The representatives of the four youth startup teams that received the highest scores from the jury will travel to New York for the World Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge by NFTE.

The final of the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge (NYEC) — the All-Ukrainian youth startup competition, which is the national stage of the international competition World Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, was held at Ukrainian Future, a business incubator of the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, on September 26. 40 startup teams presented their innovative projects. Participation in the more than four-hour NYEC pitch marathon was the result of a week of preparatory work for them. During this time, the participants worked together with experts from the Ukrainian Future business incubator, giving their ideas clear forms and content, improving business models and honing presentations.

Each startup had 5 minutes to present its project and answer questions from the jury, which evaluated, in particular, the relevance, innovation and financial justification of the projects, their orientation to a specific market and target client, as well as the structure of the pitch deck and the presentation skills of the speaker. This format gave the participants invaluable experience: they felt the atmosphere of a real startup pitch, learned to clearly argue their decisions and received practical advice on developing their business ideas.

The jury, which included leading Ukrainian business experts and incubator mentors, noted the high level of preparation of the teams and the diversity of the presented solutions - from agrotechnologies and "green" services to innovations in the field of health and inclusion. Among the jury members were:

• Vasyl Matey - Candidate of Economic Sciences, expert in fundraising.
• Vasyl Dunets - Deputy Director for Development of Science Centers and International Strategic Projects of the National Center "Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine".
• Natalia Sydorko – trainer-methodologist of educational programs and interactive SCORM courses
• Olexandr Ryabtsev – USF expert, co-founder of Unicoway, founder of Startup.In.UA, mentor.
• Mariya Dumanska – marketing director of the network of IT schools for children and teenagers “Robocode”.

According to the results of the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge – the All-Ukrainian competition of youth startups, the teams that received the highest scores from the jury were:

• Demetra – a system for farmers that helps save on fertilizers and irrigation and provides advice on plant care.
• GreenChoice – a platform for finding ecological solutions in everyday life: from hotels and entertainment to waste sorting points.
• StepWISE – smart insoles that analyze gait, optimize the load on the legs and help the user maintain correct posture and avoid injuries.
• Reint – a mobile application for adaptive sports for people with amputees.

“The winners of the national stage will participate in the World Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge Grand Final in New York. This is not only an opportunity to compete for a financial prize, but also to participate in workshops from world-class entrepreneurs, meet leaders of the startup ecosystem, and establish professional connections that will help scale ideas beyond Ukraine,” emphasized Stanislav Dovgy, President of the National Center “JASU”, during his address to the participants of the national selection.

The NFTE World Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge (WYEC) is a landmark global event that unites student entrepreneurs from the international partner network of NFTE and the National Youth Entrepreneurship Competition of the USA. This year, the event starts on November 17. Over the course of three days, the winners of the national selections from around the world will participate in a series of events focused on training, coaching, and global connections. WYEC will conclude with the Grand Finale at the United Nations building in New York, where participants will compete for $5,000 to develop their project.

For reference:

* Ukrainian Future, a business incubator of the National Center “JASU” — a full-cycle business incubator: with an educational and consulting center, coworking, a FabLab prototyping laboratory and a materials library, which offers services for creating and accelerating the growth of innovative businesses.
** National Center Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine” (National Center “JASU”) — an educational system that ensures the organization and coordination of scientific and research activities of students, creates conditions for their intellectual, spiritual, creative development and professional self-determination, contributes to the growth of the country's scientific potential. Since 2017, it has the status of a Category II Center for Scientific Education under the auspices of UNESCO.
*** Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) — an international non-profit organization headquartered in the USA, which promotes the development of entrepreneurial and innovative thinking of young people in more than 40 countries around the world.