Opportunity to advance your eco-project in the green summer school

First, the participants learned the meaning of being eco-innovative and what lies behind the important process of design thinking. On Monday, 25th June 2018, the attendees at the Green Innovation and Entrepreneurial Summer School gathered in Bratislava, to "become students again". The second year of this event was opened and it will last for the whole week.

The Green Innovation and Entrepreneurial Summer School offered an opportunity for everyone, whether individual or well-coordinated teams of "eco-talents", to further advance their developing concepts. Over the course of the week they received assistance from experts in the green sector. They assessed the potential of a proposed service or product for the environment and sustainable development, and also review business plans, marketing, intellectual property protection and funding.

On the first day, Andrea Pitzschke from Economica Austria, one of the largest non- governmental institutions for economic research in Austria, presented her experiences. She and the participants reflected on the primary issue – how to be eco-innovative. Among other things, Andrea focused on the issue of eco-innovation in agriculture and the food industry. In general, however, she pointed out the importance of thinking simply and locally or, for example, of highlighting the issue of consumer health. In her view, "think back to nature!" is at the core of eco-innovative products and services. And in this case, also failures are the way to success.

The participants spent the whole afternoon discussing the process of design thinking with Simonа Pede, a specialist from German bwcon GmbH. German bwcon is an important industry initiative in the economically exceptionally strong Baden-Württemberg region. The bwcon initiative supports key business areas focusing on ICT and "drivers" in innovation in mobility, production, energy, and other similar enterprises. It creates a platform for cross- sector collaboration between developers, investors and users.

Simonа expounded on the process of design thinking as a structured and human-focused approach to problem-solving. It helps solve particularly unpleasant problems.

Participants welcome this Summer School as an opportunity to learn something new and also to advance their own projects. "I enrolled in the Green Summer School because I saw it as a great opportunity to learn something new and to deepen my knowledge of the environment. It is also an opportunity to work harder on our project with my colleague and to effect some progress in it," says Lucie Katrincová of Mendel University in Brno. The response from her colleague, Chiara Šimonová, was similar: "I have enrolled in the Green Summer School to extend my knowledge of ecological solutions and savings not only in eco-environmental business, but also how it can be applied in everyday life. Another reason was to further advance our joint project, “Notebooks that help."

The final part of the individual days of the event will be devoted to team work with mentors. On Thursday, the attendees will enhance their skills in communication and presentation by adopting the technique of pitching. How successful they are in it will become apparent in the final presentations of their products or services on Friday. During the Summer School, participants will visit two places of interest. In one, they will be introduced to an interactive tool for urban and architectural design ITUD. The other will be FabLab, a Creative Workshop equipped with 21st century digital technologies.The event takes place within the framework of the international EcoInn Danube project, part of the Danube Interreg Danube Programme, co-funded by the European Union funds ERDF, IPA, ENI. Centrum vedecko-technických informácií SR (the Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information) is the coordinator of the project.

The event is sponsored by Siemens s.r.o.