Recap: NeurotechEU Winter School on Practical Entrepreneurship

From 10–14 November, Reykjavik University hosted the second NeurotechEU Entrepreneurship Winter School, coordinated by Ásgeir Jónsson. From Radboud University, Ian Cameron travelled there to co-teach the program. This Winter School was designed for senior researchers, from PhD candidates to professors, who travelled from across the NeurotechEU alliance to strengthen their entrepreneurial skills. 

According to Cameron, these schools are becoming key pillars of a growing entrepreneurship curriculum within NeurotechEU, supporting researchers from junior to senior levels in transforming ideas into practice across the entire alliance.

The Winter School in a Nutshell

Throughout the week, participants worked intensively on understanding real-world problems, developing value propositions, and translating early ideas into viable concepts to solve a need. The major part of the course was built around the Lean Canvas tool to understand “who is the group of people who has the problem for which you can deliver something valuable.” From there, participants refined their value proposition, potential solution, and practical requirements such as the team, key partnerships, financial strategies, and revenues.

After learning the fundamentals, students worked in groups to define a real problem and develop an iterative solution throughout the week, culminating in a final pitch. The participants learned a lot during the process. Radboud University PhD candidate, Mèlanie Sloover: “During this winter school I learned a lot about the entrepreneurial mindset and the skills that go along with it, which will benefit me throughout my career. Equally important are the great connections I made with colleagues from around Europe.” Zhuoshi Liu enjoyed the Winter School as well: “The programme combined high-level entrepreneurial mindset with hands-on tools in strategy, marketing, finance, and funding—almost like an accelerator that helped me shape my startup ideas and get feedback from experienced practitioners.”

Growing Entrepreneurship Curriculum

With this second Winter School, NeurotechEU’s entrepreneurship curriculum is developing, ranging from junior researchers who are just discovering the fundamentals to more senior participants ready to build or refine concrete ideas. Ian Cameron notes: “The entire offering of separate modules, courses and full programmes is developing: there is now a syllabus, an introductory school for neuroscience students, and this more advanced edition.” Looking forward, Ian’s plan includes a dedicated senior course for researchers who already have a clear idea they wish to develop, building on the previous schools but offering a more market-directed pathway.

General elements such as introductions to grants, funding, or basic entrepreneurial thinking, can be taught locally, supported by pre-recorded lectures and shared teaching materials that allow courses to travel through the alliance. At the same time, each NeurotechEU partner can add its own specific expertise and bring in seasoned entrepreneurs from their network, enabling local deep dives into specialized topics. 

Together, these elements form a growing, flexible curriculum that supports researchers at every career stage, whether they are exploring entrepreneurship for the first time or preparing to take their own innovation to the next level.

Stay Tuned

More editions of this entrepreneurship school are planned, each shaped by the expertise of the hosting partner. Some of this year’s lectures will also become available on Campus+. Stay tuned for repetitions of this school to come around, with different expertise depending on where it will go.