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7th
edition of the competition
200+
projects have already taken part
11 Sep
registration opens, deadline 5 Oct
< CZK 500,000
total financial support
A university-wide competition for teams that want to develop their own idea, test its potential and get expert support. Technology, a service or a social innovation – your field of study makes no difference.
Find out whether your idea has potential on the market – before you put years into it.
Consultations with people from BUT, JIC and business practice who have built companies themselves.
Workshops on presentation and communication skills, business models and validation.
Other entrepreneurial students, mentors and people from the Brno innovation ecosystem.
In every round you find out what holds up and what does not. Even if you do not win.
The competition is backed by up to CZK 500,000. How much will you get?
Your faculty and study programme do not matter – but every member of the team must be studying at the Brno University of Technology (BUT) for the whole duration of the competition. In previous editions, projects from technical, science, economics and creative fields all made it through.
Projects that started as an idea at university.
Vojtěch Oravec won with a calendar for students. Today he is building Ranketta and has raised one million euros for it.
A pair of synergy projects – smart battery management and linking photovoltaics with electric-vehicle charging.
Kits and courses that teach children electronics and programming hands-on.
Teams of one to four members from any BUT faculty take part – a one-persion team is a team too. All members must be studying at BUT for the whole duration of the competition. The competition runs for one academic year and has three stages.
Entering the competition
Describe the problem, the solution and who it is for, and register the project. It doesn’t have to read like a thesis.
Stage 1
You present the project to the panel. Beforehand you go through a JIC workshop focused on building the skills to finalise the plan and present it.
Stage 2
In the final you defend far you have come – what you validated, what you changed and where the project stands now.
Not sure? Book a no-obligation consultation – we will go through the idea with you and tell you whether it makes sense to go for it.
Competition terms (pdf)
Register a project Book a consultation
Registration opens on 11 Sep 2026.
Registration
11 Sep – 5 Oct 2026
Pre-selection
by 15 Oct 2026
JIC Workshop
Oct 2026
Oct–Nov 2026
March–Apr 2027
Awards Ceremony
May 2027
11 Sep – 5 Oct
Entering the competition – you enter the project and submit a business plan: a description of the idea, who is working on it and what drives you.
BY 15 OCT
The evaluation panel picks up to 20 of the strongest teams to go through. Projects are assessed by evaluators from BUT and JIC.
Oct
A workshop on presentation and communication skills run by JIC, the competition partner. It improves your chances in stage 1.
OCT–NOV
Stage 1 – presenting the business plan. You present the project to the panel. Up to 10 teams go through to stage 2; results by 20 November at the latest.
DEC–MAR
Free mentoring with member of the expert panel, one-to-one consultations with external partners and workshops from the Knowledge Transfer Centre.
Mar–APR 2027
Stage 2 – developing the business plan. In the final defence you show the panel how far the plan has come.
MAY 2027
Ceremonial announcement of the winners.
It's not about perfection. We are looking for people willing to develop the idea and push it forward.
A new solution to the problem, not a copy of what is already on the market.E.g. Volteek – smart battery management for electric vehicles and energy storage.
Someone will actually pay for it or it has a demonstrable impact.E.g. OMG Robotics – kits that children use to learn electronics and programming; today they sell them to schools.
Something that cannot be copied over a weekend.E.g. Wattee – connects photovoltaics, batteries and electric-vehicle charging into a single managed system.
On society, on industry or on everyday life.E.g. Plastic Guys – they turn plastic waste into design panels for interiors and furniture.
Projects are assessed by experts from BUT, JIC and business practice. They look at innovativeness, feasibility, market potential, the quality of the team and the presentation. These are not anonymous evaluators. Here is who will be sitting across the table from you.
A consultant who has worked with startups and first-time founders for over ten years – among other things, she helped start the first accelerator in the Czech Republic. She runs business workshops, mentors founders and hosts the JICtalk podcast on entrepreneurs' stories.
Co-founder of the barefoot shoe brand Skinners went the whole way from and idea to a working company. She later worked as a mentor and investor in the Mioora project and is now building her own cosmetics brand, Semoia. At JIC she focuses on early-stage student and startup projects and on supporting women in business.
He works on supporting entrepreneurship and developing the innovation environment at BUT. Within the contriBUte ecosystem he connects students, researchers and companies and supports new innovative projects and technology transfer.
A mechanical engineer, salesman and manager with more than twenty years of experience in high-end measurement technology. At BUT he heads Knowledge Transfer and focuses on putting research results into practice.
He runs his own companies and projects and works in marketing and business development. At BUT he teaches and mentors student teams – helping them validate an idea, build a business model and find their first customers.
No. You enter with an idea and a plan, not with a company number. You do not have to set up a company even if you win.
Yes – a one-person team is a team too. You can add members during the competition; four is the maximum.
Teams of between one and four BUT students may enter the competition, and all team members must be enrolled at BUT for the duration of the competition. However, anyone may collaborate with you – a student from another institution, a professional from the industry, or a consultant. They simply must not be part of the competition team.
It does not. Technology, a service, an app or a social innovation — neither your field nor your faculty matters.
The competition is backed by up to CZK 500,000. How much you get depends on the quality and potential of the project.
The application is online. It includes an introduction to the idea, an introduction to the team and a video about the project – 120 seconds at most.
That is entirely up to you. Keep in mind that you are doing it mainly for yourself — both the project and you move forward.
You are not left without support. There is mentoring, consultations, the chance to join workshops and steady work on the project.
Yes. The competition, the workshops and the consultations are all free of charge.
Yes, in every round — including why the project did not advance and what would help it.
Yes, as long as the plan is new. A plan counts as new if it has not been put into practice yet — or if you are already earning from it, but started no earlier than 12 months before the competition was announced.
You and your team. Taking part in the competition does not affect your rights to the materials and information you submit, or to the business plan itself. Both BUT and JIC keep them confidential and use them only for the purposes of the competition.
BUT Knowledge Transfer Office; Competition Guarantor
+420 603 420 970 joklova@vutbr.cz WhatsApp
The competition is run in cooperation with BUT, JIC and partners from innovation, business and industry.
Responsibility: Mgr. Marta Vaňková