From graduation to start-up: I Realize Start-Up Hack

The creation of new opportunities needs a mix of skills, research, hard work and, most of all, inspiration. The willingness to "Think big and turn ideas into reality" is one of the claims of the Global Entrepreneurship Week, a worldwide event that from 16 to 22 November 2009 "Will connect young people everywhere through local, national and global activities designed to help them explore their potential as self-starters and innovators".

Partnering with this, the TOP-IX Consortium of Turin, Italy, promotes I Realize Start-Up Hack, a one-day workshop for developing the business plans of graduation thesis projects.

In collaboration with TesiCamp.org, an event where graduation students presented their thesis to professionals, companies and academics, I Realize Start-Up Hack will put together professionals with a mix of expertise in order to help a number of students to turn their thesis project into a business plan. At the end of the day a 10-slide presentation will be made and all the projects will be “pitched” in front of a panel of senior professionals, entrepreneurs, mentors, etc. One of them will be rewarded.

In order to reach the maximum audience and foster the spirit of entrepreneurship, a broad range of social media tools will be used to involve participation and communicate the event among students and the public, e.g. Facebook and Twitter. The event will be also promoted by TesiCamp (http://Tesicamp.org), Infoservi.it, a leading blog on digital culture and technology, and Innov’azione, a magazine about the italian innovation ecosystem, as media partner.

Global Entrepreneurship Week
For one week, millions of young people around the world will join a growing movement of entrepreneurial people, to generate new ideas and to seek better ways of doing things. Countries across six continents are coming together to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week, an initiative to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity. To think big. To turn their ideas into reality. To make their mark. This is the vision of the Kauffman Foundation, the world’s leading foundation for entrepreneurship, and Make Your Mark, the UK’s campaign to give young people the confidence, skills and ambition to make their ideas happen.