UNITeD: Starting Entrepreneurship in Deep-Tech, a pre-incubation program in the deep tech field, is a structured initiative to support early-stage startups or entrepreneurial ventures focusing on developing and commercializing deep technology solutions. 

Deep tech refers to technologies based on substantial scientific or engineering advancements, potentially creating significant disruption or innovation across various industries. Examples of deep tech areas include artificial intelligence, blockchain, quantum computing, biotechnology, renewable energy, raw materials exploration, drones, etc.

What are the key benefits of participating in a pre-incubation program in the deep tech field?

Registered participants will have access to the folder of video presentations where short summaries/introductions to various topics (idea validation, product/service design, marketing, finances, legal issues, etc) are given. Videos are relevant for starters in the entrepreneurial landscape, especially in the deep tech field. They contain examples from the market and practical assignments to solve together with the team.  

With participation at the pre-incubation programm "UNITeD: Starting Entrepreneurship in Deep-Tech" student can earn 3 ECTS as a bonus.
To pass the program each team has to submit the onepager and a certificate will be issued by Tallinn University of Technology to each registered team member.

Video presentations of this deep-tech pre-incubation program will give answers to the following questions (all themes will be available at the beginning of May 2024):

1. Would I make a good entrepreneur?

2. Who do I need In my team, and how do I motivate them?

3. How can I come up with a new idea?

4. How do I know if my idea is any good?

5. How can I make money with my idea?

6. How much money do I need?

7. Where do I get money to build my business?

8. How do I design my product/service?

9. How do I prototype my product?

10. How do I make sure I comply with legal and regulatory requirements?

11. How do I actually sell my products or services?

12. Do I have any intellectual property and how can I protect it?

13. How do I build my own personal brand and relationships as a founder?

14. How do I market my idea online?

15. How can I explain my idea to others?

16. When should I talk to investors?

17. How to explain my idea to investors?

18. How do I get out of my business?

Who can participate and how?
Are you a student of a bachelor's or master's level or a PhD candidate? Do you want to learn more about developing your excellent idea in the deep tech area for making the world a better place, forming a team, starting a start-up company, learning about legal and financial issues, sales and marketing, etc?
If you answered „YES“ to both questions, then this program is for you!

To participate in the program, you must register through the link below in the Study Guide. In order to earn bonus points, each team member has to register individually.

So, follow the instructions Under "Study Guide" on how to be part of this online program and earn 3ECTS as a bonus.

This Study Guide gives instructions on how you can take part in the UNITeD online pre-incubation program and validate your deep tech related idea. 

How to register and pass the online program:

1) A potential participant registers her-/himself through this registration link. In order to earn bonus points, each team member has to register individually;
2) After submitting information on the participant through that registration link, a confirmation message appears on the screen. This confirmation message includes the link to the folder of videos;
3) Registered participants can watch all videos in the order she/he likes at the time suitable for her/him;
4) To pass the program, each team has to submit the onepager (one possible form included in the folder of videos, other forms can be used) by June 15, 2024, to the e-mail address: start@taltech.ee;
5) With participation at the pre-incubation program "UNITeD: Starting Entrepreneurship in Deep-Tech" Tallinn University of Technology gives 3 ECTS for those teams who have submitted their onepager in time.

Each team member has to register separately if she/he would like to earn those bonus points. Tallinn University of Technology will issue a Certificate in June, 2024 to each registered team member individually.

Contact the program coordinators mentioned below if you have any questions or struggles.

Additional materials
Should you be interested in listening/watching more on how to start a startup from professional speakers, there are a lot of materials in the internet.
Below you will find just a selection of some interesting presentations:

* Y Combinator – How to Start a Startup

* Y Combinator  - Startup School

* Ükssarviku Kool (Unicorn School, videos in English with Estonian subtitles)

Only in Estonian:

* Ettevõtlusõppe videod (Edu ja Tegu programm)

* Swedbank - Kuidas alustada ettevõtlusega

For students of Tallinn University of Technology there is a list of some books available in TalTech library for additional reading:

