The first stage of the international BIKE-HEI project has been completed
At the end of the year, summarizing the results of various initiatives becomes more relevant than ever. The international project “Boosting Innovation and Knowledge-Based Entrepreneurship in Higher Education Institutions” (BIKE-HEI), implemented by the University of Alicante, Saarland University, the University of Primorska, and Mariupol State University, was no exception.
To take part in the partners’ meeting, representatives of the resilient university — Associate Professor of the Department of Marketing and Tourism Inna Arakelova and Associate Professor of the Department of Labor Economics Valeriia Podunai — traveled to Koper, Slovenia.
The first stage of BIKE-HEI was marked by strong results, including the completion of a full cycle of the training program and the selection of winners of a youth startup competition. To showcase the achievements, each participating university team presented reports outlining the KPIs achieved in their respective areas. The representatives of Mariupol State University highlighted the expansion of the BIKE-HEI ecosystem through the engagement of stakeholders: as a result of the first phase of the project, seven memoranda were signed with organizations involved in providing mentoring support for startups.
The initiative does not end here; on the contrary, it is gaining momentum. In 2026, within the framework of BIKE-HEI, two rounds of training and mentoring programs are planned for students as well as academic and non-academic staff, along with new competitions for innovative solutions and the development of a support program for women’s entrepreneurship.
BIKE-HEI has become an innovative project for us — both in terms of its pace and its objectives. Recruiting participants for the training programs was a real challenge, but thanks to the efforts of the entire university, our team successfully rose to it. We have made a very solid start and achieved tangible results: an excellent student startup, well-established relationships with stakeholders, and, of course, it was a great pleasure to work with our partner universities.
The first phase is something of a springboard for moving on to the second one. Entrepreneurial skills are undoubtedly needed by everyone, so we hope to see new people interested in self-development this spring,
— noted Iryna Sikorska, BIKE-HEI Project Coordinator from MSU.
