9 EC
Semester 1, period 2, 3
5234ISTB9Y
The aim of this course is to broaden the skills that students obtain in this master. This course will provide students insight into the commercial development of scientific findings. Students will learn how to write a business plan and communicate scientific findings in a concise form to a lay audience. In addition, to expand the scientific horizon different scientific fields will be combined.
To achieve this goal, students are asked to develop a scientific “product” that solves an interdisciplinary question. During this course, students will learn about business models, value proposition and revenue, obtaining funding/investment and how to protect this “product” by IP. Knowledge obtained during the course will be transformed into a business plan which will be assessed by an entrepreneurship coach. To ensure broadening of the scientific horizon students teach each other about the track specific knowledge they obtained during the first courses.
In this course, students from two different tracks will be randomized in teams of up to 4 students. The teams will work on this multidisciplinary project under the guidance of two coaches with different scientific backgrounds. This course therefore also serves as an opportunity for scientists to start collaborations in distant fields. Students are encouraged to bring up their own interdisciplinary research questions combining their expertise fields.
The students will generate a plan that results in a product of which the commercial development needs to be described in a business plan that will be assessed by our entrepreneurship coaches. Communication of the contents of the proposal is an important part, students will need to “pitch” their idea using a short presentation and movie in a general meeting with audience of laypersons and entrepreneurs.
Besides the intended learning outcomes, the course will strengthen personal bonding between students as they will collaborate intensively in small peer groups. In addition, this course will show students which career opportunities are available outside academia.
Seminars/workshops: During the workshops you will be given insight in the most important parts of developing a business proposal. These hands on workshops will give you tips and tricks on how to develop, validate and secure a business idea and how to raise money to start a company.
Presentations: You will present the scientific background of your business idea and pitch your business plan. You will exchange with students from different research masters and learn to get your idea’s across, not only to other students, but also to a layman’s audience.
Working independently: Most of the week, you will work independently (in groups of 4 students) on your business proposal and pitch. This will allow you to incorporate the things learned during the workshops. The end product is your own business proposal; you’ll work in a team, divide workload and meet the deadlines together.
Feedback: You will follow a workshop on giving and receiving feedback. This will be put this into practice in a session with your own team, together with your scientific coaches.
Supervision: Your team will be supported by both Science and Business coaches
Inspiration sessions: On Wednesdays we have planned inspirational sessions with people that know both the academic world and are involved in a company, you can (and are expected to!) ask them anything you always liked to know about working on the edge of business and science.
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Activity |
Hours |
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Self study |
252 |
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|
Total |
252 |
(9 EC x 28 uur) |
Requirements of the programme concerning attendance (OER-B):
Additional requirements for this course:
| Item and weight | Details |
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Final grade |
Your final grade will include the following aspects:
If you fail to meet a deadline, this will have consequences for your final grade and will be taken into account in your grade given for active participation and collaboration. There are no possibilities for a resit.
If students wish to get feed-back on their final grade they can make an appointment with the course coordinator within two weeks after grades are published online.
The course has several group assignments, overview of details on the specific assignments will be given on canvas
1) Presentation week 1: Presenting first plans on scientific background of your proposal to science coach (around 20 min). Pass-fail assessment
2) Presentation week 2 : Present your idea's to the whole group (10 min). Note, presentations of week 1 and 2 should preferably be given by different members of the group (Scientific presentation grade).
3) Presentation week 4: Present how you validate your idea to entrepreneurial coaches (10-15 min presentation). Pass-fail
4) Assignment week 4: Hand in a first draft of your business proposal to receive feedback from Science and Business coaches. Deadline to be announced on canvas
5) Assignment I week 5: Giving and receiving feedback to/from fellow students (part of Collaboration effort)
6) Assignment II week 5: Video pitch (~3 minutes) to present your idea to the broader audience (will be included in pitch grade)
7) Assignment I week 6: Final pitch (5 minutes) to present your idea to a broad audience and possible investors (Pitch grade).
8) Assignment II week 6: hand in final business plan. Final date to be announced on Canvas (Business proposal grade).
nb: If you fail an assessment 0,5 grade will be deducted from your final grade.
The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl
The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.