Project duration: 1 April 2017 – 31 March 2020

Objective

The summer school offers PhD students a unique hands-on opportunity to address societal challenges in the Raw Materials framework by combining the technical expertise with innovation and entrepreneurship experience. For two weeks, students will work in teams to identify a technical solution and develop it into a business proposal. The summer school will introduce students to entrepreneurial thinking and behavior, business and innovation processes, high-tech ventures marketing, and business model generation techniques. This experience will help to foster a community of students among various universities and to create an interaction with companies and start-ups operating in the specific field. The target group consist of around 40 PhD students with the technical background in the field.

The solution (technology)

Lecturers and mentors from the partner universities and companies specialized in this field will ensure that students receive the adequate technical skills. Furthermore, companies will provide 4 case-studies (societal challenges) around which students will craft their business proposals. To refine and increase the impact of this approach, this project is proposed to consist of three summer schools in three consecutive years, on three different societal challenges and in three different locations. The choice of three pilot partners in three different European areas with a different availability of primary resources and research focus guarantee a European dimension and a wide coverage of the Raw Materials field.

Partnership

  • Università degli Studi di Trento, Italy (Lead Partner)
  • Hub Innovazione Trentino S.c.a.r.l. (HIT), Italy
  • Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium
  • Marangoni S.p.A., Italy
  • National Technical University of Athens, Greece

For more information, please visit the project web page.