Launch of unique virtual place for students in Denmark - #DiscoverCity

Young entrepreneurial team of international students will launch their startup during the Internet Week Denmark on 30th April 2014 in Aarhus

Knowing which bars and restaurants to visit or where to go for a walk in the nature is something that takes students in a new city a while to find out. The founders of DiscoverCity have realised this problem also in Aarhus and invented a simple, visual and interactive portal for students and young people. Their website will be launched on 30th April during the Internet Week Denmark in Aarhus.

Every year more than 12,000 new students, both Danish and international, come to Aarhus. “It was quite difficult in the beginning when I moved to Aarhus, to get to know all those cool places. Especially when you are among other new students, nobody really seems to know their way around”, says Co- Founder and CEO Juraj Pal, who moved to Denmark from Slovakia in 2012 to study at Aarhus University. There was no unified website in English with all the information that new students require. And this is where DiscoverCity tries to fill a gap.

Idea development and partnerships

The idea has been developed by a team of six international students, Youth Goodwill Ambassadors of Denmark, for the National City Branding Competition held in November 2012 in Copenhagen. Having won the first place for this contest of promoting Aarhus and Denmark as a whole, the young team was spurred to further develop the idea.

Business student Juraj Pal teamed up with a graphic designer Jozef Simo and both put a lot of time and know-how together with a small team of web developers from Waterfall web agency into the further development of the project. DiscoverCity has been able to establish a strong structure of partnerships including Aarhus Kommune, Aarhus University and Youth Goodwill Ambassadors of Denmark (Copenhagen Capacity), allowing the team to design and develop the website.

How does DiscoverCity work?

DiscoverCity is a website designed by students for students. Based on a map view, a user can choose between different categories such as Food, Study, Nature, Culture, Fun, Sport and Shop, all organised in a clean and easy-to-navigate design. Recommendations by other users will offer the most hidden – but also the best – insights on where to go or what to do.

Who can contribute?

DiscoverCity invites students and young people to co-create the environment around them by letting them share their discoveries with friends – every user can add their favourite place on the map, thus engage with the community. Users can then benefit from exclusive offers, promotions, deals and discounts.

Visions for a bright future

For the upcoming fall semester, DiscoverCity plans a targeted marketing initiative in partnership with Aarhus University aimed at new students arriving to Aarhus during their introduction days. Furthermore, “the project template offers great scalability opportunities into other student cities in Denmark such as Copenhagen, Aalborg or Odense”, explains Co-Founder & CTO Jozef Simo.

Launch at the Internet Week Denmark

Internet Week Denmark is a festival celebrating the Internet from 28th April to 2nd May, a festival open for all, digital professionals, students, and citizens. “From the beginning, Internet Week Denmark seemed to be a perfect occasion to officially launch DiscoverCity and present it to a large Internet savvy audience”, describes Co-Founder & CEO Juraj Pal.

Written by Katharina Frick, journalism student and Co-Founder of DiscoverCity

We would love to see you at our official launch during the Internet Week Denmark! Follow these links for details about the programme: bit.ly/DiscoverCityLaunch | bit.ly/LaunchIWDK

Resources

Website
Media kit (PR, fact sheet, photos, logo)
MyNewsDesk
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For further information you are more than welcome to contact Co-Founder & CEO Juraj Pal: info@discovercity.dk or +45 53 33 36 25