Competition winners attend the Energy Business Camp in the energy hub of Germany!

EIT InnoEnergy Master School teamed up with AXEL – The Energy Accelerator (a supporter of early-stage energy start-ups) to create this comprehensive summer camp on energy business creation. Christos Klamouris, the start-up manager of AXEL, enjoyed working with the highly engaged participants. He shares, “Many energy engineers have great ideas – but they can be too focused on one main technical part, have a hard time involving others in their vision, or even can be unable to see the ‘big picture’. Therefore, they lack the ability to bring their ideas to market. This is why we focus on these students at this stage when we can help them the most by giving them the tools and knowledge they need to develop their ideas into promising business models. We know these workshops can greatly improve their presentation skills. We collaborate with EIT InnoEnergy to offer this business camp because we truly believe that their master’s programmes will allow these students to go deeper than a traditional programme. They offer something totally unique with their three-sided approach of education, innovation and business creation services.”

The students pitched their energy project ideas on the first day of the event, breaking into teams after voting for the best concepts to develop into promising business models. They spent the next couple days fine-tuning, working with their coaches into the wee hours, and meeting with industry experts – truly experiencing the highs, lows, fun and pressure that energy entrepreneurs face daily. The students appreciated incubating their ideas in this supportive and fun environment, describing the event as “inspirational”, “insightful” and “a life-changing experience” of which they loved every moment.

On the last day, the teams shared their final presentations, showcasing their hard work and newly acquired skills. The winning team “ChargeON” impressed the judges with their idea to make electric vehicle charging more accessible. Christos explained, “They made it very easy to understand their business model; however, their presentation skills are really what made them stand out.” Team members Tamoor Ali, Nouman Akram, Jan Tršinar, Satyam Goel and Benjamin Iwuchukwu enjoyed having a taste what it’s like to be successful energy entrepreneurs and are very excited about their prize of Formula-E championship race tickets!

Tamoor, team leader and EIT InnoEnergy MSc in Energy Technologies student, said, “The camp was an amazing experience – the coaches enhanced my understanding regarding business challenges, energy transition and entrepreneurship. It was great working with 20 people from 14 different nationalities, getting together to bring the best ideas for the energy transition.”

*Photography by Michael M. Roth, MicialMedia

InnoEnergy's Master School offers you countless possibilities to develop your entrepreneurial skills and make an impact in the energy transition. During our Master's, students can take part on a incubator programme with access to mentoring and funding to develop their business idea. 

Would you like to know more? Get in touch with one of our representatives via innoenergy@studyenquiry.com , +443331500488 or sign up for updates using the form below.