One step beyond: an entrepreneurial course within the UNITA alliance
The BIP One step beyond: an entrepreneurial course within the UNITA alliance is an initiative of the UNITA Alliance's Task 4.1 “UNITA inter-territorial interfaces for innovation”, which in turn is part of the Work Package 4 - Knowledge-based growth in rural, mountain and cross-border territories.
The training is divided into a first part of theoretical framework, delivered online, and a subsequent practical part, in presence at the University of Turin.
- Online component: from 23/01/2025 to 20/03/2025
- In presence workshop at the University of Turin: from 31/03/2025 to 04/04/2025
- Voluntary online component: the period after the physical activity until 30/06/2025.
The goal is to provide participants with an entrepreneurial education that will enable them to carry out research activities with greater awareness of the practical applications of research results and the dynamics of entrepreneurship and innovation.
The linkage that will be established with the soon-to-be-issued UNITA Starting and Advanced Tech Transfer Grants will enable them to participate with a greater likelihood of success.
The program will consist in the following stages:
- Online theoretical training
Duration: 2 months, since 23/01/2025 to 20/03/2025
Teachers from across the Alliance will hold online lectures, partly in streaming and partly in asynchronous mode - In presence Workshop on entrepreneurship + voluntary follow-up + opening of the UNITA call for Starting Tech Transfer Grants
Duration: 1 week in presence, from 31/03/2025 to 04/04/2025. Voluntary online component: the period after the physical activity until 30/06/2025.
The Workshop on entrepreneurship will consist of:
- team building
- mentoring in the development of the entrepreneurial projects.
This part will be held mainly in the intensive period in presence. The work could be completed afterwards, working online with the mentors’ supervision.
Locally, each partner University will provide their participants with a minimum number of mentoring (e.g.6 hours), by mentors coming from Industry.
Different methodologies will be adopted in the two main parts of the program.
The Online Theoretical Part is intended to enable participants to familiarize themselves with entrepreneurship and the dynamics of innovation: without basic information, participants are unlikely to be able to effectively complete the tasks assigned to them. This part is normally conducted through traditional lectures with a practical focus, which will be attempted to be interactive as much as possible.
The following in presence workshop will be conducted through a well-established methodology, including an expert-assisted team-building phase, with the aim of obtaining well-distributed teams in terms of interdisciplinarity, countries of origin and gender.
Each team will then be paired with a mentor experienced in developing entrepreneurial projects, who will assist in identifying the business idea and its development by assigning specific tasks. The teams will present their project through "pitches" to a group of experts.
The teams' projects should hopefully be reflected in the research projects to be submitted in response to the UNITA Calls for Starting Tech Transfer Grants that will be issued in conjunction with the entrepreneurial training program.
- PhD students regularly enrolled in a Doctoral program at one of the Alliance universities
- students regularly enrolled in the last year of a Master Degree programme at one of the Alliance universities
- researchers with fixed-term or open-ended contract or similar contract at one of the Alliance universities
- contract lecturers at one of the Alliance universities
- associate professors at one of the Alliance universities
- full professors at one of the Alliance universities
- graduate technical and administrative Staff working in the field of innovation.
Eventually, to be enrolled in a doctoral program at another university of the Erasmus Program countries.
Language of instruction: English
The success of the program depends on the selection of highly motivated candidates who meet the following requirements:
- English language proficiency level: B2 of the European Framework of Reference for Languages
- the program is stand-alone, however, a preferential selection criterion is the intention and the concrete possibility of applying for the UNITA Starting Tech Transfer Grants call, which will be open in partial overlap with the Joint Entrepreneurship program. The UNITA Starting Tech Transfer Grants call will award a score for participation in the Joint Entrepreneurship Course in the evaluation of the applications, even if, of course, those who did not take part in it may also apply
- have a business idea to be developed located within the economic sectors corresponding to the S3 (Smart Specialisation Strategy) areas of the Alliance partners, i.e., the set of economic sectors declared strategic by each partner's home region (see below the specific topics of the online theoretical training). The business idea must be new and not already being developed by the proposer, as the purpose is to develop entrepreneurial skills and not necessarily to create a new enterprise (although this could happen)
- to have a business idea is not a determining criterion, in this case it is enough a strong interest in the economic impact of research and in acquiring entrepreneurial skills
- availability to work in a team
- there are no limitations as to the field or research or of study (any researcher or student can usefully acquire entrepreneurial skills).
