Expert2Mentors

In 2021, the "Expert2Mentors" training program was launched at FOS, aimed at enhancing the mentoring skills of FOS’s faculty and associates for startup development. The training is part of the "Venture an Idea" project, which FOS implements in collaboration with the Digital Serbia Initiative and partner organizations from the startup ecosystem, with the support of USAID.

This program represents an initial step toward establishing an academic mentoring community and coordinated mentorship for student startups through both formal and informal teaching processes. The training program is intended for faculty and associates at the university who possess domain expertise in various scientific fields and have expressed interest in enhancing their knowledge and skills in the area of startup development.

So far, four cycles of the program have been conducted, with participation from 85 faculty members and teaching staff from 17 faculties at the University of Belgrade and the University of Kragujevac. They had the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and skills for mentoring teams in the earliest stages of startup development through six expert sessions. The teaching staff was trained by experts with extensive experience from both domestic and international startup ecosystems.

Faculty members and teaching staff trained through the "Expert2Mentors" training program have applied their skills in the role of mentors in „Route2Launch“ the startup mentoring program for student teams who aim to begin developing their startup ideas. The "Route2Launch" mentoring program focuses on idea validation and testing initial product versions, as well as preparing teams to secure initial investments from the ecosystem.