Blog

By Erik Klevar and Stian Bongard

We are Erik Klevar and Stian Bongard, two 2nd year students at the NTNU School of Entrepreneurship (NSE). In September we traveled together with three of our classmates and Engage to participate at this year’s Venture Creation Program (VCP) Forum. This year the VCP Forum was hosted by North Carolina State University (NCSU) in the city of Raleigh. The university was represented by professor Steve Barr and the participants this year came from Sweden, Norway and the UK. Last year, in 2018, Engage was the host and Trondheim the host city. 

The VCP Forum itself lasted for a couple of days and this allowed the institutions to share their experiences and research since last time. Engages Dag Håkon Haneberg and Iselin Kristine Mauseth shared their findings from their PhD-research and invited to discussions. Professor Roger Sørheim shared his findings on how many startups from NSE that still existed in 2018 or their different fates like mergers, acquisitions or bankruptcies. During the stay the students were invited to sit at NCSUs partner, the co-working space and incubator HQ Raleigh. The university had its own co-working space within the co-working space. Professor Barr told us that they had classes here as well. 

Impressions

What struck us the most was how similar yet different the US is. We all expected the US to be “bigger” than Norway, which it was, but when we got told that we couldn’t walk where we wanted simply because there were no sidewalks we were very surprised. The public transport system was also very much not existing, a totally different experience than in European cities and Trondheim where buses, trams and subways are seen. This meant that we had to use Uber when we traveled from and to the hotel. The VCP forum was very interesting to listen in on and it was special to meet academics from other countries. We got to tell the Forum about our experiences at the School of Entrepreneurship which gave both our faculty and the other faculties some food for thought and new insight into what they can do to improve their programs even further. 

The most exciting thing at the VCP Forum was to see the spectrum of venture creation programs from various universities and colleges around the world. Although the different academic programs have mainly the same goals, they have different ways of achieving this goal. One of the highlights of the conference was when the participants discussed challenges and shared best practices among themselves. These sessions led to good academic discussions, with views from both professors and students from the various institutions.

The students decided to stay for a couple of days after the VCP Forum and were lucky to be there at the same time as the annual Entrepreneurship festival at NCSU, Entrepalooza. This was a day created by students at NCSU and involved a pitching competition with more than $ 2.000, or approx. 18.500 NOK in prize money for two lucky startups. It was very interesting to see the different approaches to pitching and the cultural differences were very interesting to observe. All in all the visit to NCSU was very successful and gave us students a lot of perspective from the academic and American cultural side.

By Eva Røgler and Linnea Tveraaen

Getting ready for international expansion

We are Linnea and Eva, both students at NTNU School of Entrepreneurship, and we recently visited Southern Sweden for our startup Snowroller.

The main purpose for the trip was related to the startup, and in that context we visited a new potential partner. The company is a third party logistics provider (3PL) that stores and sends out packages for our company. Because Snowroller want to expand internationally this winter season, we need a 3PL outside of Norway in order to skip toll fees and customs. This visit was important because it is important to build relationships with such partners, and to see for ourselves that the company was serious.

Lund University – An university for entrepreneurship and innovation

After the visit, we went to Lund University in order to learn more about how they work with entrepreneurship. Unfortunately we were not able to meet up with professors or students at the university, but we did get to read about their innovation ecosystem and programs.

Firstly, Lund University has a 1 year master’s program in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. When applying to this programme the student elect either the Entrepreneurship: New Venture Creation track or the Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation track. The former is created for students that want to start their own company, and the latter is for people who want to work with innovation in already established companies.

Secondly, the university also has an incubator called Ideon Innovation incubator. This is a co-working space where students can work on their ventures and get help to grow their businesses.

This trip was crucial for our company because as we are going to expand to other countries in Scandinavia, we needed a 3PL outside of Norway. After this trip we have established a good relation with our new partner, and are ready to launch our new collection!

You can learn more about Snowroller at Snowroller.no.

By Eirik G. Medbø

What can the money be used for?

The money can be used to free up time for employees or for further development, renting lab time, buying equipment or consulting services for an early-stage prototype, and to do market research to understand the market you are addressing.

Requirements for you as the inventor and the idea:

• The idea is developed by you as a student or PhD student, and is owned by yourself as a student, or NTNU/SINTEF.

• The idea could contribute in solving challenges within the future energy system or help create a sustainable energy transition, and has a high potential. This could for instance be solutions that aim to:

• Increase energy efficiency
  • Reduce emissions from burning fossil fuels
  • Technologies that contribute to better energy production, storage or transfer
  • More sustainable or efficient use of materials and resources

• Solutions that could have a direct impact for consumers, are encouraged to apply.

• The idea could be in an early stage, but the project should focus on commercializing the idea through for instance a new company. The support can not be used for research purposes.

