GIST Innovation Hub Entrepreneurship & Product Innovation Center (EPIC) at The American University of Armenia has been a great example of how innovation ecosystem builders are getting creative and making an impact in their communities. We asked EPIC about their recent batch of programs to support innovators.
EPIC launched the first Entrepreneurship Summer Festival (ESF2020), an organized week-long program designed to disseminate knowledge and create enthusiasm in entrepreneurship through a unique series of online events. The Festival culminated with “The Future Innovator” Competition, an intensive 2-day program for teams and individuals who had technology-based startup ideas.
EPIC launched the first Entrepreneurship Summer Festival (ESF2020), an organized week-long program designed to disseminate knowledge and create enthusiasm in entrepreneurship through a unique series of online events. The program was supported by the EU4Business “Innovative Tourism and Technology Development for Armenia’’ project and jointly hosted by a half-dozen local university partners.
Alisa Chalakhyan (BAB ‘19), a star graduate of the American University of Armenia (AUA) and the Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC), tells the story of how she has made tremendous professional progress in such a short time.
EPIC is proud to have Gevorg Poghosyan engaged in its extended team. As one of the most experienced and successful entrepreneurs in Armenia, Poghosyan serves both as an instructor in EPIC’s incubation program and as a facilitator in the EPIC Entrepreneurship Summer Festival 2020.
This interview with Poghosyan touches on the Armenian startup ecosystem, his future plans, and his involvement with EPIC.
EPIC recently concluded a project with faculty and students from the Tuck School of Business of Dartmouth College. Tuck is ranked as one of the top business schools in the world. For five months, a team of MBA students from Tuck together with a team of AUA undergraduate students worked to assess the feasibility of creating a crowdfunding platform in Armenia.
On June 11, 2020 EPIC held its first virtual Demo Day for the Spring 2020 Incubation Program participants. The event gave EPIC startup teams the opportunity to pitch their business ideas online to investors, mentors, accelerators, as well as to AUA community members and supporters.
This spring, EPIC organized Entrepreneurship Hack Nights for its residents and alumni to hear stories from successful entrepreneurs from around the world. The EHNs serve to create an opportunity for startup teams to expand their network and connect with experienced business people who share with them their wisdom and secrets for success, as well as discuss the challenges and experiences that they have had on their entrepreneurial journey.
Samson Avetian teaches macro- and micro-economics to undergraduate students at AUA. He has been mentoring EPIC startup teams for two years helping them to find solutions to their many challenges, motivating and inspiring them to achieve their goals. AUA EPIC has recently interviewed Avetian about his thoughts and motivations.
As one of the most crucial components of the startups’ 12-week incubator journey, EPIC holds two-hour workshops twice a week to give startups multiple opportunities to learn, plan, and apply the key elements necessary for developing their ventures. The workshops serve as the primary channels for providing the teams with a roadmap for building their companies.
