I&E Minor

All the technical majors are complemented with Innovation & Entrepreneurship modules (I&E Minor) to foster entrepreneurial education.

I&E Education has a significant position within the Master School, following the philosophy of EIT to effectuate students towards transferring their knowledge and ideas into new feasible businesses and innovation activities. EIT Digital Master School aims at educating computer engineers to become digital innovators with an entrepreneurial mindset.

Entrepreneurial skills are considered a core competency of top talent in any organisation. Best-in-class engineers and researchers combine excellence in science and technology with outstanding entrepreneurial mindset.

A set of 4 modules on Innovation & Entrepreneurship along with specific learning objectives are co-designed and offered to EIT Digital students by all the partner universities across the 2 years: I&E Basics, Business Development Lab, I&E Summer School, I&E Study.

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I&E Minor in first year at Polimi

The I&E Basics module builds fundamental knowledge of innovation and entrepreneurship matters. The module equips you with the ability to understand and design solutions by applying a scientific and engineering approach to the setting up of a new business, the design of its business model, and the identification of appropriate funding channels. The learning outcomes can be achieved through one of the following courses:

• High-Tech Startups: creating and scaling up (5 credits, I semester)

• High-Tech Entrepreneurship (5 credits, II semester)

In the second semester, the Business Development Lab (BDLab) module provides a more hands-on experience on innovation and new business development. You will work in teams to develop and test a concrete business case. You can either propose your own digital business idea or collaborate on real projects provided by existing companies. It is implemented through the following project-based course:

• Digital Business Lab (10 credits), attended by EIT Digital students along with Management Engineering students

The I&E Minor may also include elective courses on complementary skills such as

• Communication and Argumentation
• Creativity, Science and Innovation
• Computer Ethics / Ethics of Technology
• Technical activities and legal implications: liability, intellectual property protection, AI regulations
• Inclusive Digital Technologies

After the first year

Between the first and the second year, students attend one of the thematic I&E Summer Schools organised by EIT Digital across Europe on various emerging topics, engaging in an innovation challenge of two weeks.

In the second year, all the exit universities deploy the last module, the I&E Study, in which all EIT Digital students deal with real company cases, provided by industrial partners, addressing business pains and challenges. It represents the culmination of the I&E learning journey, where you engage with real business cases provided by industrial partners facing concrete challenges or innovation opportunities.

Working in teams, you will apply a robust business analysis methodology to explore alternative business models, go-to-market strategies, or innovation paths, taking into account the broader business ecosystem, including competitors, suppliers, partners, and sustainability or ethical factors.

The I&E Study module emphasises autonomy and practical application: students are expected to make informed decisions, formulate actionable recommendations, and justify their strategic choices, demonstrating their ability to transfer the knowledge and skills acquired in previous I&E modules and the I&E Summer School to real-world challenges.

I&E Community of Practice

EIT Digital blended I&E Education is developed by the EIT Digital I&E Education Community of Practice, constituted of teachers and researchers from different partner universities who co-design, co-develop, co-deliver and continuously improve I&E pedagogical assets for all the EIT Digital students. This is instrumental in raising the quality of the I&E modules, by sharing the best expertise available in the EIT Digital universities network, while fostering the EIT Digital signature in I&E education.

Publications and Research

• The EIT Digital methodology for deep pedagogical cooperation and educational change within a network of Europan universities was the subject of a publication at the International Conference on e-Learning (ICEL) 2018 (Change management: blended learning adoption in a large network of European universities, G Dion, JM Dalle, F Renouard & al.).

• EIT Digital blended I&E education was also the subject of another publication, presented at the EDULEARN 2018 conference (Towards blended learning implementation of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (I&E) education within EIT Digital, G Pisoni, F Renouard et al.) where EIT Digital shared its experience of best practice in the dissemination and blended use of contents, in experiential I&E education leveraging our community of practice to achieve real education change.

Some insights from our past I&E activities