Majlinda Xhaferaj (Master in Entrepreneurship and Innovation), Sven Philipsen (Master in Psychology), and Costin-Andrei Taulescu (Master in Data Science). The team won the \u20ac10,000 in-kind prize, which they will now invest in their venture. The Debate Academy<\/em> is an international online debate club that helps teenagers improve their public speaking skills and become more confident and competent adults. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWinning the Ideation Camp 12<\/em> is a dream come true and a testament to the power of belief, hard work, and collaboration,\u201d shares Majlinda. \u201cI believed so strongly in The Debate Academy<\/em>\u2019s mission to help teenagers become confident and competent adults that I moved back to my parents\u2019 house for a year to focus entirely on bringing it to life. At the time, I had no idea how much traction and support it would gain. This journey has been made even more rewarding through the incredible mentorship provided during Ideation Camp<\/em> and the opportunity to collaborate with a passionate team. I\u2019m excited to continue growing The Debate Academy<\/em> and making a lasting impact.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with last year, there was also a runner-up. This year, the \u20ac5,000 prize kindly provided by Technoport went to the FieldFlow <\/em>team: Howard Maclennan (Master in Economics and Finance), Egor Ermolaev (PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies in Computer Science), and Filippo Scalabrini (Bachelor in Law). FieldFlow<\/em> is a B2B SaaS startup that simplifies the organic certification process for farmers. By providing a user-friendly platform, FieldFlow<\/em> enables farmers to manage their certification documentation and track compliance easily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIdeation Camp<\/em> was a great experience, offering the opportunity to meet real industry leaders with applicable track records,\u201d shared Howard. \u201cI think it serves as the perfect bridge between the academic world and the real but challenging reality of entrepreneurship, a must for any student thinking about Luxembourg’s up-and-coming startup ecosystem.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year’s jury included Programme and Innovation Manager at FNR Sakthivel M. Sundharam, CEO of Technoport Diego De Biasio, Executive Director of WIDE Marina Andrieu, Independent Board Director Diane Tea, and Partnership Development Officer at the Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine Johnatan E. Pecero. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout October, the My Big Idea<\/em> competition was held to select the teams for Ideation Camp <\/em>and to reward the best business idea. This year, the winner of the My Big Idea<\/em> competition was The Iron Bar<\/em>, which produces iron-powered nutrition bars designed to elevate women’s health and wellbeing. The team, consisting of Doctoral Candidate Dominika Repcikova and Post Doc Mila Marinova, received a \u20ac1,000 cash prize and qualified for Ideation Camp 12 <\/em>among other selected teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 45 leaders of the Luxembourgish ecosystem were invited to participate as mentors of Ideation Camps 12<\/em>. Three of these mentors acted as Guardian Angels, providing round-the-clock consulting to their assigned teams throughout the entirety of Ideation Camp<\/em>: owner of Verbalius Pedro Castilho, tech startups value creator and investor Shai Haim, and co-founder of Balloonary.com Brice Dondelinger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guardian Angel of both winning teams, Shai Haim, said: \u201cIdeation Camp<\/em> is a great event with amazing energy and atmosphere where I can meet these ambitious students and the Luxembourgish startup ecosystem. The organising team \u2013 Linda Jaerling and three dedicated students \u2013 is doing an amazing job to make everything go smoothly. This year I had the pleasure of working with great teams and I look forward to seeing their progress in the coming months.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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