Joint Entrepreneurship and Digital Innovation Summer School

This year, HEC Paris partnered with TUM (the Technical University of Munich) for the creation of the Entrepreneurship and Digital Innovation Summer School. Two weeks, two institutions online, with students from around the world who earned the opportunity to learn from leaders and industry experts.  

Leading the first week of the program was Professor Jean-Rémi Gratadour, Executive Director in charge of Program Development at the HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center.  As he explained, “Through solid theoretical bases and various study cases, we designed the program to help students make connections between fundamental theories and concepts of innovation, and the revolutionary business models we know today.”

Stepping into the shoes of promising start-uppers, accompanied by their professor, coaches and professionals generous with their own experience, students confronted their project ideas, fostered by the richness of their different cultures and world perspectives.

“The guest speaker testimonials were wonderful”, says Zihan Zhou, from China. “They made us able to understand some crucial links and steps about how to make my business project become real.”

“Mr Gratadour was an excellent teacher” says Juliette Perignon, a French student who discovered the Summer School thanks to having attended the Youth Leadership Initiative. “The courses were highly interesting. The professor skillfully combined theoretical and practical courses. He offered us a lot of tips about how to create a startup. I especially enjoyed developing the case study which really enlightened me.”

In only two weeks, the program launched by HEC Paris and culminating the second week with TUM, gave promising students the inspiration to try, fail, reassess, and ultimately succeed. This innovative, joint Summer School provided participants with a privileged space of communication and cultural exchange. Receiving feedback on their own burgeoning businesses, participants were shown tools and methods to help guide them on their individual entrepreneurial journeys.

Summer School Director, Elyse Michaels-Berger, shared “Participants in this innovative program benefited from a custom-tailored learning experience that will prepare them to take on entrepreneurial challenges with international savvy and know-how in the future, thanks to the joint HEC Paris-TUM team.”

HEC Paris Summer School and Youth Programs

HEC Paris - Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center