Climate-KIC Valencia trains the European elite of entrepreneurs against climate change
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40 environmental experts receive business training to boost business to help improve the environment
Climate-KIC, the main initiative of the European Union on climate change innovation, is forming in Valencia the future European elite against climate change: 39 master students specialized in subjects related to the environment are attending classes, lectures and seminars. The target is clear: become the entrepreneurs of the future.
The program is called The Journey and consists of five weeks of training that start in Paris and end in Wroclaw (Poland) after a two-week stop in Valencia, where the students are now. They are, on average, 25 years old, come from different countries (United States, Netherlands, France, Denmark, Poland ….) and have been educated in some of the best universities in Europe.
After undergoing a tough selection -only 40% of the applicants had access to the programming, the students, who have proven their entrepreneurial spirit in the previous tests, work in three lines: get systemic thinking, learn to innovate in fighting climate change and move from theory to practice through learning by doing.
To do this, they participate in training sessions on finances, implementation of business plans and market analysis with experts as Gustavo Cuello, a finance professor at the University of Valencia, consultants (Michael Willoughby, expert of the Institute startups Ideas from the Polytechnic University of Valencia) or entrepreneurs as Ignacio Diez, responsible for Cercle, a company that puts the architecture and design to work for the environment.
Execute, validate, sell
Students also attend lectures from businessmen and experts in entrepreneurship as Javier Megías, Startupxplore CEO. Megías, a reputed consultant, gave several lessons for future entrepreneurs. Among them, “validate the viability of business sales; sales are the ‘feedback’ of the market”; concrete ideas into a product (“ideas without good execution are worthless”) and focus the company on solving a problem with a product for customers who are willing to pay.
The Journey is an activity of the European Union that in Spain is led by the University of Valencia with the coordination of Climate-KIC Valencia, an initiative involving, among others, the Institute for Small and Medium Industry of the Generalitat Valenciana (IVACE), IDEAS Institute and InnDEA.
Innovation Centres in Valencia
Students learned firsthand several related innovation centres in Valencia. They visited AINIA Technology Centre and IMECAL , a company specialized in transforming metal materials. The Journey participants enjoyed a tour of the facilities and attended a presentation by the professionals leading that business.
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More info: www.climate-kic.org, http://www.climate-kic.nl/master-education/the-journey/