EPIC Shines at Sevan Startup Summit 2023

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YEREVAN, Armenia — On July 23-29, The Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC) of the American University of Armenia (AUA) participated in the annual Sevan Startup Summit 2023. After a three-year hiatus, the extraordinary event returned, gathering new momentum on the shores of Lake Sevan. Since 2016, the Sevan Startup Summit has fostered innovation and promoted the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem across the region, impacting thousands from Armenia and abroad.

This year, the event attracted more than 300 vibrant startup founders, mentors, angel investors and venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and policymakers from over 30 countries, who enjoyed the relaxed and friendly setting of the event. They came together to share knowledge, collaborate, pitch ideas, and have fun. The Summit included week-long in-depth workshops, discussions on diverse business and technical topics, and dialogues with leading entrepreneurs, investors, and startup mentors.

AUA EPIC was among the ecosystem partners of the Summit, with active engagement from both EPIC staff and startup teams. EPIC staff participated in the talks and panel discussions, as well as advising and mentoring sessions.

On the first day of the Summit, Director of EPIC Professor Michael Kouchakdjian delivered the first plenary talk on The Language of Investment. Two days later, he also moderated a panel discussion on The Power of Collaborative Investing: How to Leverage Collective Wisdom for Successful Investments. In turn, Nejdeh Hovanessian, assistant director of EPIC, gave a lecture titled Dare to Differentiate: Unleashing Your Startup’s Onlyness on Day 2.

Among the participating teams at the week-long Summit were nine EPIC-incubated startups. Taking first place in the booster program was the startup Contracta.ai (winning a $5,000 prize). Also, in the booster program, What to Wear won third place (with a prize of $2,000). Both of these startup teams had won Agbabian Prizes in the earlier EPIC Demo Days. In third place at the starter program was EdMap (winning a prize of $2,000), which also placed first in the EduTech category, taking home an additional $1,500.

“Once again, Sevan Startup Summit created a valuable and highly impactful experience for all the local and international participants and the Armenian startup ecosystem as a whole. Seeing the level of engagement, aspiration, and performance by the EPIC graduate startups shows that we are on the right track and well aligned with our center’s mission,” wrapped up Nejdeh Hovanessian.

To see video highlights of the Sevan Startup Summit, you may access the respective YouTube channel.

The Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC) is a platform of the American University of Armenia (AUA) for promoting entrepreneurial education, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and startup venture incubation. EPIC provides an ecosystem for emerging entrepreneurs consisting of first-class facilities and collaborative workspace, programs and events, and a network of mentors, advisors, and investors. EPIC fosters the understanding and application of entrepreneurship in students and faculty at AUA to craft high-impact multidisciplinary ventures.