Over 230 students applied for this year’s edition of SommarMatchen, an entrepreneurial program where students get the opportunity to work with business ideas from researchers at Linköping University. “This program has been a great chance for us to get valuable input on the customer needs for our business idea,” says participant and researcher Erik Telldén.
20 selected students were asked to spend five weeks over the summer developing ten ideas derived from research at Linköping University. Recently, the students gave their final presentations.
– The purpose of the summer match is to give the researchers an answer to whether there is a market need for the intended product. In many cases, this leads to the business idea changing direction to better suit the market or to the formation of new companies,” says Magnus Krogh, head coach at LEAD.
One of this summer’s participants was Gayathri Naranath, who is studying for a master’s degree in media technology in Norrköping. Together with fellow student Filip Nyström, she had the opportunity to help the researchers behind the start-up company Dubblett with a market verification of their AI solution aimed at Sweden’s municipalities.
– For me, it was very valuable to work with a real case that was related to AI, as it is something that is included in our courses. I gained more insight into entrepreneurship and new contacts, which I will use when I enter the labor market,” she says.
Researcher Erik Telldén, who is behind Dubblett, is also grateful for his involvement in the entrepreneurship program.
– In the early stages of a business idea or company journey, there is rarely time or money for market verification, so I am very grateful for the hard work the students have done over the summer. We got both surprising input and contacts to future customers,” he says.
If you are a researcher, you can now sign up for this year’s round of SummerMatch 2025, read more here.
Application for students is now closed. Sign up for our mailing list and you will be informed when registration opens next year.
Photo: Thor Balkhed and Emma Krantz
