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At the end of April, the atrium of the Brno University of Technology's Rectorate hosted the Velvet Innovation Meetup, a regular gathering of Brno’s innovation ecosystem – entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, as well as the public and representatives of universities. The event is held monthly by the innovation agency JIC. Its goal is not only to connect the community but also to seek and support ideas emerging in this environment. Part of the program included a fast-paced presentation competition, which, according to the audience vote, was best handled by Vojtěch Parkan from TechMountain, a BUT start-up.
Velvet Innovation Meetup at BUT. | Author: Václav KoníčekTo start things off, one of the event’s moderators, David Uhlíř from JIC, explained why organizing Meetups makes sense. “We believe that low-barrier platforms where anyone can come offer a great opportunity for the emergence of interesting ideas.”
On behalf of BUT, Vice-Rector Vítězslav Máša welcomed the Meetup visitors and highlighted two values that he believes relate to the event. “Any innovation or progress must also be rooted in tradition, in looking back, and in appreciating previous achievements. The second value is teamwork. Behind every discovery today, there must be a team. According to many statistics, a team based on cooperation is significantly more effective than one where competition prevails. I wish you success in forming such teams,”
The guests were welcomed by the Vice-Rector of the BUT Vítězslav Máša. | Author: Václav KoníčekIn the following competition, representatives of innovation companies or projects had only two minutes to convince some of the approximately 200 event attendees that their idea, or the strategy and way they presented it, was the most interesting and therefore deserved their vote. Presenters also had a great opportunity to call the audience to action, such as investing in a promising start-up.
Among the contestants were 4 representatives from BUT – a university start-up, a spin-off, and two student creative teams.
The best performance came from Vojtěch Parkan of TechMountain, a BUT start-up offering a solution for measuring fuel flow in railway tank cars. And what was the challenge for the audience? In addition to appealing to investors, it included an invitation for embedded programmers to strengthen the startup team.
Winner of the short presentation competition Vojtěch Parkan from TechMountain, a BUT start-up. | Author: Václav KoníčekSecond place went to Dominik Klement, leader of the student team YSpace from BUT, which develops nanosatellites for space missions. The team also recently achieved remarkable success by being selected for the ESA program Fly Your Satellite! Design Booster.
Third place also went to a BUT representative. Jan Ručka won it with a presentation of the Astacus technology, used for cleaning water mains of sediment. It’s a flushing robot developed by VODA BRNO, a BUT spin-off.
TU Brno Racing stand. | Author: Václav KoníčekThe event also featured a student team TU Brno Racing, which develops single-seaters for international Formula Student races, both in the competition and via a booth showcasing their formula.
Other participants included Marek Vanžura with Autinno, Jasmina Henni with the Startup Money conference, Sára Stepaková with Power BI Hub, and finally Andrii Borodiuk with the Ukrainian Cluster Alliance.
The event also included investment speed dating. | Author: Václav KoníčekDuring the event, moderators also reminded the audience of the recent launch of the Czech Semiconductor Center, which involves BUT and the innovation agency JIC.
The next Velvet Innovation Meetup takes place on May 15 at the Fait Gallery. Everyone can register!