Hi all!

As an EIT Embedded Systems student, the main reason that I chose this master program was the Innovation & Entrepreneurship minor. Innovation Space Project is a big part of it and I’m glad that I took this course. I can contentedly say that it was the most beneficial and entertaining course that I took at TU/e.

Real life problems from the industry are presented from the case owners and an interdisciplinary team is set up according to case preference and personality tests. Some team building activities throughout the course help you comprehend your competencies as well as inadequacies. Especially the cooking workshop with limited ingredients in the beginning of the course is a perfect way to get to know your peers better and get hands on experience with entrepreneurship.

Validation

One of the most important outcomes of the course for me was to see the importance of validation of an idea in the field. We had a case from Albert Heijn and they explained us their problem and discussed their limitations and expectations. We even had the opportunity to go on a shift with the Albert Heijn delivery employees and validate our final solution with a test with them. I sadly cannot tell more about the solution we made due to confidentiality reasons.

Also, before the course I felt insecure about my presentation skills because I tend to be too excited or forgot some parts which made me feel insecure. Thanks to workshops and constant practicing throughout the course, I am more confident now about presenting.

Complications

On the other hand, there were times that we were confused about assignments and deadlines as students. Certain details were either not clearly explained or sometimes teams were not notified at all. Thus, every now and then we were notified really late to research or deliver stuff where we had to act on a tight schedule. One can say that this improves the innovative process by improvising, but I believe that it would have been better if these organizational complications were solved.

Inspiring

Since it was the first time that this course was given, I expect that these aspects will be improved over the coming years. Additionally, I really liked the day where we had professionals who talked about their own entrepreneurial experiences. It would have been more helpful to listen more of those stories. Every story tackles various difficulties and hearing about them is a very inspiring. All in all, I wish you guys there the best luck and hope to be back in Eindhoven again soon!