Entrepreneurship in focus
Over 200 students had gathered in Sing Sing in Wednesday night. Silicon Valley based serial entrepreneur Michael Baum had flown in to speak about his experience and the key to building a successful company.
Michael Baum, CEO of FOUNDER.org , has extensive experience from the entrepreneurial field and among his feats are the founding of the IT company Splunk.On Wednesday 3rd December he shared insights and knowledge from his 25 years as an entrepreneur. My Klint, manager of the KTH student incubator Student Inc., is leading the collaboration with FOUNDER.org and was very positive to the visit.
- Entrepreneurship is important as it drives crucial development. Thanks to new ideas and solutions new jobs are created and opportunities open up around the world, she says.
FOUNDER.org wants to inspire and help students across the globe to start companies. KTH, as the only Scandinavian university, participates and competes against other universities such as MIT, Stanford University and Imperial College to name but a few. The objective is to increase the number of student entrepreneurs, and follow that up with supporting them so that their companies don't just survive, but grow, flourish and contribute to society as a whole.
Volumental , Tinitell and Shortcut Labs , are three companies that have all been supported throught the KTH Innovation support process, and participated in the event. They shared their experiences from the 12 month business development program that FOUNDER.org runs and that they are currently part of.
- Through the collaboration with FOUNDER.org we have the opportunity to show the KTH quality, that we measure up to the world's top universities and are world class when it comes to innovation, says My Klint.
Since many years, entrepreneurship and encouraging the guts to go for it with your own idea is something that KTH Innovation engage in on a daily basis. My Klint says that this ought to be promoted as the obvious alternative to traditional employment and something that KTH will focus more on in the future.
- Innovation and entrepreneurship could be a more integral part in the education, both at a degree and research level, in order to lower the threshold to commercializing your ideas and results.
The highlight of the evening was the "60 second pitch" where researchers and students had the opportunity to pitch their startup ideas, get expert feedback and vow the audience for their vote. The winners of the pitch competition were invited to dinner with Michael Baum and the opportunity to delve deeper into their business ideas and how to develop it further. Five winners were selected and were immediately whisked off to dinner with Michael Baum, My Klint and Lisa Ericsson, head of KTH Innovation.
The winners:
Findify Founder: Meni Morim
ListFix Founder: Amir Marandi
Receipt Library - Founder: Eli Lundberg
Furhat Robotics - Founder: Preben Wik
Timlen - Founder: Niss Jonas Carlsson
Want to know more about how KTH Innovation promotes entrepreneurship or do you have an idea you'd like to discuss? Contact us at innovation@kth.se and we'll take it from there!