The dedication and hard work of the scientists and researchers inspired me to start my own business. During my PhD studies at Maastricht University I could watch closely how hard everyone works (professors and PhD students alike) and how subtle the intellectual work is.
Knowledge is not something you can touch or smell or see. Knowledge is a sort of magic that people’s brains can generate while doing an action: think and research, experiment and think again. This is why I believe that all this hard work and dedication is not understood or seen well enough, simply because of this particularity knowledge and generation of knowledge.
There are so many attempts and talks about this particular particularity’. In academia the efforts of communicating research are known as: research valorization.
In my view, making research more accessible and practical is essential and goes beyond the question of return of the investment done in research. Research valorization has a social impact, it has educational benefits, it contributes to global competitiveness, sustainable development, cultural enrichment and it even helps policy and decision making (e.g. like we helped all the EU’s Ministries of Finance to communicate faster about what public budget via our research-inspired board game ‘Mobility Era Game’).
However, as straightforward as it seems about how many benefits research brings, and frankly, no matter how much the general public appreciates scientific research, the complexities and technicalities of the scientific language, along with the busy schedules and heavy workload of researchers makes research valorization difficult.
Researchista offers exactly that, research at the doorstep for you and your family. We are a place where researchers can exhibit/sell their products and people can learn about their knowledge through a game or a toy or whatever. It is so much faster (and easier) to explain to a 14 years old what the public budget is or how taxes are related to your life as you age if you play Mobility Era Game rather than reading Researchista’s PhD thesis for example. What would you do?
Would you play a board game and talk about readiness for life with your son/daughter or would you rather read some sections about life-cycle events and fluctuations in income trajectories over life from my PhD thesis?
Researchista is my dream, ever since the idea of making research fashionable came to me one day in Maastricht, while buying bread. This idea has remained with me and has become an integral part of my life.
Share researchista@outlook.com if you know any researcher who would like to commercialise their product on our platform or have a product from their PhD thesis in mind and do not have the courage to start yet.
I found a lot of motivation to pursue my dreams over the years. I’ve been in the tech/gaming business for 5 years and have been driven and determined to make my startup successful. I would have never been able to make my startup continue without my crazy motivation and determination.
As time goes by, I’ve come to realize that motivation and determination alone are not enough… These qualities can decrease over time and are not sustainable on their own. I’ve found that having the right business guidance and advice is crucial. By “right business guidance,” I mean having access to people who can answer the question, “But how do I do that?” This kind of support has taken my startup to the next level.
We are using Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) to reach our audience through multiple channels with a consistent message and branding. We believe that the product will speak for itself initially, so it’s a matter of meeting the first customers. Once we have a stronger financial foundation, we can develop a more robust acquisition strategy.
Not taking business education seriously may give the impression that everything is doable and that your plan will work. However, the reality is that entrepreneurship requires a certain mindset that needs to be developed over time in order to be successful. Relying solely on intuition or existing knowledge is often not sufficient.
You know you will go for it when it simply does not let you go! It can be so annoying even in your daily life. I read somewhere that if you do not let your dream out or go in the direction of your dream, it even suppresses you and harms you. So, just go for it 🙂 You won’t be able to live with it inside; you have to let it surface and let the world know about your dream! It is a bit like in the Disney cartoon “WISH”; there is nobody else holding your dream. If you really struggle to go your way and direction, therapy might help to verbalise it and create more space for it to come out of you.
Hopefully, only great things! And if not, that means we are pivoting..
FEM-START is ready to support you on your entrepreneurial journey. We provide educational courses on funding, pitching, and finding investors, nurture a growing community of female entrepreneurs, and organize events all year long.
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