1. Nutikas idufirma : kuidas tänapäeva ettevõtjad kasutavad üliedukate äride ülesehitamiseks pidevat innovatsiooni / Eric Ries ; [tõlkija Kaarel Krinal ; toimetaja Aita Nurga ; kujundaja Rein Soonsein]
2. Vere pettus : Silicon Valley idufirma saladused ja valed / John Carreyrou ; [inglise keelest tõlkinud Lauri Liiders ; toimetanud Koidu Raudvere ; kujundanud Lauri Tuulik]
3. The art of product design : changing how things get made / Hardi Meybaum
4. Startup navigator : guiding your entrepreneurial journey / Dietmar Grichnik, Manuel Hess, Diego Probst
5. Online Business Startup : the entrepreneur's guide to launching a fast, lean and profitable online venture / Robin Waite
6. The startup owner's manual : the step-by-step guide for building a great company. Vol. 1 / Steve Blank and Bob Dorf
7. The lean startup : how today's entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses / Eric Ries
8. Contemporary entrepreneurship : global perspectives and cases / edited by Basel Hammoda and Susanne Durst
9. This is service design doing, applying service design thinking in the real world : a practitioners' handbook / [edited/collected/written/designed by: Marc Stickdorn, Markus Hormess, Adam Lawrence, Jakob Schneider]
10. The lean product playbook : how to innovate with minimum viable products and rapid customer feedback / Dan Olsen

UNITeD Project description

The Universities for deep tech and entrepreneurship (UNITeD) project aims to empower consortium universities’ interdisciplinary approaches as one of their strategic domains, in order to flexibly reconfigure the universities’ entrepreneurial and innovation capacity to respond to the human resources and research and development (R&D)-based needs of deep tech industries operating within Nordic-Baltic innovation value chains.

The UNITeD Project has three main objectives:

• Strengthening entrepreneurial and interdisciplinary approaches within HEIs;
• Enhancing innovative and entrepreneurial education;
• Exploring partnerships for innovation.

Consortium partners are strategically committed to devote effort to transforming their academic curricula and research agendas by pro-actively exploring university-business partnerships in the field of deep tech. When enhancing the supply of new entrepreneurship- and deep tech-focused study forms and curricula, offering pre-incubation activities for university-related start-ups and teams of students and researchers, opening avenues for active partnership engagement activities with deep tech companies, consortium universities‘ students, academic and non-academic personnel, will be highly involved.

The spectrum of Project actions is expected to make institutional change through awareness raising on the potential of interdisciplinary approaches within study and research areas, and the importance of both entrepreneurship and the applicability of university-based R&D solutions, and the intermediating role of knowledge and technology transfer processes. A more systematic and organised approach towards smart blending of the study and research domains is anticipated, to enhance the competitiveness of deep tech-focused industries, and consequently create impetus for societal wellbeing.

The Project consortium consists of five Baltic universities:

• Vilnius University (LT);
• Tallinn University of Technology (EE);
• Tartu University (EE);
• Tallinn University (EE);
• Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (LV).

And one Nordic university:

• University of Jyväskylä (FI).

The consortium universities already have rich experience in providing entrepreneurial education, organising pre-incubation activities to spin-out innovative ideas, and suggesting new R&D solutions to the industry to be further developed and applied on the market. The UNITeD Project unites the Nordic-Baltic university forces to further jointly explore interdisciplinary approaches within the study process, and also R&D activities as one of the key enabling domains unlocking the potential to adjust the study and research endeavours according to changing deep tech industry needs.

The consortium’s associated partners, Enterprise Estonia (EE), Baltic Sandbox Ventures (LT), Latvian Startup Association (LV) and Startup Factory (FI), joined the Project with the aim to further extend the possibilities for deep tech-focused university-related entrepreneurial teams and start-ups to access the ‘one-stop-shop’ Nordic-Baltic innovation support ecosystem and venture capital.

See the project page at EIT HEI Initiative

Below, the compilation of science and business cooperation success stories and success stories of entrepreneurial student teams is ready to be explored. 
The main aim of the action was to exchange collaborative experiences among different parties: universities (students, scientists, research groups), municipalities, private companies, etc., and to learn from each other. 
The example and format were designed to clearly show key activities, innovation processes, lessons learned, and team competencies.

The EIT HEI Initiative: Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education has been designed with the aim of increasing the innovation and entrepreneurial capacity in higher education by bringing together HEIs in innovation value chains and ecosystems across Europe. A central philosophy of the EIT is the integration of the EIT Knowledge Triangle Model into all its activities. HEIs selected to participate in the HEI Initiative will also leverage and use the Knowledge Triangle Model as an enabler, facilitating the creation of systemic, institutional change. Additionally, HEIs selected to participate in the HEI Initiative will contribute to and leverage Smart Specialisation Strategies, the Regional Innovation Impact Assessment (RIIA) Framework, as well as align to the goals of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (EIT RIS).  This will strengthen the links between HEIs and their local and regional ecosystems and provide an impetus to leverage additional funding sources beyond the HEI project funding period of the selected HEI projects. HEIs are encouraged to prepare applications which will support the development and implementation of six Actions in their institutions, cumulatively leading to institutional transformation, an increase in entrepreneurial and innovation capacity, and integration with innovation ecosystems.