Overview
The latest technological developments and renewed attention to eco-sustainability are quickly spreading also to the field of mobility, originally sustained exclusively by fossil fuels. Several alternatives to fossil fuels are indeed currently under investigation for many other aspects of human life and industries. Economical, ecological and political goals feed this replacement, including reducing the greenhouse gas pollution that is leading to global warming.
The Summer School seeks to encourage the local entrepreneurial ecosystem in co-designing solutions to address such technical and social challenges: top industrial representatives will provide participants with concrete business cases associated with technology, business and sustainability challenges for green mobility.
The program and the topic for project teamwork aim at overcoming hurdles in transitioning the current mobility system in a city towards a more desired and sustainable future, creating a reduction of pollution and improving the quality of life.
Teamwork for more sustainable urban mobility solutions
The Summer School is a unique collective adventure blending social events, hands-on activities and hard work in a lively context with coaches, lecturers and international reputation keynotes. The goal is to design innovative technological solutions for addressing challenges related to green urban mobility (e.g. electric vehicles, micromobility, etc.) from a technological, methodological, societal and business perspective. Participants will work together on a business development process related to a socially relevant theme, inspired by business cases proposed by different stakeholders from the city of Milan, the city of Rennes, local companies and start-ups. The emphasis of teamwork relies on developing a solution to solve an initial problem, providing expected or innovative services, and developing an associated marketing strategy and business plan. This activity values a multidisciplinary approach combining students with varying backgrounds to boost project teamwork and generate a more complementary point of view to address relevant challenges for green urban mobility.
Expected Audience
The Summer School is devoted to Master’s and PhD students, researchers and professionals in the mobility sector, transport and traffic engineers, educators who want to deepen their knowledge on green mobility and its related societal and business challenges. Participants will build new skills for their career to become innovators and business creators for new mobility services that can be exploited in a startup or as part of the strategy of an already existing company.
Learning objectives
Participants will be able to frame a general problem offered by specific case studies proposed by companies and municipalities, narrow it down, study the user needs, specify the innovation value and features for different stakeholders, propose a possible model and define different scenarios in order to verify, predict and optimize the performance of their model, focusing on business, economic and environmental aspects related to the diffusion of green mobility.
They will learn how to:
- point out market needs and business opportunities
- transform the gained knowledge into innovative business ideas
- turn these ideas into concrete business proposals
- present their pitches to investors
Additional objectives include: fostering a community of students coming from different universities, creating interaction between them and other companies and start-ups, reflecting on the interplay between ethics and society, understanding global societal and business trends.
Method
The pedagogical approach is aligned with the learning objectives of an EIT-labelled programme, with specific regard to learning-by-doing and hands-on activities on projects, in strong connection with industrial partners in the definition of key challenges for green mobility.
Enhancing entrepreneurial skills and specific business capacities to turn ideas into clear business propositions remains the key objective of the Summer School. All I&E assignments will be completed through teamwork, under the guidance of experienced business coaches, mentors and lecturers. Learning activities will prioritize hands-on approach to ensure:
- a balanced combination of theory and practice
- horizontal & vertical approaches
- a combination of lectures, mentoring, visits, and teamwork
- a preparation for speaking in public and for project presentation
- social events to team building and networking
Business cases
The business cases will be provided by key industrial stakeholders (services – manufacturing – suppliers) with contributions from companies and start-ups, the city of Milan and the city of Rennes. The business cases aim at developing plans for increasing the widespread of green mobility solutions (e.g. predicting the impact of electric vehicles usage and charging station locations on the electric power distribution grid).
Program
- First week in Milan (Italy) from 04 to 09 July 2022 (remote attendance allowed)
- Second week in Rennes (France) from 10 to 15 July 2022
The first week will take place in Milano (Italy) and it will be hosted by Politecnico di Milano in its main campus Leonardo, on the East side of Downtown Milano, well connected to airports and train stations by train and metro. During this intensive week, participants will engage in a competitive environment, setting on a team project with other 4 or 5 students, supported by professional coaches. They will apply a design thinking approach to understand the business case from a wide perspective, narrow it down, and transform innovative ideas into viable solutions. In case of any problem in moving to Milan for the first week, participants will have the option to attend remotely all the sessions and the lectures.
After the first week, the Summer School will change its location and participants will be transferred to Rennes (France). During the second week, they will shape and develop their business and value proposition, considering market and segment analysis, including ethical, societal, environmental and sustainability implications. In the end, the teams will have the chance to pitch their innovative ideas and business proposals in front of a panel of mobility experts, stakeholders and representatives from companies. To conclude this journey, a gala dinner and a tourist trip for a memorable Summer School experience!
Participants will also have the opportunity to meet, in a lively context, with high-level key speakers, industry representatives, entrepreneurs and local stakeholders as a source of inspiration for the business cases teamwork. We will offer a comprehensive multidimensional view of green urban mobility, from technology to innovation and entrepreneurship, integrating research, industry and business perspective in co-designing a challenge-based education experience.
Organisers
Michela Longo – Professor for the MSc in Mobility Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
Federico Schiepatti – Postdoctoral research fellow, Politecnico di Milano
Alvaro Piña Stranger – Manager of EIT Urban Mobility, University of Rennes 1
Stéphanie Gauvain – Admin officer of EIT Urban Mobility, University of Rennes 1
German Varas Espinoza – Innovation and Education Analyst, University of Rennes 1
Mélanie Lebreton – Events Assistant, University of Rennes 1
Host Universities
Politecnico di Milano is a public scientific-technological university which trains engineers, architects and industrial designers, ranked first in Italy and among the top 50 universities in the world (QS Rankings 2022). The University has always focused on quality and innovation of its teaching and research, developing a fruitful relationship with business world, with a wide range of cutting-edge innovation and education activities, in cooperation with companies and start-ups.
Université de Rennes 1 is amongst the twelve main universities in France, famous for its excellence and dynamic research. Located in the centre of a human-scale city, just 1,5 hour away from Paris, it is a research-intensive university, willing to fully take part in the major challenges of innovation and knowledge of our century. Its expertise in research and its relations with the economic sector have made University of Rennes 1 renowned on an international scale.
Contact Details
For any information about this Summer School: ie-summerschool@univ-rennes1.fr