Master's in Energy for Smart Cities has strong partnerships with internationally renowned businesses, smaller companies and a network of start-ups, who actively participate in the programme to ensure it remains current and relevant to their needs – and to yours. Partners are involved in curriculum design, selection processes, internships, support for Master’s theses, and job opportunities. Experts from the private sector, municipalities and other government bodies also take classes and give guest lectures.

Year 1

For the first year of the MSc Energy for Smart Cities programme, you can choose to attend either KU Leuven or KTH: Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. In your first year, you will combine electrical and mechanical engineering courses with energy-related socio-economic subjects.

Year 2

In the second year, you choose to attend KU Leuven, KTH, INP: Grenoble Institute of Technology, or UPC: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech. You will have the opportunity to take general and option-specific elective courses that enable you to specialise in areas that interest you most.

The choice of courses in the second year will determine which university you attend.

During your second year, you will also undertake a research project on electrical or thermo-mechanical energy, or on one of energy’s technical-economic aspects for your Master’s thesis. During your thesis you will learn to integrate and apply the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the programme. Each year, the programme directors and the directors of InnoEnergy Benelux award a prize for the best thesis on innovation and the best on entrepreneurship.

During the programme, all students have the opportunity to visit at least one international Smart Cities event, two energy companies and an energy research institute. In addition, all students engage with at least one start-up company that is working with EIT InnoEnergy Business Creation Services – our business accelerator and investor.

Download the below files to see the different challenges of the the latest Innovation and Entrepreneurship journey:

2019 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Journey Year 1

2019 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Journey Year 2

In Year 1, you will spend a week in a Catalan capital analysing and selecting one of the challenges issued by our partners. Here you explore the basics in innovation methodology – from rapid prototyping to effective communication to investigating future trends in energy for smart cities – before presenting your proposal.

In Year 2, coinciding again with the Smart City Expo World Congress. Here you will have the chance to present your idea to real-world stakeholders, to validate your theories and assumptions, test the market conditions and spark potential interest in your initiative. 

In Year 1, you will take part in the BizBootcamp Week, where you will build your business model using creativity and brainstorming techniques, market research, modelling methodologies and Intellectual Property (IP) tools. Your innovation prototype and model is then presented to a jury of experts in innovation, IP and digital prototyping.

in Year 2, using Bill Aulet’s Disciplined Entrepreneurship methodology, you upgrade your startup proposal, focusing on things like market segmentation, value proposition and business model.

In Year 1, you will apply the finishing touches to your final prototype. You will use effective communication tools from storytelling to elevator pitch techniques to present your work to the Innovation Competition Jury – Smart City experts drawn from academia, enterprise, startups and the public sector.

In Year 2, you will identify and validate key assumptions, finalise your pitch deck template and present your final product plan to an external jury.

Demand for skilled engineers with know-how on technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity is at all time high.  Students of the Master's in Energy for Smart Cities are offer an optional Deep Tech Expert Journey where they take advantage of these technologies to respond to market demands or launch their own startups.  

This track starts with an overview of machine learning applied to energy systems. The journey continues with training on cybersecurity in the energy sector, offered in cooperation with Fraunhofer Academy. During this course, students learn how to prevent ICS OT vulnerabilities and build proactive and reactive cybersecurity strategies.

Next is a course on blockchain in the energy sector. Students learn from the experience of blockchain in the financial sector and how this can be applied to the new energy paradigm. The track concludes with an in-depth course on how to manage energy data and real-life cases that require the use of data science skills.

Energy for Smart Cities students who pursue their second year of studies at Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya have the possibility to develop an innovative project following the moonshot philosophy. 

The course uses project-based learning as it takes students on a creative journey using Agile project management and emphasis on multiple prototyping. Students examine and identify future long-term challenges in the energy industry, investigate state-of-the-art technologies, design possible solutions, build and test prototypes, apply Agile methodology to manage the project, foster quick communication and involve everyone through all steps of the collaboration. This course is offered in cooperation with FAB LAB Barcelona.

Curious about the Moonshot Project? Take a look at the course offered in 2020.

The MSc Energy for Smart Cities programme takes you across Europe to explore the future of urban living and the resources that will support it. In particular you will gain:

• Deep knowledge of electrical energy processing, mechanical technology, and applied thermodynamics, plus the design and operation of electrical and mechanical energy systems
  
  
• Understanding of wider socio-economic contexts and insight into ethical, social and economic frameworks for sustainable energy in the smart-city context
  
  
• Communications skills that allow you to discuss ideas with a non-technical audiences and to present ideas and innovative solutions in a structured way
  
  
• Executive, management and entrepreneurial skills and an understanding where and how to use them
  
  

After successfully completing the MSc Energy for Smart Cities programme, you will receive a degree from each of your chosen universities.

• INP: International Master of Science in Electrical Engineering for Smart Grids and Buildings
• KTH: Master of Science
• KU Leuven: Master of Engineering: Energy
• UPC: Master of Energy Engineering

The EIT Label is a quality seal awarded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to a KIC educational programme that has been assessed positively by the EIT on the implementation of the EIT Quality Assurance and Learning Enhancement (EIT QALE) system and the application of specific quality criteria with focus on the EIT Overarching Learning Outcomes (EIT OLOs), robust entrepreneurship education, highly integrated, innovative ‘learning-by-doing’ curricula, international mobility and outreach. For more information please check here.