• You have a desire to develop the idea towards future commercial use, and you want to contribute actively in the journey ahead.

• The support is given for a 6-month project that you define yourself, where you can apply for between 50.000 and 150.000 kroner to get over an important hurdle or reach a milestone, to get that one step further. You will also get help investigating subjects like market research, strategy and recruitment of team members.

By Lars Henrik Hafstad Karlsson, Nord University

I am Lars Henrik Hafstad Karlsson, a third year economy student at Nord University. I have a passion for entrepreneurship and for me it’s not about if I should start a company but rather when I am going to start my first. With this as a backdrop, I started taking several courses in the entrepreneurship field as a part of my educational profile, international entrepreneurship.

I participated in 2018 Venture Cup where I went to the regional finale. With the same business idea I applied to join a trip to Boston and Babson College. I thought it was a fantastic opportunity – to travel to such a prestigious entrepreneurship school to work with my business idea. I wanted to learn and learn from the best.

Before travelling we had to do two things; read a couple of articles and prepare a five minute presentation. All participants had to some degree presented business ideas earlier, but few had done so in English. For several of us this was outside our comfort zone, including me. I was however very excited to challenge myself and prepared well in advance.

Saturday the 6th of April at 6.30 in the morning we met at the airport and were ready for departure. First we flew from Bodø to Oslo, from Oslo to Reykjavik and lastly from Reykjavik to Boston. The total travel time was about 19 hours including the waiting time. We landed in Boston in the evening and had a meal at the hotel restaurant. Already there we got our first experience with the American unfamiliar tax system. We still don’t understand it. Essentially the prices on the menu are not the same as are on the receipts.

We had a few days without a program at Babson College, but we still managed to keep busy. On Sunday most of us travelled to Wrentham Village Premium Outlets while the rest wanted to explore the city. The Outlet is a small village with different stores consisting of rather expensive designer clothing but with reduced prices. At that point the US tax system seemed even less understandable, but the shopping experience itself was delightful. Even though none of us is that interested in basketball we still made our way to watch Boston Celtics meet Orlando Magic in the NBA. It was a great experience I would recommend everyone who visit the US.

The day after, monday the 8th of April we visited Boston Consulting Group, one of the world’s largest consultancy companies. We met one of the project managers at BCG, Ezra Ok, who told us in a very interesting and engaging manner what their company did. The high point of the meet was when some founders in my travel group got consulting from Okon himself and advice on how to analyze demand, financing, competition and resources. A very meaningful meeting for everyone.

In the spring of 2018, Gründebrakka came as a new addition to the innovation environment at NTNU.

By Rebecca Amalie Skogø

Gründerbrakka’s purpose is to provide work space for the most ambitious student driven startup companies at NTNU. As of early 2019, 16 startups and over 60 active students and alumni are all fully committed to their entrepreneurial projects while staying at Gründerbrakka.

You don’t need fancy facilities to stimulate innovation

Gründerbrakka is meant to function as a transition between being a student and a full time entrepreneur. Previously, startups had to rent offices or move between group rooms at NTNU – now there is a designated space where they can stay in up to a year.

Jonas Hyllseth Ryen, who is in charge of operations at Gründerbrakka, tells us that since each startups is granted a limited amount of time in the working space, there are expectations that each startup have a strong focus on achievements, results and growth. Despite these requirements, it doesn’t seem to scare applicants away. The initiative is so popular that there is a waiting list to get an office in the current space. There isn’t enough room to house everyone.

We at Gründerbrakka are convinced that majority of new innovations must come from students, and that’s why we need to focus on this type of environment. Without a place to be, it becomes more cumbersome to start your own business and as a result fewer will succeed. It is very rewarding to be able to help build that kind of innovation environment at NTNU

Jonas Hyllseth Ryen

A more holistic representation

One of the many things that makes Gründerbrakka exciting, is their attention on creating an engaging space while sharing information across industries. Even though each startup works by themselves, there is a sense of community within the community. “There is a lot of room to share knowledge. Being open to share what you know is one of the criteria of getting access to our facilities. The threshold to stop by someone’s office or to have a talk over lunch is nearly non-existent. We even have an information bank over what each person in the office is good at so the others can make use of them”, says Ryen.

When all comes down to it, it was the students that came to Engage requesting a place where everyone could have a chance to get in. “This is unique in Norway, especially considering how this has emerged as a collaboration between the institution NTNU and the students. It’s clearly an enormous measure to make it more attractive to focus on innovation during our studies. With Gründerbrakka, the entrepreneurial environment at NTNU has become more holistic since we’re here for companies in all phases”, Ryen explains. 

During the upcoming years, Gründerbrakka wants to increase its offers of counseling and services while helping to make even more students dare to start for themselves.