Innovative ideas need to be developed into viable business models that generate sustainable value so they can thrive and have an impact. For this reason, EIT InnoEnergy Master School integrates a strong emphasis on innovation and business skills in addition to technical training. These ingredients are fundamental for successful entrepreneurial initiatives!
Encouraging Innovation
Although innovation isn’t like a math formula which can be memorised and applied, innovative thinking is a skill which can be trained and developed. During EIT InnoEnergy study journey, students are provided with several opportunities to think of new business ideas or contribute to emerging energy technology fields. As a recent EIT InnoEnergy alumna, I worked with a total of five different entrepreneurial projects during my two years of studies! These projects have pushed me and my team mates to identify pain points and problems in the energy sector and search for new, potential solutions or value propositions.
Tools For developing your idea
In addition to practice innovative thinking, there are several strategies and tools that significantly facilitate the process of developing an innovation and turning an idea into a start-up. Entrepreneurship gurus increasingly stress the importance of knowing your market, knowing your customer, identifying pain points, and developing a solution the customer is willing to pay for.
During my entrepreneurship projects, I noticed several times that my colleagues and I did not completely align on what business idea we were proposing, and sometimes we simply struggled turning a high-level idea into a viable business model. In these contexts, we often made use of a Business Model Canvas. A Business Model Canvas is a management template which can be used both to study existing business models and to build new ones. It helps clarify revenue streams, cost structure, value propositions and customers. When we used this tool, it became clear both for my teammates and myself what our business would look like.
Sustainable Entrepreneurship
Many ingenuous technologies have already been invented in the field of renewable energy. Moreover, the energy transition is not only about new inventions, but also about being able to make sustainable energy profitable and bring sustainable solutions to different customers. That is why we also need to learn about business, economics, marketing and human resources.
An electrical generator can’t run with just the stator or just the rotor alone (i.e. the static and rotating parts of a generator, respectively), it needs both components to induce a current. Similarly, the energy transition will be powered by both innovation and business development, with the latter revolving around the former.
As part of the Master’s in Smart Electrical Networks and Systems, we were offered intensive courses on business and innovation to complement our technical education at ESADE Business School in Barcelona. Are your curious about what a Business Model Canvas is and how it can be used to support the energy transition? Apply today and join us!
By Maria Isabel Bang Jensen, EIT InnoEnergy Master School alumna