The National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge (NYEC) is a national competition of innovative business projects, the participants of which on September 6, 2024 will compete for the opportunity to reach the finals of the World Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge from the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) and join the global event in New York.

NYEC will be held in Ukraine for the first time. The competition became available for Ukrainian innovators thanks to the partnership of Ukrainian Future, a business incubator of the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, with the international organization for the development of entrepreneurship education, the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).

The Challenge is traditionally one of NFTE's signature events and the most high-profile business plan competition of the year. Its culmination will be the pitching of business projects on which the participating teams worked intensively during the summer 3-week entrepreneurship camp BizCamp, organized and conducted by the Ukrainian Future business incubator in exclusive partnership with NFTE.

By presenting their business projects, the participants of the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge will have the opportunity to demonstrate the mastery of entrepreneurial thinking, improve their public speaking skills, receive professional advice from the jury and make a loud statement about their startup project in a public space.

NYEC finalists will become participants in the annual World Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, where they will have the opportunity to compete for start-up capital, participate in side events with startup gurus and start their own professional connections.

During the battle on the stage of Ukrainian Future on September 6, 19 winning teams of the preliminary selection will present their projects:

1. PhAInix — a system of protocols for changing drone communications on the fly.
2. OUTEX is an application for sports and rehabilitation, in which AI independently corrects the performance of exercises.
3. WITERoK is a bladeless wind generator as an alternative ecological source of energy.
4. Drone Guard — a system for protecting the drone in the event of an emergency fall.
5. EKZO is an active-type frame exoskeleton with a lifting weight of up to 660 kg.
6. STEMup is an AI-based educational portal for assessing the level of knowledge in STEM disciplines.
7. SAYVO is a mobile game for mental support of children affected by war.
8. Sky Chainmail is an additional method of physical protection of people and property in buildings from fragments of missiles and drones.
9. EcoMind - a project to improve the waste sorting process using a neural network.
10. iScreen is a technology that turns any flat surface into an interactive whiteboard.
11. NIAVKA is a monthly book subscription.
12. Learvniverse is an innovative platform for interactive learning in virtual reality.
13. E-dermatologist is an application for pre-medical diagnosis of dermatological diseases.
14. Bear Band is a technological complex that non-invasively determines a person's state of health.
15. FWD is a web service for generating documents for recording damages received as a result of armed aggression.
16. HomeGarden - ready-made kits for growing plants at home and accompanying mobile application as a gardening assistant.
17. Sunnovate is an eco-friendly solar panel cleaner.
18. GreenGuard is a universal plant care system.
19. MasterPay is a mobile multi-currency crypto wallet with NFC support.

Projects will be evaluated by experts of a professional jury, which included:

• Vasyl Matei, trainer-consultant of Ukrainian Future, expert in fundraising issues;
• Iryna Bystrova, head of the Ukrainian Future business incubator, business consultant;
• Natalia Sydorko, trainer-methodologist of educational programs and interactive SCORM courses;
• Vitaly Yakushev, CEO of 10Guards cyber security consulting company;
• Victoria Fedorchenko, еxpert in banking investment business, partner of ING bank.

The winning projects of the national selection will be announced after the end of the pitch in social networks and on the website of the business incubator.

For reference:

* Ukrainian Future, a business incubator of the National Center "Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine" — a full-cycle business incubator: with an educational and consulting center, a co-working space, a FabLab prototyping laboratory and a library of materials, which offers services to create and accelerate the growth of innovative businesses.

** Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) is an international non-profit organization headquartered in the USA, which promotes the development of entrepreneurial and innovative thinking among young people in more than 20 countries around the world