About
The purpose of the course is to give PhD-students a framework and the tools to identify and assess business opportunities based on research. They will also learn how to write a business plan based on an identified business opportunity. The course is based on problem-based learning, i.e., do, try, and be an active participant. The course-environment will be full of opportunities for identifying business opportunities, for understanding the challenges of being an entrepreneur either in a small start-up or in an incumbent, and for meeting interesting people that potentially can become mentors, partners or investors.
The course consists of three parts:
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.
- Work with cases (academic on real time cases) where business ideas are presented and analyzed.
- Meet entrepreneurs.
- Meet representatives from the support-structure around universities in Sweden, and from large companies.
- Discuss their own and each other’s potential business opportunities.
- Reflect on themselves as potential entrepreneurs as team-members in an entrepreneurial endeavor, and on their personal network.
A Virtual Resource-portal (course web site): this will include course material and information regarding support and organization etc.
PhD-students in Residence allow the students to - between the workshops - work with moving their business ideas further. Each student, or each set of students, will be matched with a supporting organization in his or her local environment, e.g., an incubator, a science-park, a venture-capital firm, or a business angel. A representative from the assigned organization will be mentoring the student between sessions.
