Overview

The ENHANCE Summer School in sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation is a one-week intensive training organized by the Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, as part of the ENHANCE alliance supported and funded by the EU. It aims to increase the students' awareness of sustainable entrepreneurship and provide them with knowledge and skills to translate innovative ideas into viable and sustainable entrepreneurial initiatives.

The Summer School offers learning in topics within the area of sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation (e.g., sustainable business models) and other relevant topics related to the central theme. Students will work on real-life innovation cases addressing sustainability issues from a holistic and pragmatic perspective. A blend of guest lectures, project work, and social activities provides a complete and varied program. After successfully completing and evaluating the course, participants receive a certificate worth 6 – 7.5 ECTS credits (depending on the home university requirements).

Learning outcomes

After the course, students will be able to: 

• Demonstrate understanding of the intersection of entrepreneurship, innovation, and sustainability and how businesses react to climate change in their respective economic and political environment. 
• Gain awareness of greenwashing and understand how to differentiate between viable and non-viable sustainable action.
• Develop skills to assess and analyze global sustainability challenges and trade-offs in economic, social, and environmental domains that affect businesses.
• Develop the ability to determine prioritized action towards tackling sustainability concerns in the consequent stages of innovation and entrepreneurial development.
• Demonstrate understanding of key challenges and opportunities regarding stakeholder engagement and sustainable strategy development.
• Develop a business case for sustainability across different industries.

Content

• Sustainability tools and theories to address economic, social, and environmental issues, both independently and combined
• Stages of value creation incorporating technical components
• Cultural and political influences of sustainability
• Organizing innovative processes in line with sustainable goals
• Contextual analysis of sustainability concerns
• Sales skills to raise funding from public entities

Teaching and learning methods

• Lectures
• Interactive discussions
• Student group work and presentations
• Case study analysis

Time and place

This one-week intensive training will take place on-site in Gothenburg between August 22 and 28, 2022. The course hours are every day from 9 am to 4 pm. 

Forms of assessment

Oral presentations, written report, peer-to-peer feedback, and self-reflection assignments.

General requirements

To be eligible to apply, the students must be enrolled at a Master's or doctoral level and have successfully completed at least one semester at one of the ENHANCE partner universities before the start of the Summer School. In addition, a CEFR B2 English proficiency level is expected, although no formal test is required. 

How to apply

The interested students will send applications to their designated staff at their home universities. Once the application deadline has passed, there will be a local selection process. The home university will nominate the candidates for participation in the Summer School. To apply, please send a motivational letter of 300-500 words in which you describe who you are and why you want to participate in this Summer School.

Please send all applications to: jan.kratzer@enhanceuniversity.eu

Costs

The home university will cover €350 for travel and accommodation and €58 per diem.

Maximum number of students

The maximum number of students is 35. Each university is eligible to select and send 5 students to the Summer School. The number of students per university can be balanced in agreement between the partners in the alliance.

Recommended reading

Students will receive all the information after confirmation of their acceptance.

Deadline for application

30 April 2022