Ukrainian students’ creative ideas impress Europe

Dnipropetrovsk universities have repeatedly proved there are a lot of talented youths growing up in this country. The noble tradition of genuinely innovative activity has been maintained by the National Mining University (NMU) students, too, as they have come forward with a number of unusual inventions. They invented interactive mirror to help one choose clothes without trying them on first, backlit handbag, electronic book of children’s fairy tales, “sweet pencil,” and even moonwalking boots. Quite possibly, some student inventions will soon find their way to the consumer market. Lecturer in Applied Economics Hanna Avdiushchenko told the press that the university in general and its Institute of Economics in particular seek to ensure that students develop their abilities not only during lectures, but in their spare time, too. “Our students are involved in the Business Week project, a joint effort of 14 universities, including the NMU,” she says. “The project enables students to demonstrate their abilities, skills, creativity and apply their skills to practical tasks. Every university chooses the topics it will work on. In addition, the project involves students from different countries working together on some ideas for a week.” The NMU students have recently visited the School of Business and Finance in Latvia. During a workshop there, they were asked to come up with the idea of a product that could be successfully marketed to the consumer. The competition has been won by the simplest, but most original idea of backlit handbag, originating with a 22-year-old student Yulia Zavierukha. “There were only girls on our team, and we invented backlit handbag. After all, one can find everything inside handbags except order, and nothing at all can be found in evening. In the end, our backlit handbag has been recognized as the best idea of the entire Business Week project. On our return to Dnipropetrovsk, a friend came up with proposals on the idea’s practical implementation. Now we want to patent the idea, and should a sponsor appear in the future, to mass produce the handbag,” she said.

The young inventors have not forgotten the youngest consumers, too, inventing the children’s electronic book. “When a child opens the book, a laser-projected image appears, the characters come forward and tell the tale on their own,” Olena Yesaulova explains. With a large production run, one copy will cost 10,000 hryvnias, according to the students’ estimates. It is still too expensive for the average buyer, but electronics is developing by leaps and bounds, looking like a magic art itself. The NMU team can boast some more achievements. Olesia Kovaliova-led boys invented a new product for those who like to gnaw pens and pencils. “One usually gnaws pencil when thinking about something,” says Olesia. “So we have decided to attach a chocolate bar to it, which, as chocolate contains a ‘happiness hormone,’ will help the thinker to come up with a good idea.” By the way, the students note chocolate can be replaced with sugar-candy. The university’s faculty members say the students have been very successful throughout their three-year participation in the Business Week project. “We become welcome at more participating universities with every passing year,” Lecturer in Industrial Management Ksenia Tiukhmenieva says. “Our ingenious and creative students have become famous even where they have not been yet. They have already visited universities in Poland, the Czech Republic, Latvia, and Belgium.”