Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P. President | St. John's University website

St. John’s University students participated in the European Innovation Academy (EIA) business development program at the university’s Rome location during the summer of 2025. Thirteen students from five of St. John’s six schools and colleges attended, marking the largest group the university has sent to this event.

Among them, junior Amoni Smart, a Television and Film major at The Lesley H. and William L. Collins College of Professional Studies, was part of a team that won first prize for developing a parental control smartphone app called AIKO. The app is designed to help parents monitor their children’s online activity using artificial intelligence.

“Think of it as an AI companion,” said Amoni Smart. “It is a friend for the child, but a helper-educator for parents. It identifies when a child finds his or her way to an unsavory website or display and gives parents a way to have difficult conversations with their children about why they should not be there.”

Amoni served as Chief Marketing Officer for AIKO, collaborating with students from Chicago, Moldova, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. She credited her marketing and media training at St. John’s for helping her develop strategies to increase social media presence and analyze market opportunities for the project.

“I have always been very passionate about entrepreneurship,” Amoni said. “And I was able to use my background in marketing and media to help build up the company and showcase what we made.”

The EIA program allows continuing students from all St. John’s schools and colleges to apply through an interview process before joining international teams on entrepreneurial projects.

St. John’s students have competed in EIA since 2019, except in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. In 2024, six students attended the competition in Porto, Portugal; among them was Alpamys Yechshanov ’25C, who received Top Team recognition for work on recycling efficiency.

Other recent achievements include senior Cara Dunleavy and alumna Niyadeng Tour advancing to the New York chapter finals of TiE University’s Global Pitch Competition in October 2025, while graduate student Uday Kumar participated in the Hult Summer Bootcamp in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Looking ahead, St. John’s will prepare for participation in the 2026 EIA program scheduled for Rome next summer at a different venue than its own campus.

“The European Innovation Academy provides cutting-edge entrepreneurial opportunities to our students and peers from around the world,” said Luca Iandoli, Ph.D., Dean of The Lesley H. and William L. Collins College of Professional Studies and Professor in the Division of Computer Science, Mathematics, and Science. “This engagement exemplifies St. John’s University’s commitment to experiential learning and to preparing the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs to lead with insight, ingenuity, and a global perspective.”