Last week, Nicoline and Solveig, two students from NTNU School of Entrepreneurship (NSE) traveled to Germany. The two entrepreneurs are co-founders of Exero Technologies, a startup that develops sports equipment for people with disabilities. Along with team Exero, another startup from NSE joined, Klaus from Dignum. Dignum is developing a tool to make intimate tasks easy to manage on your own if you have a disability. They traveled to Düsseldorf to participate in the world’s largest fair for rehabilitation and care, called Rehacare.
Some of the great things about this fair is the opportunity to meet distributors from all around the world. Germany is the leading country for assistive technology – if you make it here, you can make it anywhere. At the fair they met former NSE-student, Eirik Medbø, cofounder of AssiTech, who participated at the fair with their distributor in Germany.
It was a great experience for the young founders, who hopefully will exhibit here next year. Another reason for traveling to Germany was to experience how German students learn, teach, and experience entrepreneurship and innovation. Nicoline and Solveig reached out to the WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management, a well-known and high rated business school in Vallendar near Koblenz.
The goal for this trip was to find inspiration for Engage and see what could potentially be implemented in Norway. IdeaLab! is an annual conference led and organized by the students of WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management. Nicoline and Solveig participated as Young Founders, and had the opportunity to meet other likeminded people. Networking was also a big part of the program, and we got in contact with many interesting founders and young professionals. The program was filled with interesting speeches, workshops, pitchbattles, and speeddating with investors.
Team Exero had the opportunity to date 8 investors within an hour. In other words – an efficient and unique chance to start building a network with investors in an early stage. The speakers came from companies like AngelList, Amazon, Singularity University and Germany’s version of Shark Tank. This event could beneficially be organized by Engage in the future. An event that gathers both students, young founders, series entrepreneurs, investors and sponsors for a weekend of innovative thinking. By this, we challenge Engage to be inspired by IdeaLab – and take it to the next level in Trondheim, Norway.
UKA is one of Norway’s biggest cultural festival and primarily run by volunteering students in Trondheim. For the first time, an event dedicated to innovation was incorporated in the festival program: UKA Technology Conference.
By Ingvild Forseth
UKA is one of Norway’s biggest cultural festival and primarily run by volunteering students in Trondheim. For the first time, an event dedicated to innovation was incorporated in the festival program: UKA Technology Conference.
The theme of the conference was “Innovation for a Sustainable Future”. The impact UKA has on students and the city of Trondheim is remarkable. The festival has been arranged since 1917. It serves as a unique meeting place for the visitors and the 1700 volunteering students.
Engage is pleased to see that UKA puts a spotlight on the need of innovation for the better. The conference was a six hour long event, starting from 12 o’clock on the 16th of October. It found place in UKAs great concert tent, in which artists such as Jay-Z and Calvin Harris has put on unforgettable shows. A number of inspirational speakers had been invited to the event.
The future is already here
One of the big buzzwords of 2017 is blockchain. Co-founder of the company Blockchangers, Oskar Åslund, addressed blockchain technology as one solution to many of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
“A real rockstar scene”, called Åslund from the stage during his talk.
The conference started off with talks devoted to artificial intelligence and the edtech revolution. For this purpose, senior manager in Accenture Artificial Intelligence, Rumman Chowdhury, had been flown in from San Francisco. The use of artificial intelligence in the media industry and the transport industry was introduced by representatives from Aftenposten and NSB, respectively. The speakers held a high standard and were indeed successful in convincing that “the future is already here”.
The headliner for the conference was the co-founder and CEO of Kickstarter, Yancey Strickler. He gave an inspirational talk about the philosophy of Kickstarter. Strickler included advice and guidance to aspiring entrepreneurs in his presentation. Hopefully, his encouragement to be courageous and different can guide the students to take the right innovative paths. The questions Strickler received after his talk showed real enthusiasm in the audience.
1-2-3 pitch!
Enthusiasm was indeed also present in the pitch competition. Prior to the event, students had been urged to apply for participation in a pitch competition. The prize at stake was 25 000 kroner. The competition was in collaboration with Spark NTNU, one of the partners of Engage.
Four finalists had been picked out and mentored by Spark in order to give the best possible pitch. The mentoring from Spark certainly paid off, as all the finalists represented themselves impressively on the stage.
The range of the four ideas was wide. NårgeSol wants to make renewable energy more accessible with curtains of solar panels.Workzilla pitched the idea of a platform for reserving work spaces at bars and cafes. Arveng Technologies aims at developing more intuitive ways to control machines, starting off with a glove to control a drone. The winner of the competition was EasyIntervals. EasyIntervals wants to give you the aids for achieving more efficient interval training.
An event such as UKA Technology Conference is of great value to student startups. COO and pitcher for Arveng Technologies, Moina Medbøe Tamuly, told us about what it is like behind the scenes.
