The Deep Tech Talent Initiative was officially launched as part of the New European Innovation Programme in 2022 by the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, and Youth, Mariya Gabriel. During the programme’s presentation, she noted: “The new European Innovation Agenda will ensure innovators, start-ups and scale-ups, their innovative businesses to become global innovation leaders. Together, we will make Europe the global powerhouse for deep-tech innovations and startups.”
This initiative will run until the end of 2025, aiming to provide knowledge to 1 million people. The project is simultaneously being implemented in 10 European countries, including Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Ukraine.
Another annual programme cycle focusing on AI in the Agrifood sector was launched last year. “Starting again from Agrifood, starting again from innovation, starting again from young people for a Europe that is a protagonist on global markets. Our continent has always expressed excellence in the sector but has invested too little in the training of young people and in the adoption of new technologies throughout the entire supply chain. JA continues to be at the forefront connecting young people to agrifood to create professionals and entrepreneurs of the future”, said Salvatore Nigro, CEO of JA Europe, welcoming participants of the conference on Artificial Intelligence and Youth Entrepreneurship in the Agrifood Supply Chain during the G7 Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting.
The EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative training programme, initiated by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and supported by Intel, is being implemented in Ukraine by the NGO Junior Achievement Ukraine. The programme combines basic concepts of artificial intelligence (AI) and programming with elements of entrepreneurship and project management. The programme’s students are youth aged 16 to 20 years.
The programme aims to direct students to develop innovative ideas that explore AI applications for optimizing the consumption of agrifood resources, enhancing the safety and protection of food products and digitizing the supply chain.
The AI training programme offers two tracks: coding (with programming tools, 52 academic hours) and non-coding (32 academic hours), with an option for educational institutions to choose between them.
The programme includes 23 learning modules that cover the lifecycle of an AI project, data literacy, the concept of computer vision and analyzing the connection between problems, solutions, and opportunities.
Non-coding students will create datasets, image libraries, and refine models, while coding students will use programming tools to build AI prototypes.
Since the project began in the fall of 2024, participants have already passed through several important stages. In November 2024, a national teacher training session was held for the programme, divided into two parts according to coding needs. It lasted two weeks of November, from 11th to 21st and was attended by 218 teachers from 19 regions of Ukraine. After completing the course, teachers received national certification from JA Ukraine.
The training covered topics such as understanding challenges, developing value propositions, AI project lifecycle, data ethics, entrepreneurship basics and No-Code AI for Computer Vision (CV). Teachers also developed prototypes, defined business models and prepared for pitching.
Alongside, 77 student teams were formed, working with 69 teachers from 14 regions of Ukraine. All teams are based in various educational institutions and are now registered on the PSNC Platform, giving them access to programme materials.
Teams have begun working on their ideas, identifying problems to solve and preparing their “Interim Solution” presentations. This document showcases the team’s idea, identified problem-solving and initial progress. It will guide teams in shaping their vision and deciding on the direction of their projects for successful implementation.
“Currently, Ukraine, and Europe as a whole, faces a shortage of qualified personnel necessary for the green and digital transitions. The DTTI program aims to fill this gap by developing a pool of deep-tech talents. Knowledge of AI is becoming increasingly relevant in the modern world. To be competitive in the job market, youth must master this field. Thus, we strive to expand opportunities for students in vocational-technical and higher education institutions in the agrifood production and IT sectors and certify teachers in AI skills,” says Yelyzaveta Radutna, Program Manager at Junior Achievement Ukraine.
She adds, “The project is progressing as planned. Training materials have received positive feedback from teachers, and students are enthusiastically working on creative and unconventional solutions. I hope this project will help teams generate ideas and eventually launch a startup that could become Ukraine’s next unicorn.“
