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Innovators Prove that Adaptability Pays, in Many Ways

Alexandra Gînjã

Adaptablity has been the buzzword of the business world since globalization began changing the face of the international economy. Everybody talks about it, but few have been able to practice it as well as a team of young entrepreneurs from Bucharest.

From left: Razvan Crisan, Cosmin Pojoranu, Ovidiu Gatlan, Ina Ghita

Friends and associates since high school, they have launched a magazine, organized concerts, attracted sponsors and are now offering trips to the United States as part of a national contest for inventors.

“The purpose of this competition is to turn professionals in the technological field into entrepreneurs… to generate future successful IT companies,” said Rãzvan Crisan, coordinator of a project known as I-Cube, short for Innovation Initiative Incubator.

The application deadline is July 1. The organizers hope to enlist 15 teams, who will be eligible for free consulting on their inventions and business plans. The leaders of the first three teams will get a one-week trip to the US to meet possible investors. The judges aren’t looking for a particular sort of gadget. The criteria are that it must be marketable, innovative and useful – particularly for Romanians.

“We’re looking for ideas to make everyday life easier,” said Crisan. “Either an IT innovation or a mechanism meant to satisfy a need. "A condition would be for the investors to spend the money here in the country,” said Ina Ghiþã, spokeswoman for the contest. “The idea was to keep the brains in Romania,” added Crisan. “The problem is that in the Romanian education system there is too much theoretical base, but not enough practice. We want to transform ideas into practice and make it something other than just a stamp on a piece of paper”, said Ghita.

The youth-oriented Oricum magazine appeared in late 2005 on the web and in a staff-distributed paper version. Paper publication was later suspended, although the magazine continued to publish on the web, and a relaunch of the paper version was planned for fall 2006 when school resumed. The core group of six entrepreneurs, aided by another half-dozen newcomers, began staging concerts to pay for the magazine’s relaunch and its other activities.

Meanwhile the group rented live-in office space, where they spend most of their time planning and executing their various projects and lining up sponsors, which include corporations as well as the British Council in Bucharest.

The concerts feature an unusual twist.

Tickets to “Stimultan,” as the events are called, allow entry to three simultaneous parties featuring rock, hip-hop or electronic music. About 2,200 people attended the first event in February, 700 more than were expected. The second Stimultan party was scheduled June 10 on three floors of a shopping center parking lot, with three varieties of music on each floor. Organizers were planning to host 3,000 people.
Usually publications reflect events. With Oricum, it seems to work the other way around. Despite the concerts and the contest, team members said the magazine remained the driving force behind their diverse activities.

“We will continue with events that illustrate what our magazine is all about,” said Ghitã. “That means we will be involved in everything that is important to young people today, from parties to culture and education.”

The organization runs several web sites: http://oricum.ro; www.icube.ro; www.stimultan.ro and http://blog.oricum.ro/.

Ultimul număr tipărit (mai 2007, format PDF):