SET BGU is hosting 30 students of Industrial Engineering & Management from 13 different countries across Europe including: Britain, Russia, Turkey, Poland, Finland, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, The Netherlands, Lithuania, Germany and Macedonia. Joining them will be several Israeli students from the leading local academic institutions. SET BGU is a week-long conference from July 4th - 11th, 2016 taking place at BGU.
During the conference, the participants will meet numerous Start-Up companies, a wide variety of entrepreneurs (different religions, Orthodox & secular, men & women, social & technological), visit co-working spaces, hubs, undergo workshops to improve their skills and discuss the different aspects of entrepreneurship for them in their process of building their own business. They will also visit unique Israeli sites such as: Masada, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem's Old City and Tel Aviv's beaches, during which they will build a connection with the country and its people. Participants will also visit major hi-tech companies such as: Wix, Paypal, JVP, Twist Bioscience, WeWork, Iron Source; and also younger and smaller companies like: Paybox, Fairfly and even early stage founders. They will also visit entrepreneurship hubs, Beer-Sheva’s Gav Yam Negev Advanced Technologies Park, "Siftech" center in Jerusalem, Sosa & Maze 9 in Tel Aviv.
SET BGU started as a vision of 5 students from BGU's Department of Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM): Eyal Kulik, Nir Nagger, Ori Loval, Etai Coles and Yotam Tzuker. They decided to work voluntarily in order to create a strategic partnership with their fellow colleagues in Europe: ESTIEM - The European Students Association of IEM. With the guidance and help of Prof. Ehud Menipaz, a world-renowned entrepreneurship researcher and the Chairman of SET BGU, and with the irreplaceable assistance of BGU’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, they made their dream a reality. BGU President Prof. Rivka Carmi, Rector Prof. Zvi HaCohen, and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences Prof. Yossi Kost all supported the project as well as Beer-Sheva Mayor Ruvik Danilovich, who was a major sponsor. The students raised additional funds from Canadian donors and Hi-Tech companies to contribute to this ambitious feat.
SET BGU's primary innovation is that the conference strengthens and manifests a newly built close cooperation with ESTIEM, an organization with over 60,000 student members from over 20 different countries in Europe. This year, after countless efforts, the State of Israel will host an official ESTIEM event for the first time with the goal of sharing with participants the Start-Up Nation's knowledge, leaving great, unforgettable experiences and paving Israel and BGU's way to many more partnerships in the future.
