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The International Summer School 2020 – Sustainable Entrepreneurship

TUM School of Management wrapped up its International Summer School 2020 – Sustainable Entrepreneurship just last week. With 25 participants, representing 15 different countries, the program was truly international. Reporting her experience into the interactive online seminar, Mrs. Gloria Paulus from Namibia stated: “This was truly a life changing experience. I appreciate the opportunity afforded to me to learn alongside experts with valuable knowledge on approaches in effort to sustain the world in the context of entrepreneurship. This program has given me a broader understanding on various sustainable transformations, such as developing business models using Canvanizer and engaging with people from all around the world, with a great wide range of different backgrounds.”

Week One: Online Interactive Seminars

This year’s interactive online seminar took place completely online, via ZOOM, due to the current Corona Virus Crisis. The program began with an invigorating round of introductions and then Prof. Dr. Frank Martin Belz introduced the participants to the main topic: “Sustainable Entrepreneurship”. Then, throughout the first week, students learned directly from Sustainable Founders: Fabian Eckert, Dr. Aline Menden, Torsten Schreiber, and Jona Christians.⁠ When asked about her experience with the digital program, Jiao Zhao from China reported: “It is really a fantastic and inspiring learning process, in which everyone is so much into developing sustainable business ideas and business models. I am very happy that I have learned a lot from Professor Belz, Mrs. Salvi, the start-up entrepreneurs and all the lecturers. The feeling to try the best together with your teammates is just good!” The students ended the week by forming teams for their upcoming project presentations.

Week Two: The Pitch

After forming teams the week before, the participants spent the second week focusing on building their business models and business proposals. A total of five teams worked on the following ideas: DropOFF, Firefly, GrownHealtia, Soap Drop, and Fish & Ship. Dr. Rebecca Preller helped the students refine their ideas, introduced the principles of design thinking, developing a persona, and prototyping. Dr. Sebastian Planc guided them through the world of storytelling and helped them to build the story for their final presentation. When asked about her overall experience into the program Dr. Martina Harc reported: “The International Summer School on Sustainable Entrepreneurship 2020 was beyond my expectations. Although it was an online experience, meeting and learning from Professor Belz and other lecturers upgraded my knowledge on sustainable entrepreneurship and gave me inspiration for future research… Great two weeks!”

The End

The final presentations were a hit! The TUM School of Management would like to congratulate all participants for the outstanding two weeks! We cannot wait to see the sustainable business models developed through the program fly and we already look forward to next year’s program.

The post The International Summer School 2020 – Sustainable Entrepreneurship appeared first on Technical University of Munich – School of Management.

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