Drucker: Students Can Apply for Prestigious Georgia Tech Programme

Bratislava, 19 June (TASR) - Slovak students can apply to join an educational programme at Georgia Tech, one of the world's top technology universities, Education Minister Tomas Drucker (Voice-SD), Digital Coalition chief operating officer Pavol Sedo, and David Bridges, vice-president of the Enterprise Innovation Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology, told a press conference on Friday. It's a pilot programme launched in collaboration with the Education, Research, Development and Youth Ministry and the Digital Coalition that has been developed specifically to educate and support talented young people in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship. "This is a two-year pilot programme. In the first year, we'll focus on secondary school students, with 100 selected students participating in the programme. The programme is primarily aimed at students in their final year of secondary school," said the minister, adding that for now, the programme will focus on Bratislava region. Drucker noted that as part of the programme, students will not only learn what innovation is and how to pursue entrepreneurship; they'll also work alongside experts from the United States and other countries to create innovations themselves. The Digital Coalition director added that registration for this module opens on Friday. According to the minister, the programme will be expanded in its second year. "It will continue in its second year at secondary schools for another group of fourth-year students. We'll discuss whether to focus on another region as well, but as this is a pilot programme, we may continue with the schools that we need to gain some experience, while also expanding it to include universities - specifically the Slovak University of Technology (STU), which will be available to an additional 100 students," he said. The Digital Coalition director explained that the programme will be conducted in a hybrid format, combining in-person and online learning. According to him, the programme's goal is partly to create working teams that will develop innovative business plans. The programme is based on the methodologies that Georgia Tech uses to foster innovation and entrepreneurship. At the same time, according to Bridges, these methods have been adapted to Slovakia's needs. "We've been involved in start-up development since 1980; we had the world's first incubators, we operated faculties in which we used start-up methodologies, and this methodology is recognised as being one of the best in the world," he added. am/df