Many technology-based business projects are left on the shelf in the hope that someday they will be converted into startups. The main obstacle is not the business idea because in the majority of cases we are dealing with innovative projects that could entail a significant innovation in the scientific field. What entrepreneurs lack is the expertise to be able to develop a business plan that will ensure that their venture is viable.
In order to overcome this hurdle, EADA collaborates with ACC1Ó –the government agency dedicated to making local businesses more competitive– with a view to turning various lines of research into real business ventures. This collaboration provides International Master in Management participants the opportunity to draw up a business plan for innovation projects promoted by the research centers associated with ACC1Ó as their final project. Since the collaboration began, EADA students have created more than 50 business plans for entrepreneurs.
The Final Project
MiM students who choose to complete their final project with ACC1Ó draw up a business plan for atechnology-based startup and go through the experience of carrying out a real consultancy project.
According to EADA professor Manuel Marín, “The participants live a unique experience because, for many, it is the first time they come face to face with scientists and engineers, chemists and researchers, with years of technical expertise.”
Each team is made up of five participants, who are given six months to carry out a specific project. The project is completed under the guidance of an EADA tutor, who acts as a coach and oversees the project as a whole. From the first day, the teams also work with the project entrepreneur whose idea they must mold into a cohesive business plan.
Participant Nikolaos Sarafidis describes the experience this way: “The final project has contributed to my professional career because it has enabled me to apply my theoretical knowledge to real life, giving me an idea of the complexity of the problems that we will need to address when I set up my business.”
myStone: Improving Kidney Stone Diagnosis
The myStone team: Lucas Roos, Ida Grad, Martín Raygoza, Larissa Schaade and Nikolaos Sarafidis.
A recent final project was carried out with myStone, a medical device designed to analyse kidney stones with the aim of providing a better, quicker diagnosis and enabling on-the-spot testing. This project was led by the entrepreneur Fran Blanco, who came to EADA with an innovative idea that he needed help turning into a viable business. “EADA students got totally involved in actively seeking out information about the device and about kidney stones themselves,” he said. “They put forward interesting alternatives for communication and distribution channels, as well as potential alliances for commercialization. The comprehensive market study that they did was well-structured and very productive for the company.”
The students worked for six months on the myStone scientific project, which gave them the opportunity to develop all the phases of the business plan working on a real case, solving technical problems as they came up, under pressure and against the clock.
EADA participants were also satisfied with the experience. “Working on the project not only enabled us to begin a business plan from scratch and develop all of the phases, but it also gave us total freedom to come up with solutions,” said participant Lucas Roos. Other team members expressed the value of the working with a real startup due to their dream of starting their own business in the future.