“I heard about this event through my contacts in Spark. The preparation for the pitch through Spark has been really good. We are using this event to give ourselves some publicity, by posting our attendance here on social media and offering a live stream. The conference is a nice opportunity to present oneself to the world”, said Tamuly.
COO and pitcher for Arveng Technologies, Moina Medbøe Tamuly. Photo: foto.samfundet.no
Cool exhibitors
It is indisputable that the pitchers got to show themselves off at UKA Technology Conference. In addition to the great stage, the event included an exhibition area for technology companies, student organizations and startups. This gave rise to a constant flow of people visiting the event throughout the day.
Ascend NTNU is a student organization within the field of aerial robotics. They showed off one of their drones in the exhibition area.
“There are many cool exhibitors here, and the organization of the event is good. There is sort of an “hyped” atmosphere”, proclaimed Kim Borgen, a student from Ascend NTNU.
Big companies such as Statoil, Accenture and TrønderEnergi were also present. A representative from TrønderEnergi addressed the location of the conference as a great asset.
“Think about the potential of having a technology conference only 100 metres from the 10 000 students at Gløshaugen. For everyone promoting technology, it is of great interest to come that close to the students”, said senior project leader Bernhard Kvaal from TrønderEnergi.
Hopefully, the location of the conference will help UKA Technology Conference become a lasting tradition.
Last week at NTNU Gløshaugen, minister of Climate and Environment, Vidar Helgesen came for a visit. We had the honor to present the rapid growth of innovation and entrepreneurship at the university.
By Felix Seifert
The journalists gathered around, while Helgesen and his party of politicians from the Parliament took place in the relaxing environment of the orange couches at the IT-building. As the event took place, center leader of Engage, Roger Sørheim, entered the stage.
Introducing Engage
The speech started with an introduction to our partners in the consortium. NTNU school of Entrepreneurship was quickly a hot theme, as was Spark NTNU. Both partners are great examples of how student involvement can create new change agents, which is the main goal of Engage.
Intrigued by the idea of young students mindset, Vidar Helgesen asked politely if he could get some of them into the public sector of the labour market after graduation. He then followed up with some wise words: “The golden era is over. We need change agents, and the change agents need us”.
Engage, as well as the other centres for Excellence in Education Initiative (“SFU-ordningen” in Norwegian), wish for the students to become change agents. Engaging the students in their education by adding a focus on the entrepreneurship thought, in a combination of political change and regulations, is a step in the right direction.
ChemFree for a green future
One of the pleasures was listening to business development manager Karl Nevland, from ChemFree. A startup that was founded by students from NTNU school of Entrepreneurship. They are developing green technology to disassemble oil spill into microscopic particles.
“We have all seen the negative effects of oil spill in the ocean. Today’s method isn’t effective. As the oil is released into the ocean, it immediately start a weathering process that resulting into huge amounts of oil reaching the coast and destroying the natural flora”.
ChemFree’s technology is based on water jetting to disassemble the particles of the oil spill. The natural flora will then be able to decomposition the microscopic particles. A process that could possibly work on all kinds of oil qualities, with all kinds of vessels; including futuristic autonomous ships.
Many people think that the construction industry is a conservative one with a focus on manual labor and lacking in innovation and digital technology. “Together with the NTNU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and buildingSMART Norway, we want to change that picture.” explains Frode Halvorsen, Engage project leader of Engage.
From the 13th to 15th October 2017 we will be hosting the LivingLab : BIM & IoT Hackathon. The event will occur at FRAM, NTNU. As a student, you will meet key industry players and interact with the newest technology to create future solutions for a sustainable and technology driven environment.
“We see the contours of the digital shift the construction industry is taking right now and believe that the construction industry will have taken even more of digital shift by in 2025. We will see a transformation to a digital, competitive and sustainable construction industry”, states Carl Thodesen, Head of Department of Civil and Transport Engineering at NTNU.
To meet this vision, there will need to be commitment driven focus on education and research within the field of the construction over its lifecyle. This will requires new ideas and innovation, we believe this is best achieved through the creative minds of our students.
“NTNU has a central position here as approximately 500 students receive an education from our institution annually. The vast majority of our students join the construction industry, therefore we believe that by providing our students with appropriate digital competence we can contribute to that positive change”, says Thodesen.
Innovative education
The digital and technological revolution is upon us. If the construction industry should manage to go through this restructuring process, implementation models and contract standards have to be made in such way that they substantiate the digital processes and not the other way around. In addition to this, we need to focus on the technology also in the early stages in our projects. Roles and the culture within the industry will change radically in the coming years. We have to turn away from digital tools into digital processes, and from a solely focus on buildings to also focus on the technology.
Jan Myhre, Project Director Digibygg
As a supporter of student driven innovation, Engage will be expanding the mindset of each student by arranging this event. Frode Halvorsen is happy for the opportunity to participate in the development of Architecture, Engineering and Construction(AEC) Industry.
“Engage is revising the future of entrepreneurship education. The AEC-industry faces a similar change of process as we do”, says Halvorsen.
