Co-funded by the
European Union
InnoBlog: Unlocking engineer’s entrepreneurial spirit
Last July, a group of EIT InnoEnergy MSc in Smart Electrical Networks and Systems had the opportunity to spend a month attending courses at ESADE Business School in Barcelona as part of their Innovation & Entrepreneurship Journey.
I, myself, had never learned about business before. In my bachelor’s education, I majored in mechanical engineering and minored in energy engineering. One of my main reasons for choosing the programme, in fact, was this opportunity to study at ESADE and learn something new – and many of my classmates had similar backgrounds and similar hopes.
New Venture Creation Project
Over the course of July, we attended many different classes and modules, with lectures from many different ESADE professors. We covered traditional business-related topics such as finance and entrepreneurship. But we also had non-traditional courses, complementing our engineering skills; these included patent law; design thinking, and more. We studied real-world examples, like the cases of Tesla and Apple. In addition, we had courses on soft skills; these included human resources management, leadership, and presentation skills.
During our time at ESADE, we split into three groups and applied what we were learning to a New Venture Creation Project (NVCP). The premise was to come up with an idea and take us through, as an exercise, what we would need to do if we wanted to create a start-up from it. As such, we began with brainstorming problems in the energy industry. We had to interview potential customers and conduct conversations with stakeholders, to accurately hear their needs and opinions and thus validate our product or solution. We could then better adapt and develop our business model. And with the business model, we could craft financial plans and a marketing strategy.
The highlights
My personal favourite course was the one on human resources management. During this course, I learned a lot about strong and dynamic leadership. We also played a simulation game where we practiced our leadership and team management skills by simulating a Mount Everest expedition. This exercise taught me a lot about effective teamwork and being a team player. You won’t always know others’ skills and perspectives, but strong communication is critical to the success of a team. Not only in the business world, but any group setting – in academia, too!
Many of my classmates agreed; they enjoyed this interactive experience, and learned quite a lot. In general, we learned a TON at ESADE. The setup of the classes meant that many were based around discussion or asking and answering questions. It was interesting to hear different perspectives and opinions from my classmates on different subjects during these discussions.
Our summer business school at ESADE was an enjoyable and fruitful time. For me, it’s definitely been a highlight of my experience in the programme! Thank you to ESADE and EIT InnoEnergy for making our summer school in Barcelona happen this summer.
