119 authorial developments have reached the final of the republican youth competition "100 Ideas for Belarus", the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Public Association "Belarusian Republican Youth Union", project curator Elina Braga, told a BELTA correspondent.
119 authorial developments have reached the final of the republican youth competition "100 Ideas for Belarus", the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Public Association "Belarusian Republican Youth Union", project curator Elina Braga, told a BELTA correspondent.
The developments will be presented in 16 nominations: 51 projects will be presented by schoolchildren and students of secondary vocational and vocational-technical colleges and lyceums, 25 by students, and 43 by working youth and young scientists. All of them are winners of the regional (Minsk city) stages of the competition. "The most popular nominations for the competition in 2017 were 'Information and Communication Technologies' (more than 20 projects reached the final) and 'Medicine, Pharmacy, Medical Equipment' (13 projects)," noted Elina Braga. Among other features of this year's competition, she mentioned the new nominations "Inclusive Space", "Information and Communication Technologies for People with Disabilities" and the participation of people with disabilities in the project on an equal basis.
This year, the final events of the "100 Ideas for Belarus" competition will take place over two days. The grand opening of the festival of youth science and innovation will be held on April 11 in Minsk. "Here you can communicate with the heroes of the book '100 Ideas for Belarus', competition finalists and representatives of the republican expert council, get acquainted with new developments that are actually ready for commercialization," said Elina Braga. "The central event of the first day will be the foresight discussion 'IT and Youth - the Belarusian Breakthrough'. Together with renowned experts, young people will discuss a number of topical issues: from general trends in digital transformation to building a digital economy in Belarus." Project defenses will also take place on this day. Members of the expert council will have to evaluate not only the relevance and novelty of the idea, the practical significance of the work, but also the feasibility of its implementation.
On the second contest day, April 12, an interactive exhibition of the republican youth contest "100 Ideas for Belarus" will open at the BelExpo exhibition complex. The award ceremony for the winners will take place here. School students and students of secondary vocational schools and colleges will be presented with recommendations from the Central Committee of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union (BRSM) for admission to higher education institutions for specialities corresponding to the profile of their contest project. Student winners will receive an invitation to attend the "Turnkey Young Scientist" school at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. "All winners in the nominations are given the opportunity to participate in the Republican Contest of Innovative Projects. Based on the decision of the council, ten best author projects are guaranteed to receive funds in the amount of up to 40 tariff rates for the development of business plans for further participation in the contest in the manner and under the conditions determined by the State Committee on Science and Technology," added the project curator.
In addition, project partners will provide young people with educational support and the opportunity to complete a training course for aspiring entrepreneurs, certificates for free training at a startup accelerator, company registration, a year-long placement at a business incubator, and other bonuses.
Elina Braga noted that a vote for the best author project is currently underway in the "Youth of Belarus" group on the VKontakte social network. The name of the winner according to internet users will be announced on April 12.
The Belarusian Republican Youth Union has been the ideological inspirer of the "100 Ideas for Belarus" project since 2011.