Entrepreneurship
Events
Powertage / Energy Startup Day: June 15 2021
More information here.
Hackathon “Decarbonizing Cities“: 31. August/1. September 2021
The Energy & Climate Hack will take place in the city of Berne on August 31st and September 1st 2021, as a parallel event to the Decarbonizing Cities Conference. This event is organized in collaboration with Swisspower (utility association) and the British Embassy in Berne. It is open and free of charge – and on top the NCCR Automation compensates the travel expenses for its members if registered beforehand.
Energy Data Hackdays 2021: 24./25. September 2021
More information here.
Organisations
EPFL Innovation Park: hosts technology driven companies in an inspiring environment, with access to cutting-edge research, and a large network of dynamic entrepreneurs. More information here.
Wyss Zurich: Joint accelerator of University of Zurich and ETH Zurich with focus on intelligent systems, robotics, and medtech. More information here.
Digital Innovation Park: Spread ideas online, find real collaborators, and start projects. More information here.
Energylab: Innosuisse approved NTN Innovation Booster program for Energy related ideas. More information here.
Innolab smart mobility: non-profit organization to develop mobility innovations in Switzerland. More information here.
Bench2biz: Annual workshop for young and aspiring entrepreneurs in science and technology. More information here.
OpenData: Swiss Chapter of the Open Knowledge Foundation. More information here.
Getting started material
What is innovation
Bill Aulet from MIT discusses in this short video the essential difference between invention and innovation and the important role played by commercialization in innovation.
Developing a vision
We used Three Horizons Framework in our first entrepreneurial workshop in Gather Town. The three horizons framework —originally featured in the book The Alchemy of Growth — provides a structure for companies to assess potential opportunities for growth without neglecting performance in the present. This is great for existing companies, but not the framework we used.
The framework has been further developed by futurist Bill Sharpe and applied to create visions of an attractive future and to reason about the relationship between entrepreneurs, visionairies and incumbents.
Publication: https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/three-horizons-a-pathways-practice-for-transformation
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHRyNnwiGz0
Launching new ventures
Fun, short MOOC by EPFL professors Marc Gruber and Chris Tucci from the College of Management of Technology on starting innovation driven ventures.
The videos are also available on Youtube, most interesting in an early phase are the opportunity identification and market opportunity evaluation.
How to approach your tech transfer office
This TED talk by Kristen Leute, technology transfer professional for 19 years at Stanford University, talks about her experience (successes and failures) when academic results should be translated in products and services.
Blogpost: https://oup.vc/insights/traversing-the-valley-of-innovation-death/
Look before you leap
Lack of market need is the #1 reason why startups fail – so looking into different markets where your technology could be applied is super important to avoid you leap in the dark. Again, Marc Gruber with Sharon Tal have developed the market opportunity navigator, a world-wide used tool that helps entrepreneurs and innovators to identify and prioritize markets for their technology. It’s part of the lean start-up toolbox, but it can also be applied to find research applications and attractive research questions with the most promising impact.
Youtube: https://youtu.be/aUZimZ83liQ
Business Presentations
Academic presentations are completely different to what is expected in an industry context. Please find these two introductory videos to the topic.
One specific for pitching – presenting new initiatives and calling for action – which is of general usage even in a daily life situation if you want to convince somebody. You can fin here more resources and video and more resources.
And a second video by the author of "How To Avoid Death By PowerPoint" about some radical concepts to capture more attention of your audience and deliver your message better.
Business models
Before writing a business plan, you need to think of all the relevant parts of your organization and how it will interact with its environment, customers and suppliers. The business model canvas – a Swiss invention by Alexander Osterwalder in 2005 – helps you visually to connect the dots.
Resources: https://www.strategyzer.com/
Short introduction on how to use the canvas: https://youtu.be/IP0cUBWTgpY
Advanced aspects and the importance of market solution fit: https://youtu.be/xRK1FEHecBY
