About

The purpose of the course is to give PhD-students and post docs a framework and the tools to identify and assess business opportunities from research. They will also learn how to write a business plan based on an identified business opportunity. The course pedagogy is problem-based learning, i.e., do, try, and be an active participant. The course environment will help the students identify business opportunities, and understand the challenges of being an entrepreneur, either in a small start-up or in an incumbent. The students will also be introduced to interesting people that potentially can become mentors, partners or investors.

The Workshops allow the participants to – in a risk-free environment – explore, identify and assess already proven business opportunities, to explore potential business opportunities related to their own research, and to turn some of the ideas into business plans. The participants will do this by:

• Getting a virtual tool-box for exploring business opportunities.
• Working with cases (academic and real time cases) where business ideas are presented and analyzed.
• Meeting entrepreneurs.
• Meeting representatives from the support structure around universities in Sweden, and from large companies.
• Discussing their own and each other’s potential business opportunities.
• Reflecting on themselves as potential entrepreneurs, as team members in an entrepreneurial endeavor, and on their personal network.

The course web site will include course material and information regarding support and organization etc.