Today we visited the event of the European Youth Award which was under the theme „Watch out: Europe on fire“. I have to admit, I never heard of it before, but I really enjoyed listening to the ideas of the young entrepreneurs and start-ups.
It’s hard to say which project I liked the most, because there are many that impressed me. My favourite projects were imagiLabs, socialbnb and Aivy. Not only the ideas behind the projects were great, but also the presentations themselves. They were easy to understand, emphasized the benefits and the slides were good looking, which makes a big impact.
imagiLabs is a community and mobile application for teenage girl to get creative with programming. The reason behind is that there is a lack of diversity in the tech industry and woman are in a minority. I think the idea of the project is good, because it makes it easier to overcome gender stereotypes and get girls interested in technology. Furthermore, I like the colorful design of the app.
socialbnb is an online platform that connects social and ecological NGOs or CBOs with travellers around the world and enables sustainable travelling. Socialbnb is an opportunity for NGOs to list their unused rooms as social homestays on the platform and earn funds for local social issues. This leads to a win-win game for both, NGOs and travellers, because the travellers have unique and more authentic experiences. As I like travelling, I am very interested in the topic in general. Sustainability is a current topic and that’s why I think the project could have great chances to become something big. Moreover, statistics show that more and more NGOs want to participate and more and more bookings are being made.
Aivy is a mobile app that helps young people who are uncertain about their professional future and need help in choosing the right career. This app is free and offers psychometric tests, possibilities for self-reflection about the own identity and helps with finding a job that really fits the own potentials and life circumstances. The idea is great, because you spend so much of your lifetime with working and that’s why it is so important to find a job you are passionate about and happy with. Especially for young people, deciding what to do after their school or even after university can be really hard and frustrating. I already downloaded the app, because I was curious about how it works and it’s very well designed and easy to use.
The one project I didn’t like that much was Forest and Climate. It is an online platform to ensure successful afforestation, the process of planting trees in a barren landscape to create a forest. Experts are working together to identify suitable areas in Serbia for planting trees. Users can plant the tree on the website and mark the location on a map. I think the topic is important, but I was a bit disappointed when I heard that the project is already running for an amount of time and there was not any tree planted yet. I also thought that the presentation was weaker and more complicated compared to the others.
I would not apply for EYA 2020, because I don’t have any fully-developed ideas or projects like these I am currently working on. I think it takes a lot of time after you have a good idea to set the ball rolling. Not only do you need a well-thought-out business plan, but also you need to do some hard work with finding people and organisations to work with. There is so much more behind building a start-up than just having a good idea.
Nevertheless, watching the presentations was very inspiring for me.
