Round Table I and Steering meeting of the MIND project in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)

The MIND project, co-financed by the Erasmus + Program of the European Union and led by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), has held its intermediate meeting and first Round Table at Kyrgyz National University.
The main objective of the MIND project is to support the Central Asian educational reform, through the creation of Youth Centers in the nine Central Asian participating universities, in order to promote university entrepreneurship and increase the level of innovation and technology in the socioeconomic development.
48 participants from the 15 partner institutions of the project (from Europe and Central Asia) travelled to Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, to celebrate one of the most important events organized so far within the framework of the project. A conference was organized to gather relevant stakeholders on Wednesday, October 25: Mr. Sadykov KJ (Rector of the KNU), Mr. Abyloev EK (Minister of Economy), Mrs. Sarbagysheva Gulmira (representative of the Ministry of Education), Mr. Ricard Tomas (Spanish entrepreneur in Bishkek) and former students from KNU who became entrepreneurs and shared their rewarding experiences with all the audience: project partners, university students and members of the American University of Central Asia. The day ended with the presentation of the best business ideas of the students of the KNU, who had the opportunity to receive feedback and recommendations from the present professionals. Among the news presented during the Steering meeting for the last year of the MIND project is the participation of the best students of each Central Asian partner university in a trip to Europe where they will have the opportunity to present their business ideas to potential investors, meet groups of entrepreneurs, Chambers of Commerce, innovation labs, etc.

During the following days, the partners received specialized training in Entrepreneurship by the specialist José Juan Cárdenes, who not only offered a quality training, but also got a very active participation of the attendees, thus promoting an interesting debate on The different methodologies used in terms of Innovation and Entrepreneurship are referred to in the different partner countries of the project: Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

The achieved results so far are very encouraging and promising. On one hand, approximately 100 Central Asian teachers have received a quality training on Entrepreneurship and Innovation thanks to the MIND project. In turn, these have been training their students with the materials provided in both Training of Trainers in Europe (Lisbon and Bratislava) adapted to their various levels and needs. On the other hand, numerous reports have been finalized and uploaded to this website.