In early January of 2023, SYNTRE started the spring semester with 48 hours challenge. A client from the Czech Republic gave us the challenge to come up with a concept and content for an innovation festival at Brno University.  The idea of the 48-hour challenge is simple. Based on the problem/ challenge that was given by a client, we need to present the solution in 48 hours.

The challenge started with defining problems. Understanding the problem was rather complicated but very critical at the same time. With the help of Czech students, we were able to identify the deeper problem, which was a lack of understanding of the value of an entrepreneurial mindset due to ignorance and secluded communication between faculties at the university. Therefore, the festival’s main purpose was to raise awareness of entrepreneurship through the collective transformation of ideas into action. In the end, we were able to present the solution to a client, and the 48-hour challenge went successfully.

Luckily story didn’t just end there. The festival will be happening in real life in the coming November at Brno University in the Czech Republic, and SYNTRE will be one of the main organizers with students from Czech. The official name of the project is Innovation and Entrepreneurial Skills. Below is the summary of the project.

Project name: Innovation and Entrepreneurial Skills 2023

When: Week 45, 6.11.2023 – /11/23

Where: Brno-střed, Czech Republic

Who: 4 members from SYNTRE-Flóra Lang, Sille Sinor, Soonie Shin, Tuuli-Emily Liivat and 1 member from Flyyna- Jemina Pennanen

Partner: BRNO University of Technology

IMAGE 1. Brno x SYNTRE collaborated innovation festival possible logo

Project Description:

Robert Zich, the client for SYNTRE’s 48-hour challenge, wanted to improve the awareness of entrepreneurship at Brno University, Czech. In January 2023, he gave us a task to develop a festival plan containing different events and programs, and that festival will happen in real life in November.

The motto of the festival is “First Step”. The aim of the festival is to introduce the value of entrepreneurship to Czech students and faculty members at the university by turning ideas into action. SYNTRE’s goal for this project is to repeat the festival next year so that other teampreneurs can learn about collaboration projects in the Czech Republic and gain valuable experience from it.

Our Services:

We will be responsible for online sessions ahead of the festival and 3 days of the festival: Wednesday-Friday. Wednesday is a “Finnish Day”, and the main theme of the day is “How do we learn entrepreneurship and team leadership in Proakatemia”. On top of that, we will introduce some Finnish cultures.

Thursday-Friday will be a 24-hour challenge. It will be collaboration work with Czech students and companies. Participants will be given challenges from the companies, and they present solutions on Friday.

Budget:

Travel and accommodation compensation will be offered to project members: 2000€ in total from TAMK (about 400€ for each). The client confirmed project work for both online sessions and 3 days of the festival will be invoiced. We still have to present the offer of our work, so the price of our work is not decided.

To make the project successful, there was a need for a proper project plan. Project planning is the phase of determining the steps to accomplish the project which includes laying out timelines, setting up the budget, making milestones, and having clear tasks between team members.

Defining a project goal was the first step. We aim to organize an innovation festival by bringing inspirational content regarding entrepreneurial mindset and the Finnish education system to Brno University. By bringing awareness about the value of entrepreneurship, we aspire to make the festival happen again for the next year.

Now that the goals are clear, the next step is identifying deliverables/tasks, and creating a timeline. One of the templates that can be useful for visualizing a project plan is Gantt. Gantt chart is one of the most popular project management tools, visualizing a project’s timeline, tasks, and team members assigned to each task. It helps project managers to follow the progress and keep track of timelines and deadlines. The way it works is that you can measure time on the x-axis and tasks on the y-axis. (Coursera 2023) In the case of this project, a simple Gantt chart was sufficient. Below is the example of it.

IMAGE 2. Example of Gantt Chart

This isn’t the perfect project plan and there are some things that should be updated and improved in the future. As this project will be the first SYNTRE’s abroad project, there will be my unexpected things happen, but we believe it will be a great chance to learn project management learning by doing. The update of the project will be published soon.

References:

• Coursera. How to make a project plan in 4 steps. Published in 15.6.2023. https://www.coursera.org/articles/project-plan
• Coursera. Gantt charts: what they are and how to make them. Published in 16.6.2023. https://www.coursera.org/articles/gantt-charts
• Microsoft 365. Agile Gantt Chart. https://create.microsoft.com/en-us/template/agile-gantt-chart-c29ed7ae-85bf-4494-9a46-cf50fab44efa