IPB University Aims to Cultivate Students into Young Entrepreneurs Through the PRIME STeP 2026 Hackathon Bootcamp
The Institute for Agromaritime Development and Innopreneurship Acceleration (LPA2I) at IPB University aims to cultivate students into young entrepreneurs through the IPB PRIME STeP 2026 Hackathon Bootcamp (8/11).
The “Innovate Today, Impact Tomorrow” Hackathon Bootcamp is part of a series of program activities designed to enhance the capacity and basic skills needed to create innovations based on real-world solutions for participants, consisting of students and faculty advisors. In addition to IPB University students, the PRIME STeP Hackathon also involves several other universities, such as the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Ibn Khaldun University (UIKA) Bogor, Nusa Bangsa University, and Pakuan University.
Prof Rokhani Hasbullah, Vice Chair of IPB University’s LPA2I for Business Incubation and Industry Partnerships, reported that this preparatory session was a crucial part of getting the teams ready for the pitching battle phase.
“A total of 49 teams that have advanced to this stage will next be narrowed down to the top 35 teams. The selected teams will receive funding of Rp50 million to support the development of their innovations,” he said.
Furthermore, the Chairman of LPA2I at IPB University, Dr Handian Purwawangsa, also emphasized that universities not only play a role in producing research and innovation but also need to foster the emergence of innovation based companies capable of making a positive impact on society.
“The PRIME STeP Hackathon is expected to serve as a catalyst for creating innovation-based business opportunities while encouraging students to develop prototypes that can be implemented and provide benefits to society,” he continued.
According to him, funding is not only intended to produce prototypes but also serves as a first step toward ensuring that the developed innovations can be introduced to and utilized by the public. Furthermore, innovations with business potential are expected to attract greater funding and investment from business actors, enabling them to grow into sustainable companies.
Dr Karmanah, Vice Rector III for Student Affairs, Alumni, and Cooperation at Nusa Bangsa University, who also serves as the faculty advisor for the UNB Hackathon team, welcomed this program as an excellent platform for guiding and developing student generated innovations, and noted that in the future, it could also serve as a platform for innovations created by faculty members.
“The hope is that, after participating in this bootcamp, our students will be further motivated to produce innovations while developing themselves into entrepreneurs in line with the objectives of the PRIME STeP Hackathon,” she said.
Through bootcamp training, coaching and mentoring, as well as funding opportunities and cross-university collaboration, all of which will be directly overseen by LPA2I’s Assistant for Business Incubation, Deva Primadia Almada, this program is expected to serve as the first step toward fostering more young social entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs capable of transforming innovations into valuable and impactful solutions for society. (*/Rz) (IAAS/HNY)
