Do you have an idea for an app that supports health? The 6th edition of TeenCrunch HealthX has started

The official inauguration of the 6th edition of the nationwide TeenCrunch acceleration program took place in the PKO BP Rotunda in Warsaw on June 25.

The inauguration was accompanied by a series of discussion panels and lectures by famous experts – the conference was attended by, among others: mentors – Edi Pyrek and Greg Albrecht, cofounder of TeenCrunch – Kacper Szklarczyk, CEO of Youth Business Poland – Adrian Migoń, and Krzysztof Gulda, president of PARP.

The panel “AI in the service of well-being” was led by Krzysztof Szczepaniak, director of content and strategic projects of “Wprost”.

“Program yourself for health” – an algorithm that no one teaches us

Teen Crunch is a free acceleration program for the most enterprising and talented youth aged 16-22. This year, it is running under the slogan HealthX, focusing on challenges in the area of ​​mental, physical and digital health.

– We have a double crisis: heads and bodies at the same time. You could say there’s a major bug in the operating system of an entire generation, and we’re here to start fixing it together. – says Adrian Migoń from Youth Business Poland, the organizer of the program.

He adds: – We treat it as a challenge to program reality anew, because health is not a default setting, it is something that we can and must consciously configure. If you are 16-22 years old and want to create solutions that will answer these challenges, we invite you to the new edition. You can submit your own idea or join another team. Recruitment is open and completely free on the TeenCrunch website. You don’t have to have a ready-made business, just readiness to act is enough to start with.

During the inauguration of the event, data was presented that shows a deep crisis of the head and body: the number of teenagers struggling with depression is growing rapidly, and overweight and a drastic lack of sports activities are becoming a plague.

The situation is exacerbated by the generational digital divide, where young and old live in increasingly isolated worlds.

A chance for young people from smaller towns

While most startup support programs are confined to a bubble of a few largest metropolises, TeenCrunch HealthX goes against the grain.

The organizers emphasize that they most need voices and ideas from smaller towns and villages. Young people from regions far from main business centers are often the first to feel the lack of access to specialists or modern forms of health care.

The program is aimed at people who notice these problems in their school or neighborhood.

To participate, you do not need to have a ready business plan or funds – qualified participants will receive full, free support from mentors and the tools necessary to transform the idea into a working project.

The program kick-off event opened with a speech Edi Pyrek about the role of the flow state and the era of singularity – conscious artificial intelligence. Warning against profound civilizational changes, the speaker diagnosed the phenomenon of digital escape of the young generation, which treats the Internet as a shield against reality, noting directly: “When people can’t cope, they escape to the Internet. The biggest problem is that we don’t know how to deal with what we are running away from.” The response to this crisis should be consciously built resilience.

As he pointed out Akop Szostakthe key is to change the approach to our own mistakes: “We don’t rely on willpower. We don’t beat ourselves up if something doesn’t work out, we just try again and redesign our surroundings.”

Filip Dębowski reminded that the competences of the future should be based on imagination, relationships and the ability to get bored, and Iza Skowrońska supplemented this with the definition of resilience, which is built by acting despite felt fear and stress. Greg Albrecht pointed out that lasting success requires maintaining a balance between business, health and private relationships. Passion without appropriate barriers leads straight to burnout.

Lesson from. fits perfectly into this trend Krzysztof Gulda (PARP), who emphasized that, apart from passion, internal motivation to set one’s own goals is key:

– The point is to reach a point where it is not someone from the outside who tells us what to do, but we decide about our own steps. By gaining such agency, you can take full responsibility for the business and show the direction to others– says the president of PARP.

A strong base, i.e. who supports young creators

Business and science joined forces to give participants a real fishing rod. The program is supported by partners such as: the PZU Foundation, the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP), the Polish Development Fund (PFR), PwC Polska, Sebastian Kulczyk’s InCredibles program, the Leon Koźmiński Academy and PKO BP. The conference was held under the honorary patronage of the Rector of the Medical University of Gdańsk, prof. Dr. hab. Michał Markuszewski.

Ecosystem partners (including Innovations Hub Foundation, Enjoy Growth, It Girls, Labirynt, MCSC, Połamani do Szczecin, WSB Merito University, Wyciskarka Potencjału, Learning Space) and the media (Puls Biznesu, Wprost, Fintek, Naszamiasto.pl, Grupa StudentNews) also contribute, ensuring that the whole of Poland hears about youth projects.

Apply today – recruitment lasts until September 20!

You are 16-22 years old or you know someone this age – be sure to let them know! Want to do something meaningful for the mental, physical or digital health of your peers? Don’t wait and don’t be afraid that you don’t have experience.

The application form is simple and participation in the program is completely free. Visit teencrunch.org and take the first step. The TeenCrunch acceleration program is organized by Youth Business Poland – a foundation supporting the development of entrepreneurship in Poland.