During the first week of March (1-5), more than 15 PhD students and researchers from Moldova and 5 Master students from the Bristol University participated in Research and Innovation Workshop series, delivered online by the Spin Up Science team from the UK. The training focused on research commercialization and was organised within the framework of the NanoMedTwin project.
This workshop series aims to develop an understanding of the entrepreneurial pathways available to younger academics (mainly PhDs and post-docs) and build an understanding of what good ideas look like.
During the five days’ workshop students learned about the main features of the entrepreneurship, the different types of business opportunities (e.g. market pull, technology push, etc.), about assessing market opportunities, the concept of Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and how to get inside the minds of potential customers by means of user journeys. The course also included topics such as intellectual property, negotiating a spin out, understanding stakeholders or raising finance.
Since teamwork is a very important asset to succeed in the entrepreneurial journey, the training included daily collaborative team tasks, focused on exercising various skills, from highlighting the unfair advantages of potential business ventures, to user centric ideation, identifying the user needs, market sizing, competitors positioning or cost modelling. The entire training programme, with lots of practical exercises was accessible through the interactive online platform at protolyst.org
This course is part of NanoMedTwin project work package 4, focusing on transfer of knowledge and expertise, best practices and policies in the field of technology transfer from research intensive consortium partners to the National Center for Materials Study and Testing from Moldova.
