On March 26, 2025, the second round (final) of the TourSystemUkrChallenge International Student Startup Competition was held at SUTE's Faculty of Technologies and Business in a remote video conference format, bringing together the best representatives of students from leading higher education institutions.

The competition aroused great interest in the educational space: in the first round, which ended on March 12, 2025, SUTE received 85 startup projects from 22 higher education institutions to participate in the final round by field:

• «Start-up. Tour»;
• «Start-up. Hospitality»;
• «Start-up. Restaurant».

The participants of the event were welcomed by the Dean of the Faculty of Technologies and Business N. Vedmid; Head of the Department of Hotel and Restaurant Business Management M. Boyko; Head of the Department of Tourism and Creative Industries Management T. Tkachenko; Head of the Department of Restaurant and Craft Technologies D. Fedorova and leading SUTE scientists.

The competition committees included domestic and foreign experts who reviewed and evaluated the business startups submitted for the competition in the designated areas: Fedoriak R., PhD in Economics, Associate Professor, Lecturer at the Department of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, University of Applied Sciences of Western Norway, Norway; Filonenko N., Front Office Manager at Hilton Kyiv; Mishchenko O., Head of the international project Hotel Matrix; Bretsko J., Director of the Academy of Professional Education “Merkur”, Slovakia; Boyko O., Deputy General Director of Travel Professional Group LLC; Dvorska I., General Director of TRAVEL HUB LLC; Chernega O., Аcting Head of the Department of Commercial and Integration Development of Projects of the Municipal Enterprise “Main Information and Computer Center” of the Kyiv City Council (KSCA); Holynskyi T., Director General of the tourist operator “Ethnotour” LLC; Lanska V., Head of the Department of Confectionery and Bakery Production of “KPI PRO” LLC; Sabirov O., Chief Technologist of “Mamamia” LLC; Kosyachenko A., Manager of the Catering Establishment “Hot Doggy Dog”.

Stakeholders and other scientists from leading universities who joined the event emphasized the high level of competition works and wished the students further success in implementing their projects.

The topics of the startups presented in the final covered a wide range of topical issues of the hospitality industry: the use of modern information technologies, realization of the potential for the development of specialized types of tourism and justification of innovative tourism service programs; development of marketing proposals for hotel and restaurant businesses, implementation of important social initiatives - creating a barrier-free environment for people with special needs, creating virtual quest tours, as well as business concepts. A large number of startup projects were devoted to the issue of restoring the hospitality market in the post-war period.

During the presentation of the startups, the students demonstrated a high level of theoretical and practical training, the ability to think critically and creatively, and the ability to defend their business ideas with arguments.

As a result of the public defense of business startups, the following were noted:

Diploma of the first degree:

• Samartseva Anna, Tkachenko Maryna (State University of Trade and Economics), project title “SafeWave”.
• Hryhorian Ilya, Bondarenko Oleksandra (National University of Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic), project title “Rehabilitation”.
• Dziuba Yaroslav (Sumy National Agrarian University), project title “Blooming Opportunity”.
• Kraevskyi Roman (Lutsk National Technical University), project title “LostGuideLNTU Tourist Marketplace of LNTU Guides”.
• Kravchenko Anatolii, Potienko Tetiana (National University of Food Technologies), project title “Conceptual bar ‘BAR OF EMOTIONAL COCKTAILS’.
• Korzun Tetiana, Mozharovskyi Dmytro (State University of Trade and Economics), project title “PREDICT EATS”.

Diploma of the second degree:

• Kononenko Kateryna, Lyhyrda Anastasiia (Interregional Academy of Personnel Management, Department of Tourism Organization), project title “CampAble”.
• Dubno Yulia (Lviv University of Trade and Economics), project title “Three Slices”.
• Drutska Victoria, Rudychenko Oleh (Kyiv Professional College of Tourism and Hospitality), project title “Digital Butler”.
• Minchenko Yulia (Cherkasy State Technological University), project title “Hotel Innovations”.
• Lasu Victoria (State University of Trade and Economics), project title “Muse: a mobile application for museum visitors”.
• Nazar Oleksandra (Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University), project title: “StudentCard: Development of a student discount program in Chernivtsi catering establishments”.
• Kichma Dmytro, Chalaidiuk Vladyslav, Kondratiuk Veronika, Shydlovskyi Valerii (Lutsk National Technical University), project title “AUTONOMOUS COFFEE HOUSE”.
• Nechyporenko Daria, Donets Victoria, Kravchenko Tetiana (National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine), project title “SMARTBITE”.
• Oliinyk Valeriia (State University of Trade and Economics), project title “HERBS & SPICE TEA”.

Diploma of the third degree:

• Butchak Solomiia (Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University), project title “Purity”.
• Lupin Bohdan (Vinnytsia National Agrarian University), project title “Biohacking”.
• Lysa Anna (Vinnytsia Institute of Trade and Economics of the State University of Trade and Economics), project title “Helper App”.
• Popovych Oleh, Karpuk Andrii, Pogorletskyi Denys (National University of Life and Environmental Sciences), project title “Ethno-Laboratory”.
• Vasyliuk Maryna (Lutsk National Technical University), project title “Coffee House of the 90s”.
• Makhno Polina (Ivan Franko National University of Lviv), project title “Vinnytsia Maldives”.
• Borodina Valeriia, Zaiats Kateryna (National Transport University), project title “Energy saving in hotels”.
• Vodolaha Iryna, Korsakas Bohdana (National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”), project title “Shpundra”.
• Kutsenko Vladyslava (Odesa National Maritime University), project title “Creating a yacht business project”.
• Nicolaescu Natalia (International Humanitarian University), project title “Kuyalnik Resort, Development of an Attractive Location Project”.
• Balushka Khrystyna (Ivan Franko National University of Lviv), project title: “SPACE OF IDEAS”.
• Dolinska Vitalina (Chernivtsi Trade and Economic Institute of State University of Trade and Economics), project title “CINNAJOY”.
• Zagalilo Yevheniia (Vinnytsia Trade and Economic Institute of State University of Trade and Economics) shared the name of the project, “Sea Buckthorn Cake.”

Other participants were awarded certificates.

We congratulate the winners and wish them success in realizing their business startups! We express our sincere gratitude to the supervisors for their dedicated work!

Tetiana Tkachuk,
Deputy Dean for Scientific and Methodological Work and
nternational Relations, Faculty of Technologies and Business