Hana Štverková, head of the Department of Business Administration and Law from the Faculty of Economics of VSB-TUO, who is also involved in the project, may answer. What specifically she deals with inthe project, she revealed in an interview.

U!REKA SHIFT has seven work packages. Hana, you are specifically working on package number 5. What exactly is your role in it?

In work package number 5, I am responsible for task 5.4. Specifically, it is the creation of a joint business incubator, which will be focused on supporting entrepreneurship and developing entrepreneurial students, as well as creating innovative solutions and finding ways to connect all partners. That is, universities and their students. We want them to create something new together, start-ups, new solutions.

This is an ambitious goal. How do you want to achieve it?

 This task is yet to be started, so we are at the beginning. But the WP5 package is focused on centres of expertise and the creation of so-called knowledge-created communities and the preparation of the already mentioned business incubator, so we are gradually trying to create the environment and design of the platform, which should serve, for the future, as a business incubator.

Do you have any idea what the incubator should look like?

Our vision is for the platform to be available to both students and mentors. We want to share examples of good practice, tools and contacts for mentors, lecturers. We want materials to be available there, so that even educators, or those interested in entrepreneurship, can learn and develop skills, competencies and help to create international teams. The next point should be to create a platform, where those students can connect, connect to different ideas. We don’t want the incubator to be bounded by the state. We want it to be international, interdisciplinary, just like the U!REKA alliance.

So the incubator will be virtual, you don’t plan to meet physically.

Yes, that’s right. Being from different countries, it’s not possible to meet physically on a regular basis. People will meet just as part of the incubator. We plan to organize various hackathons or competitions in which students will be able to participate. We want to look for opportunities and make them available to students.

Who will prepare the platform?

The platform will be prepared by the Finnish Metropolia. Together we want to create an online space for meeting and collaboration. The goal of U!REKA is to be an international, transnational university. Our goal is to create an international incubator that will increase entrepreneurship among students and will aim to meet the goals that U!REKA has set itself, such as climate-neutral and smart cities.

I can’t help but ask: compared to other universities involved in the alliance, how does VSB – Technical University Ostrava stand in terms of entrepreneurship?

VSB-TUO has enterprising students. We can be proud of our specific start-up business course, which is available to students from all faculties, we have a Career Centre and also a Technology Transfer Centre. Nevertheless, the U!REKA Alliance is a great opportunity to connect and share experiences with our international partners, so that we push this area even further and use both knowledge and experience to the fullest.

You mentioned the start-up business course, which runs in the summer semester. Do you plan, along with other lecturers, to involve U!REKA more in it?

It is a block subject. We will innovate it this academic year. We want to connect it with the Green Light Start project to motivate those who have a real interest in entrepreneurship. We will involve lecturers and mentors from outside, we want students to learn more about marketing, the legal aspects of start-ups, etc. The best ones will then be included in the Start programme so that they can develop their business even more intensively and can, for example, participate in the next year of Green Light Accelerator. As for the experts from U!REKA, we can of course invite them to do lectures online, but this depends on the agreement with other partners.

What will U!REKA bring to our university?

U!REKA is first and foremost great for networking and cooperation in science, research, talent development and information sharing. When people go to its events and connect, they can get different perspectives, different experiences. Each of those universities has a specific role, a specific role. HOGENT, for example, cooperates quite a lot with municipalities, with regions, with companies which we could learn from them. On the other hand, in Amsterdam they have a Venture centre for students, where they focus on their development, look for those competences. Of course we do it too, but we don’t have such a background yet.

Students and employees at U!REKA universities can also study, do a traineeship or a staff mobility.

Yes, that is one of the advantages. In short, they can learn from each other, develop, establish contacts. It will bring them competences, new perspectives for the future, and that cooperation. It’s not just about them going on an Erasmus trip. U!REKA is about creating long-term relationships between those universities. We are talking about a supranational university and we need to take full advantage of it – to invite those experts to teach, let’s use their knowledge. Some are further along in sustainability, others in social matters, for example. It’s about enriching each other, connecting with each other. We can learn from them in the social and economic context, they can learn from us in the technological context. They don’t have that background as strong as we do. When we connect, I think the social benefits will be positive for all parties.