Experience and knowledge are not gained only by reading books. Engage, which is a consortium consisting of different actors, has a goal to provide activities for students in all disciplines in order to increase the number of students in higher education with entrepreneurial skills.
“LivingLab hackathon is the first project we do in collaboration with Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and building smart Norway. They are in great need of innovative ideas from the students. Competence that we want to nourish by letting the students work together”, Halvorsen explains.
As the hackathon takes place, you will take part in projects which aim to seek solutions for the building industry based on technology and digital trends. A jury of building instructors will announce the best project at the end, with a prize of 10 000 NOK.
We welcome all students at NTNU
This is the start of building an innovation based digital construction community at NTNU and we look forward to seeing you at Living lab Hackathon from the 13th to 15th October. Your help is needed, especially those of you with some knowledge and experience with computing, modeling and programming.
You can join as a single or in groups of three to five person. For more information, contact Frode Halvorsen: frode.halvorsen@ntnu.no
SPIR Idélab is the new space for student entrepreneurship at Nord University. Located in Mørkvedgården, in immediate proximity to the entrepreneurship faculty, SPIR is an arena for students who engage in innovation and entrepreneurship. Here the students can gather for informal meetings, and organize smaller events with a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. SPIR is a space for student entrepreneurs to hang out and work from, and where they also can receive advice from faculty on their entrepreneurial projects. In connection to SPIR, we are building a student incubator where student entrepreneurs can work from an inspiring environment.
Engage has ambitions to disseminate Engage teaching methods also outside the university context. During “Forskningsdagene” in Bodø, Engage organized the workshop “From garbage to gold” for secondary school pupils from Skjerstad/Misvær. The pupils practiced to use their entrepreneurial skills to make bridge constructions from plastic waste. The workshop was a collaboration between Engage, Senter for økologisk økonomi og etikk and Kreativt gjenbrukssenter.
In November, Engage will give a mini workshop on teaching entrepreneurship to teachers in upper secondary school in the region.
Traditionally, refugees are offered vocational training in a variety of trades, such as carpentry, motor mechanics etc. to offer them an opportunity for employment. Such employment, however, remains a challenge due to issues faced by refugees in gaining access to local labour markets. Additionally, such an approach often presumes a limited potential and business acumen amongst refugee populations. The many examples of successful enterprises set up around the world and in Kakuma by refugees belie this presumption.
The E-Hub is an attempt to break away from these traditional assumptions and an innovative idea that aims to provide training to a group of individuals selected from the refugee camp and the local community in Kakuma in order to enable the establishment of commercial ventures. The market for the potential ventures can be local, national or international.
A team from NTNU and the University of Nairobi visited Kakuma in June 2017 to interact with the local NRC staff and refugees in the camps there. Following this, NTNU’s School of Entrepreneurship (NSE) in partnership with NRC and the Business School at the University of Nairobi is developing the training program for the E-Hub. Modelled on the training program for students of entrepreneurship at NSE, this customized training program will enable the participants to generate and refine business ideas and give them the tools and skills to convert these to ventures. Partnerships with local government agencies, corporates and other local agencies are being established in order to provide market linkages and access to wider audiences than what a refugee camp setting would normally provide.
A video from the first visit.
We expect the first batch of students to be enrolled and undergoing training by the beginning of 2018.
Training teaching faculty is a key activity for Engage. Engage invites faculty from different disciplines to various workshops and seminars on teaching methods relevant to developing entrepreneurial skills and mindsets among students. We thereby seek to engage university teachers to try out action-based teaching methods where students learn through an experiential learning pedagogy.
During 2017, we have organized several focused workshops for university lecturers. The response has been good, and the workshops have engaged participants from different disciplines and levels. The workshops have dealt with a variety of relevant topics such as student-active learning methods and learning in groups, case-based teaching of entrepreneurship and Design Thinking. We also organized the workshop “How to give a good first impression in the classroom” about involving students from the very beginning of the class.
A lot of students come up with new and great ideas. But who do you talk to when you have had an enlightment? If you are a student at NTNU, there are several organizations that could help you out.
By Engage
If you just had an idea or if you just are interessted in innovation and entrepreneurship, then you should go over to Start NTNU . Start NTNU is a student union that can give you advice and inspiration, and they also organise a number of entreprenur events. For more information about Start NTNU, visit their website.
If you just want to start out with hanging round and meet and speak with like-minded people, FRAM is a great place to start. FRAM is the students`entrepreneurship and innovation centre at NTNU, with regular meetings and events on entrepreneurship. Find the coming events at FRAMs Facebook page.
What if I have a business idea and need help to start a business? The next step on the startup ladder at NTNU is Spark*. The mentors at Spark NTNU will help you bring your idea to the next level no matter how much work you allready have put into it. It`s even possible to apply for Pengesprøyten, up to 25.000 NOK in soft funding. For more information about Spark and the deadlines for applications to Pengesprøyten, have a look at their website.
