Inauguration of the DELab UW operation zone

Now the university has made available a specific space on the third floor of BUW as a place where business and science can meet. It was called the action zone and was intended for academic experiments and innovations, cooperation with entrepreneurs, acquiring market competences, supporting startups, workshops and seminars, a place for creative thinking and action. The official opening was performed by His Magnificence the Rector of the University of Warsaw, Dr. Hab. Marcin Pałys, prof. UW and Deputy Minister of Economy Grażyna Henclewska. Also present were the Deputy Mayor of the capital city. of Warsaw Michał Olszewski and Vice-Rector of the Warsaw University of Technology Prof. Ph.D. Eng. Christopher Lewenstein. "We are building an interdisciplinary research and experimental environment that is an innovation at the university, working at the interface of disciplines, and at the interface between the university and the outside world; this innovation is DELab UW," said the vice-rector and dr hab. Anna Giza-Poleszczuk, prof. UW and at the same time the managing director of the unit - We launched the scientific and research part in April, and here are its effects: a book and a policy paper summarizing thoughts and research on "university" entrepreneurship, an eco-system for startups and spin-offs. " An original program DELab UW was developed, containing a concept of activities stimulating entrepreneurship, development of relations with business, creation of student startups. DELab UW created the concept and is the guardian of the activities arising from it, not the owner of the projects. The key assumptions of this concept are: (a) activities with students and for students – entrepreneurship must be an element of experience gained during studies – hence the emphasis on working with students (implementing real projects, project seminars, student startups, networking with entrepreneurs, participating in mentoring, etc.); (b) only grassroots activities are real and effective: the role of the university is to give the green light, not to “design” the system; (c) cooperation with the environment requires dialogue, co-working, getting to know entrepreneurs. Now, the space for these activities has officially opened – an action zone where they have already found their place: Startupers and their mentors from StartupForge@UW*: a grassroots, self-organizing environment supported by DELab UW. Innovators from the SIMS programme: original concepts for opening a university, which we will help to test in action Students and their mentors: programmes for including students in the world of entrepreneurs, conducted, among others, with the Network of Entrepreneurial Women, which has already started its activities within the zone. Just as in the scientific part, i.e. in the research zone of DELab UW, focused on the issues of social sciences and digital humanities, researchers from the University of Warsaw and from outside the University of Warsaw, from various disciplines, from Poland and from outside Poland, meet, so the zone of activity of DELab UW is open to various partners – including other universities. Today we already cooperate, for example: with the Warsaw University of Technology. The Managing Director of DELab UW is Vice-Rector Dr. hab. Anna Giza-Poleszczuk, prof. UW, Coordinator: dr hab. Katarzyna Śledziewska, and the coordinator of the operation zone is Dr. Agnieszka Pugacewicz. *Startup Forge (StartupForge@UW): a space at BUW where members of the UW community and their partners create and collaborate. It provides conditions for the incubation of ideas in a friendly atmosphere, with the support of experienced mentors, support in obtaining public (NCN, NCBR, Horizon 2020) and private funding. StartupForge@UW is a unique mentoring program on a national scale, expanding the teaching offer of the University of Warsaw with a practical dimension. The aim of the programme is to support the development of practical skills in the creation and development of business models. Teams qualified for the program will receive comprehensive support, including both an individualized mentoring program and technical support.