Two of the foundation's PhD scholarship of excellence holders have taken part in the entrepreneurial training program organized by NeurotechEU Student Council for PhD students. Consequently, Dániel Petróczi from Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Márk Komóczi from Institute of Behavioral Sciences, Faculty of Medicine gave presentations on their personal experiences and professional development to other PhD students participating in the excellence scholarship program of GTIDEA at the University of Debrecen.
Research experts from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Reykjavík held a training session for doctoral students from Debrecen and other universities of the Neurotech network based on a special training program called MITDesignX of the Boston based world-leading university, MIT. The objective of the training session, which specialized in creating new business ventures and forward-looking solutions, was to address critical challenges affecting the future of cities and the human environment. The two top students from UD worked as members of two multidisciplinary teams to develop innovation projects. One of these projects focused on setting up a private dental clinic to provide appropriate care for patients suffering from Parkinson's disease, while the other one aimed to create an app to support mental well-being. The students’ ideas were then presented to a jury consisting of researchers of the university, who assessed both the business model and the quality of the presentation.
- The primary objective of the week-long workshop was to provide students with a chance to work together and learn about the MIT program. The organizers tried to combine various fields of science, while maintaining a focus on neurotechnology, but they laid most of the emphasis on entrepreneurship. Thanks to the special meetings arranged previously by Professor Péter Nagy and the innovation master classes led by Zsolt Gémesi at the University of Debrecen, the content of the workshop was not entirely unfamiliar to us. However, we learned a lot about entrepreneurial thinking, intellectual property protection, grant opportunities, risk analysis, the importance of patents and the building of a complete project. We were introduced to a novel educational approach that encouraged us to dare to apply for grants and take risks, and to find our mental anchor. Based on the lectures, personal conversations, and workshop topics, it seems that, in the future, universities may be expected to create innovations based on an entrepreneurial approach, thus exposing young researchers to a significant challenge- said Dániel Petróczi and Márk Komóczi in their joint presentation.
Discussing the NeurotechEU program, Orsolya Gregán, Head of Center for International R&D Relations, highlighted that the EU project had been launched in 2020 in order to make European universities competitive on a global scale. The University of Debrecen, a founding member of this community that consists of an alliance of nine universities, is currently participating in the joint work as an Associated Partner.
- These training courses are really effective in supporting the professional development of young people by allowing them to supplement their existing knowledge with real-life international examples and novel approaches, as well as to build their international network of contacts. Through NeurotechEU and funded by Pannónia Program, two of our students were able to expand their knowledge in Iceland, which could be a significant advantage for them in their future careers. We are confident that similar opportunities will continue to be available regularly in the future- said the head of the center.
The event on providing information about the workshop in Iceland was attended by Péter Szűcs, Academic Coordinator of NeurotechEU, Director of the Institute of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology at the Faculty of Medicine, and Orsolya Jánosy, Head of the International Office, who announced that the University of Debrecen supported as many as eleven students in gaining international experience as part of the flagship Pannonia Program project, called Pannonia Excellence Scholarship Program. Ms. Jánosy also underlined that they would continue accepting applications from those who would like to learn more about scholarly and scientific activities and ongoing research at any one of the world's top 250 universities.
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