Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the role of the Young Scientists Festival in influencing selected idea developers and founders of emerging start-up businesses across the country.

Method: This study adopts a qualitative research design, and data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The study sample consisted of 30 participants drawn from three selected groups: the founding team, the managers of the Young Scientists Festival, and its award recipients in the categories of idea developers and founders of emerging start-up businesses. Participants were selected using purposive and snowball sampling methods.

Results: The results of thematic analysis indicated that the festival has influenced the entrepreneurial and innovation trajectories of the award recipients across four principal dimensions: strengthening human capital, strengthening social capital, strengthening technological-cultural capital, and ultimately strengthening business capital.

Conclusions: With a history spanning approximately one decade, the Young Scientists Festival has functioned less as a direct instrument of economic development and more as a capital-enabling mechanism at the national level. In doing so, it simultaneously enhances the human, social, technological-cultural, and business capital of talented young individuals and nascent entrepreneurs. These findings suggest that the effectiveness of festivals within the innovation ecosystem lies not merely in the provision of financial awards, but rather in the design of sustainable institutional mechanisms for the accumulation, transformation, and reinforcement of these four forms of capital. Accordingly, the results of the present study may provide a foundation for policymakers and festival managers to redesign the policies, structures, and operational mechanisms of scientific and entrepreneurial festivals, enabling such events to move beyond short-term formats and become effective instruments for generating lasting impacts within the innovation ecosystem.