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A group of students from Vaasa Lyceum High School (Vaasan lyseon lukio), along with visiting Italian Erasmus+ exchange students, kicked off their entrepreneurship education studies this academic year by participating in a Kvarken Space Startup business camp held on September 3-4, 2024. The camp was organized as a space-themed business idea competition, hosted by the University of Vaasa’s Digital Economy research platform and space data laboratory, in collaboration with Kvarken Space Center, ESA BIC Finland, and the AuroraSpace and ORBIT projects.

In the “Space and Business” competition, Professor Heidi Kuusniemi and PhD researcher Cem Özcan provided the students with an introduction to satellites, the data they produce, European Union satellite programs, and the new space economy. After this, students worked in small groups to brainstorm business ideas that would utilize satellites, positioning, or remote sensing in some way. In addition to using space data, students were required to think about how the product works, its target audience, marketing, and funding.

POSITIVE EXPERIENCES FROM THE BUSINESS CAMP

Mika Jokiaho, a teacher of history and social studies at Vaasa Lyceum High School, mentioned that similar business camps have been organized for a long time, and they have proved to be valuable experiences. From a learning perspective, it’s especially important that students get the chance to innovate and apply the knowledge they’ve gained in such a mini-hackathon. Jokiaho believes this should be implemented more in schools. This year, the camp was held for the third time with a space theme, in collaboration with the University of Vaasa’s Digital Economy research platform.

This was the first time exchange students participated in the camp, and the entire event was held in English. Despite this being the first joint group project for the Finnish and Italian students, the dynamics worked wonderfully, and the students were motivated, Jokiaho says.

The students were also pleased that their collaboration began with a mini-hackathon, which allowed them to get to know each other through group work.

GREAT IDEAS AND PRESENTATIONS

At the end of the second day of the business camp, student groups pitched their ideas to the jury and other participants. We heard five impressive product ideas, all of which utilized satellite data in some form. The products addressed issues related to traffic congestion, fishing, job placement, health, and agriculture. The winning idea came from Oskari Rönkkö, Alp Gezgin, Emanuele Falcone, and Gianluca Leo, with their idea WOOP – a map-based app that solves unfinished tasks by connecting service providers with those in need of services.

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to all the participants!