RAISE accelerator

The All-Russian accelerator of social initiatives RAISE is aimed at increasing the competitiveness of  universities graduates, bringing the level of project applied skills development and entrepreneurial activity in line with the requirements of the external environment.

Within the framework of the Accelerator , students learn to develop projects that lie in the plane of social entrepreneurship, and implement them with the support of representatives of non-profit organizations (NPOs), businesses and authorities.

During the acceleration period participants of each student team under the guidance of curators from their university and with the use of our methodology learn:

• to identify current problems of their region;

• to determine the optimal project solution during teamwork;

• to identify target groups, which the project impact will be directed at.

As a result, program participants develop entrepreneurial skills and improve the quality and standard of living of the population of the region by solving acute social problems.

The proposed project makes it possible to unite representatives of various universities and regions on one site, ensuring the creation of a homogeneous project environment and the possibility of scaling the most successful practices.

Program Structure:

1. Official launch of the season — a set of events during which real and potential student teams are informed about the launch of the Accelerator season.

2. Registration of the student team on the Accelerator website http://raise.ranepa.ru and filling out the form of basic project passports.

3. Educational and project block:

• organization of regional round tables for project teams with potential partners of their projects (representatives of NPOs, business, state, and municipal authorities) in order to identify project ideas and priority steps for their transformation into projects;

• a cycle of face-to-face educational sessions for Accelerator participants in Moscow (2-3 times a year);

• familiarization of project teams with remote electronic educational materials posted on the Accelerator’s official website on the Internet;

• intermediate project examinations (uploading project forms from the website, skype-calls with the Program manager).

4. Competitive events — various kinds of individual and team competitive events built into the Accelerator: tournament team tasks, solving cases, completing tasks within the framework of special nominations from partner companies.

5. Summing up the results of the teams' project work — final competitive events in Moscow based on the results of on-line selection — examination of basic project passports on the Accelerator website. Based on the results of the competition, recommendations are given for the further development of the projects and possible areas of post-acceleration.

6. Internship for the winners and prize-winners of the competition — in order to expand the understanding of the possibilities of implementing youth student initiatives in the field of social entrepreneurship and the non-profit sector.

Students who have completed one full circle of the Accelerator, in the future act as mentors for the teams of their university, thereby ensuring the continuity of teamwork, building experience and competencies (project and organizational).

During the work , the participants develop supra-professional competencies:

• project competencies;

• project performance assessment competencies;

• business planning and investment attraction competencies;

• effective business communication skills;

• entrepreneurial competencies and business thinking;

• ability to work in a self-created team, etc.