BUT Student Entrepreneurship Award knows the winner. The competition was dominated by the OneCalend project

The fifth annual Student Entrepreneurship Award at BUT presented more than thirty inspiring projects. In the end, seven of them competed for the top spots. First place was awarded to the OneCalend project, which focuses on an effective time management tool. The second place went to the Věrka project, which offers a loyalty service system for small entrepreneurs, and the third place was taken by the Rotating Hookah project, featuring a simplified technical solution for handling a hookah.

This year’s final of the Student Entrepreneurship Award at BUT was preceded by two rounds that the projects had to successfully pass in the final selection. The competition organizer, BUT Rector Ladislav Janíček, awarded, based on the recommendation of the evaluation committee, those ideas with the greatest business potential.

The OneCalend project, created by Vojtěch Oravec from the Faculty of Business and Management at BUT, introduces a new generation of tools for efficient time management. This innovative tool simplifies scheduling and organizing meetings while recommending optimal times for work blocks, allowing for more focused work and minimizing disruptions caused by frequent meetings. The OneCalend application has entered the operational phase and is being used by its first users. By the end of 2025, OneCalend aims to acquire 100 users.

The second place was taken by the Věrka project, led by Matyáš Krejza from the Faculty of Information Technology at BUT. The application serves as a loyalty card and is a tool for small entrepreneurs, significantly simplifying the management of loyalty programs. It also enhances the attractiveness of businesses for their customers. Currently, the team is using a prototype application for presentations and reaching out to potential customers while preparing a production version for real-world use. This will allow the team to gather valuable experience and improve the application with new features to further assist entrepreneurs.

An innovative technical approach to handling a hookah is introduced by the Rotating Hookah project, which took third place. Tomáš Vodička from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at BUT developed a product that simplifies hookah usage and enhances user comfort. The pilot series of products has sold out, and based on customer feedback, the product is being improved for the next production series. The team is currently working on a new design and features, including a configurator allowing customers to assemble their own hookah from modular components based on individual preferences. Besides product improvements, the team is also focusing on research and development to ensure high quality and reliability of individual modules.

Other successful projects in the final round of the 5th edition of the competition:

• Jakub Komárek – Tichá voda label, FFA

The Tichá voda artistic label is a curated sales and exhibition platform for designers that emphasizes fair-trade conditions.

• Vojtěch Doležel – GameGather, FBM

An application that allows people to rent board games from each other.

• Jaroslav Štěpán – Atomicly, FBM

An application that helps people build positive habits by enabling them to share progress with selected friends who motivate and inspire each other.

• Ondřej Kratochvíl – Siberlogy, FME

Development and production of 3D-printed orthopedic insoles tailored to the customer.

Project guarantor Pojď podnikat! and evaluation committee member Jan Pěnčík highlighted the great effort of all student teams in overcoming often challenging obstacles in developing their business ideas. He appreciates that the competition provides students with space for creativity, teamwork, problem-solving, and entrepreneurial thinking. The evaluated projects stand out not only for their innovation but also for their ability to adapt and progress. BUT has great potential in connecting technological, artistic, and business fields.

Brno University of Technology is recognized as an innovator and leader in entrepreneurship support among other universities in the Czech Republic. "Support in future editions of the competition will focus on better integration of study fields with real business potential. BUT students possess a high level of creativity, technical and artistic skills, and entrepreneurial thinking. Our university is therefore an ideal environment for transforming ideas into innovations," says Vít Chlebovský, project guarantor of contriBUTe and evaluation committee member.

The "Student Entrepreneurship Award at BUT" competition, organized by BUT in cooperation with the South Moravian Innovation Center (JIC), is part of the Pojď podnikat! project and is integrated into BUT's innovation ecosystem – contriBUTe. The competition is open to all undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students with the aim of supporting BUT students in developing and realizing their business ideas.

Over the past five years, more than 150 ideas have participated in the competition, with financial support given to 50 of them. More than 15 projects have already transformed into real businesses. Examples include MaNoSens, Plastic Guys, OMGRobotics, Deeper Sleeper, Duncal Technologies, Volteek, Wattee, and WIKARSKA symbiotics. Four of these projects have also become BUT Start-ups.

Congratulations to all teams!