Co-funded by the
European Union
InnoEnergy teams up with XCNT to support entrepreneurial students
InnoEnergy is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with XCNT, a company builder focused on developing new business models in cleantech. XCNT develops business ideas, tests the ideas and assembles a founding team; and if the idea is feasible and shows the first signs of sustainable traction in the marketplace, they spin it off as a new venture. However, in their experience, the most essential ingredient is not a lack of “good ideas” or generating “enough” of them; it’s finding the right talent to make the idea successful. That’s where InnoEnergy comes in!
A rare combination
XCNT Co-Founder Friedrich Arnold shares: “As a cleantech company builder, we are looking for talent that combines technical expertise with entrepreneurial skills and motivation. Unfortunately, this kind of talent is quite rare. However, we were very excited when we found out that InnoEnergy’s Master’s programmes have a proven track record of entrepreneurs among their graduates. We are honoured to partner with them.”
Supporting the ambitions of entrepreneurial students
InnoEnergy and XCNT are co-sponsoring (50/50) a full waiver for a female student of the Master’s in Energy Technologies, who will begin the programme in September 2020. Friedrich explains, “Financial dependencies – like for example, a student loan – can keep a brilliant entrepreneurial mind from actually going “all-in” and taking the risk of starting their own company. We hope to empower a student who shows strong entrepreneurial acumen to take the leap and become an entrepreneur. Might even be that this student is a match with one of the projects that XCNT is working on.”
Mutual benefits
InnoEnergy recognises the need for an informed, engaged and ambitious workforce to join the sustainable energy revolution. This is why programmes are designed to combine technical knowledge with commercial awareness and an entrepreneurial spirit – creating the talent needed to achieve a sustainable European energy industry. XCNT shares their mission to accelerate this revolution. XCNT’s team has a lot of experience and knowledge to contribute – which InnoEnergy students will have access to via case-based learning, internship and thesis opportunities. Friedrich adds, “We are always looking for entrepreneurs and “makers”, meaning: software developers or hardware tinkerers. We are also happy to share job postings via the InnoEnergy’s Career Centre.”
Strong partnerships
Strong industry partnerships are the cornerstone of the InnoEnergy ecosystem. It’s not just another business network. Working and partnering with InnoEnergy gives companies access to the most dynamic, diverse and vibrant community in the field of sustainable energy. Europe has the people and the ideas, the resources and the skills to create a fully sustainable energy industry. InnoEnergy’s role is to bring them together – and it’s exciting to welcome an innovative company such as XCNT to the InnoEnergy network!
