Business ideas competition Kaleidoskoop took place for the 11th time and brought together 36 teams to presented their business ideas. This year the competition was organized together with sTARTUp Talks – Artificial Intelligence Conference. Each student team had 3 minutes to pitch their idea to judges who had 5 min for questions and comments. The judges were Aivar Pere (UT business advisor), Martin Vares (Fractory CEO), Sven Parkel (Tartu Biotechnology Park general manager), Giga Sesitashvili (Go Motors business analyst), Iuliia Trabskaia (UT research fellow of entrepreneurship ), Laura Tomson (UT foreign funds coordinator and EIT Health contact person) and Marelle Ellen (sTARTUp Day marketing manager).  

“It is always good to see a lot of young people who want to change the world or help to develop fields they are passionate about,” said judge Martin Vares. “There were teams who knew what they need to do next and there were teams who need to figure that out, but each idea had a value. I encourage all teams to keep on working to bring their idea to life. Collect feedback and rejections and at the end, you will be successful,”.

In Finals top 10 teams will compete to win awards like participation in the European Innovation Academy in Portugal, tickets to startup and technology conference Latitude59, financial awards from Tartu City Government or 2-month access to co-working space Startup Hub.

The 10 best teams are (in alphabetical order):

• MediBee - app for emergency rooms online queues.

• Pick and Drive - a web-platform which unites driving students who seek for cheaper driving lessons and driving instructors who want to earn extra money.

• Rosella Kunst - website which connects clients and artists. Clients can buy artwork based on a photo or an idea.

• Stargazing - an app that offers an opportunity to seek for the spots with the least light pollution and cloud coverage to gaze at the stars.

• The Joy of Giving - main vision is to contribute to reducing relative poverty in Estonia by building an e-commerce website where people will be able to order their lunch and get it delivered at their doorstep. With every purchase, clients contribute to providing meals to less fortunate families in Estonia.

• TRIT -  makes translators more visible, translation more resource efficient and placing orders easier.

• VEINC - is an innovative wine course for all wine lovers. It is based on subscription box service, that delivers 3 bottles of wine to your door every month, with educational information.

• Vetik - is helping cosmetic producers substitute the unhealthy colorants with a new red colorant, which is natural, vegan and can have skin rejuvenating properties.

• ViralSAT - combines satellite images with crowdsourced images of disaster events to provide better information for critical decision making.

• VRE - the mobile app for real estate agencies to create 360 tours faster and without any extra technology.

The Starter programme business ideas competition is funded by the European Social Fund.  The event is funded by EIT Health.