Entries for the 2018 edition of the Academic Working Capital program are now open to university students interested in turning their Final Projects (TCC) into a technology-based business. Candidates must pre-register on the AWC website and, based on the information they receive by email, put together a proposal and send it by 04/30. This is the 4th edition of the program, which has supported 211 students and led to the formation of 13 startups, which together earn about R$ 1.5 million.
Groups from any area of the graduation degree can be enrolled, as long as the team coordinator is in the final stage of the course and his/her TCC proposes a technological or innovation solution. The program is intended for students from universities of the states of Espírito Santo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and São Paulo, as well as the Federal District.
A novelty of the 2018 edition is that a single call will be made and not two, as in previous editions. The expectation is to select 30 projects. “One thing that is very important is that we have managed to stabilize a work methodology, because working with students doing their TCC is different from working with trained people or older people,” says Marcos Barretto, Professor at the University of São Paulo and academic advisor at AWC who has been part of the program since its inception.
“We managed to balance the various forces that act in the life of young graduated men and women. It is a very unique thing for AWC to understand this phase of people’s lives. And understand that even if the student does not open a business, he will know what the business thinking process is, which is an essential part of the training. Regardless of what he does with his life, whether he is going to be an employee or if he is going to have his own company, it allows him to be the protagonist of new products”, adds Marcos.
Selected projects will receive technical and business guidance, as well as financial support. They will participate in an online workshop on business characterization (5/05 and 5/23) and two face-to-face workshops – one on prototyping (8/18 and 8/19) and one on solution consolidation (12/12 and 12/13). There will also be three online interactions (7/21, 9/15 and 11/10) and follow-up throughout the process – the 1st stage takes place between May and July and focuses on the detailed design and the 2nd stage is carried out between August and November and addresses the construction of the product. At the end of the cycle, students will exhibit their solutions at an Investments Fair, scheduled for 12/14.
The public notice for AWC 2018 can be found here.
