When applying for the Prototron Junior 3 young men from Tartu Jaan Poska Gymnasium could hardly believe that they would win it, six months later UV Link OÜ is established, a patent application has been filed, they have a cooperation agreement with one of the big players on the field. But that is exactly what has happened.
We talked with Jaagup Jagomägi – the author of the Ultralink idea and the company’s public relations manager; Anton Berik – CEO and product developer; and Mihkel Mart Liim, who is holding the position of Marketing and Finance Manager.
The mission of the newly established company is to prevent the spread of viruses on contact surfaces, such as door links. Their first product is a door handle that disinfects itself. In this way, we can prevent the spread of viruses and bacteria in public and private spaces.
According to Jaagup, the team met in the mentoring club of the Youth Entrepreneurship Laboratory, where it was recommended to deal with something topical. As a state of emergency had just been declared, the young men decided to do something that related to coronavirus. The masks and toiletries did not look very exciting, and so a self-cleaning door handle was reached. “We were all interested in the student company and immediately got along well. When we came up with the idea, it seemed too difficult, technically too complicated. But Anton made the prototype and with that, we went to Prototron Junior,” Jaagup says.
They also considered going to other competitions, but in most cases, they became aware of them when the winners were already announced. “When we saw the Prototron ad, we immediately felt that oh – this is our chance. And it was! ”Anton noted.
Prototron Junior just at the right time, because the prototype was ready, money and motivation was needed to move on. The program suited them, there was no excessive scrambling, they could do all the necessary things in their free time, the organizers offered enough support. However, there was always some tension inside to do it tomorrow – it was motivating enough. The mentor for the team was Harju Elekter.
Along with the Prototron victory, the team got media attention and after that AS Valnes contacted them. “They were interested in cooperating with us, develop the product and wholesale. At first, we were a little afraid that maybe they would want to steal our idea somehow, because really – who knows? At that time, we had not yet filed a patent application and this was not a very secure situation. Finally, we made a couple of Zoom calls and realized that they want to work with us, and that could be mutually beneficial. We realized that we have found a considerable cooperation partner,” Anton explained.
If this kind of results can be shown in half a year, where will they be in five years?
“We are our employers and we don’t have to worry – where you can and how you can,” said Jaagup. Anton added that he goes to a cafe with friends and can proudly say, “Look, here’s my door handle.”
Jaagup’s recommendation to others is simple: “You can always try a long shot! If we had been madly worried about whether we could make this idea work, we probably wouldn’t have been able to do so many things. If we had given up and done something else, something that is not so complicated, we would not be here today! ”
Yesterday, the team was in the final round of the student company competition in the first round. Will there be a victory too? Fingers crossed!
