EMIT Students Facing the Startup Test
Antonio Lo Re and Stefano Chiappo conceived a smart trolley bag traceable by travellers thanks to GPS, radio-frequency identification, barcodes and Internet connections. Laura De Luca and Giuseppe Trovato devised a no sweat shirt that combines a technology originally designed for NASA and Italian style. Elisa Gabellieri and Alvise Montini imagined a system connected to the home wi-fi network that controls and optimizes energy usage matching automation and smart grid. These are not projects developed by start up companies. These are the results of an exam assigned to the Master of Science in Economics and Management of Innovation and Technology (EMIT) students at the end of the first part of the Technology and Innovation Strategy Module II course.
"One of the master's topics is the connection between business and technology", says Alfonso Gambardella, the professor of Economics and Management who conceived the exam. "It was thus only natural to give students the assignment to invent their own business and write a five-page essay about it. I guess it's more effective than a traditional exam, for a strategy and technology oriented course". Students were asked to have a good idea, but also to develop a business plan in terms of motivation, strategy, organization. Creativity, analytical skills, problem solving and awareness of practical implications of the concepts studied in the classroom all played a significant role. "Writing the essay wasn't enough", Gambardella says. "Students were also supposed to make the most out of the lessons and address the questions that arose in the classroom. They knew since day one the kind of test they were supposed to pass and the dilemmas they were going to face". Every single essay was elaborated and written by no more than one or two students, "because communication enhances creativity, but above this threshold people tend to be less focused. And also, in real life, projects like that are usually developed by few people".
Technology and Innovation Strategy Module II is a three-part course. The first part lasted one month and a half. Students had then ten days to write their essays. Gambardella guarantees that "results exceeded my expectations in terms of entrepreneurial quality, innovation and creativity". Among the ideas developed by students, there's a delivery service for small and medium producers and distributors managed by an algorithm devised by Andrea D'Antonio and Simone Giuseppe Dedda. "It was an interesting exercise", says Tudor Carstoiu, whose project seeks to use willow trees to produce electrical power and biofuel in Romania. "For the first time we had to put into practice the theory we have been taught in the classroom. Our efforts have been rewarded".
"When you're dealing with business and creativity" Gambardella says "you should reassure young people if you want them to develop good ideas. The exam gave us a good indication of it. If you want to make good use of human resources you have to grant them enough space to evolve innovative concepts. Encouragement is the keyword. At the very beginning, students were hesitating and doubtful. Something clicked when I encouraged them: that's the moment when they started to be creative". The exam got students accustomed with the Thomas Edison's aphorism that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. After all these years it still rings true. But the latter part may change by combining NASA technology and Italian style.