Business Awareness: the business aspects of innovation

Working in or together with an industrial company differs from an academic research environment. Companies have different goals, processes and business cultures. As an academic researcher you can benefit from a better understanding of these companies.

Innovations are important for industries to incorporate new product development that takes, for example, circular economy into account. But how is innovation organised in large, medium sized and small companies?

This course will create awareness for the business aspects of innovation, and will address working in an industrial innovation environment and the value and organization of industrial-academic collaborations. With this course, M2i and 4TU.HTM strive to better prepare their researchers for their future careers in industry or academia.

How to act in an industrial innovation environment?

During this course you will:

• learn about public private partnerships;
• learn how to participate in an open innovation project;
• get to know how big and small companies in the Netherlands cope with innovation;
• learn about the cultural and social aspects of working in multicultural groups;
• visit two highly innovative companies;
• get to know the challenges related to circular economy;
• work in groups on your own business case.

There will also be plenty of room in the programme for social interaction.

Intended for

This course is mainly meant for Post-docs and PhD's in the later stages of their research project on a materials innovation related subject.