Selected participants will be required to send a short CV and a motivational letter.
Online classes will be conducted according to a schedule that will be disseminated prior to the start of the course on the following subjects:
General topics
- entrepreneurial mindset and the process of technology transfer
- business model Canvas and business plan
- scientific research and entrepreneurial opportunities; Incubators and accelerators
- intellectual property
- marketing for entrepreneurs
- finance for startups
- corporate models
- impact and social entrepreneurship
- digital tools for entrepreneurs (app, website, AI).
Specific topics - an overview of the main economic dynamics and entrepreneurial opportunities in S3 (Smart Specialisation Strategy) economic sectors
- Advanced manufacturing
- Aerospace
- Agroindustries & Food
- Automotive / Mobility
- Biotech
- Digital & Creative Industries
- Energy
- Forestry / Ecology / Sustainability
- Health / Life Sciences
- Tourism.
Each topic will be the subject of a single lesson lasting between two and three hours.
Before the Turin workshop, efforts will be made to foster each other's familiarity of the participants through online activities.
Venue: University of Turin
Duration: 5 days, since 31/03/2025 to 04/04/25. After the workshop in Turin, there will be an online voluntary follow up that will allow teams to further develop their project.
The Entrepreneurship program could overlap for a certain period the call for Starting Tech Transfer Grants.
Outline schedule:
- 31/03/2025: welcome and team building
- 31/03/2025 - 04/04/2025: development of the entrepreneurial projects proposed by each team, under the guidance of mentors
- 04/04/2025: final ceremony with pitch presentation.
The project can be completed afterwards, working online with the mentors’ supervision (until 30/6/25).
Locally, each partner will provide their participants with a minimum number of mentoring (e.g.6 hours), by mentors coming from Industry
The course can be joined in two formats:
- Track 1: Online theoretical training only
Participants will join the online meetings and classes only. - Track 2: both online theoretical training and in presence workshop at UniTo
Selected participants will join the course as an Erasmus BIP. They will be required to join all the activities (online and in presence). Participants will receive the Erasmus grant to join the in presence workshop in Turin.
Candidates must contact the local UNITA office at their home University for details on the application process.
The UNITA offices of partner Universities are required to send the nominations to [email protected] by 22nd January, 2025.
Online training: 2 ECTS
To obtain the certificate of attendance and the ECTS, participants must have attended or seen the recording of the following number of lessons:
- 6 out of 9 lessons of the general part
- 6 out of 10 lessons of the specific part
The deadline for completing the online course is 15/06/2025.
Workshop in Turin: 2 ECTS
To obtain the certificate of attendance and the ECTS, participants must be present during all days of the Workshop and submit an entrepreuneurial project to be presented in team as an Elevator Pitch during the final event.
- University of Turin: Prof. Dario Peirone – [email protected]
- Partner 1: France - Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour (UPPA)
- Partner 2: Portugal - Universeidade da Beira Interior (UBI)
- Partner 3: France - Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB)
- Partner 4: Romania - Universitatea Transilvania Brașov (UNITBV)
- Partner 5: Romania - Universitatea de Vest din Timisoara (UVT)
- Partner 6: Italy - Università degli Studi di Brescia (UNIBS)
- Partner 7: Spain - Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA)
- Partner 8: Spain - Universidad de Zaragoza (UNIZAR)
- Partner 9: Portugal – Politecnico da Guarda (IPG)
- Partner 10: Switzerland – Haute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse Occidentale (HES-SO)
- Partner 11: Ukraine - Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University in Ukraine.