British Council announces winners of the ‘Creative Spark’ Big Idea Challenge 2021 in Azerbaijan

Wednesday 22 September 2021

The British Council has joined forces with London Metropolitan University (UK) to run its largest video pitch competition in 2021 – the Creative Spark Big Idea Challenge, for the third year in a row.

The competition provides thousands of young people (aged between 18 and 35 years) with the opportunity to develop their own business ideas and enterprise skills. This year, we have also piloted a new award category, Climate Change, which showcases solutions that will protect our planet and its resources, with a focus at community, local and national levels.

The winners were selected by a panel of national and international judges experienced in enterprise education and creative entrepreneurship. Almost 40,000 people from Azerbaijan voted for the special People’s Choice Award winner this year.

Creative Spark Big Idea Challenge 2021 Winners from Azerbaijan:

Category:	Winning Idea:	Winner(s):	University/Institution
Country Champion	HerGuide App guiding women through teenage years, marriage, and pregnancy.	Taravat Asgarova Abdurahman Eminov	Khazar University
People's Choice Award	TechnoHealth The mobile app addressing the challenges in the medical sector.	Gulnara Mirzayeva	Azerbaijan University of Architecture and Construction
Creative	Stork Giving you the opportunity to earn additional income while traveling.	Elnur Mammadov	Azerbaijan University of Architecture and Construction
Digital Technology	Respondables A platform collecting information by paying participants to complete surveys.	Tural Salmanov	Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC)
Social Impact	HerGuide App guiding women through teenage years, marriage, and pregnancy.	Taravat Asgarova Abdurahman Eminov	Khazar University
Climate Change	Sustainable Delivery System Delivery of non-food items and products by bicycles.	Tofig Hidayetzadeh Vusala Sarkhanova	Centre for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication (CAERC)

The competition ran in the countries of South Caucasus, Central Asia and Ukraine from March to July 2021. Over 1,000 new business ideas were shortlisted in the last three years of the competition, supported by 110 higher education and creative institutions. Over 200,000 people voted for their favourite ideas on the competition’s website over the last three years.

Notes to Editor

The British Council designed and launched Creative Spark in 2018. Since then, its supported thousands of students, graduates and young entrepreneurs to break new ground with innovative business ideas. Another main aim of the programme is support new collaboration opportunities that can develop the creative economy in countries where there is great potential and where youth unemployment is a key issue. To do this, the British Council provides funding to higher education institutions and creative institutions to develop partnerships across the South Caucasus, Central Asia, Ukraine, and the UK.

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust. We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Last year we reached over 80 million people directly and 791 million people overall including online, broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.