Description:

This course is all about purposeful action, sustainability, entrepreneurship and teamwork.

In Entrepreneurship with Purpose, students explore how entrepreneurial thinking and action can contribute to addressing social, societal and ecological challenges. The course introduces key concepts and tools for understanding sustainability, developing ideas and working collaboratively to turn ideas into purposeful projects and business models.

Students engage with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, explore Earth’s systems and planetary boundaries, and reflect on the role of entrepreneurship in creating sustainable impact. They learn about Social & Impact Entrepreneurship, including approaches to impact measurement and reporting, and consider how social, ecological and economic objectives can be connected.

Throughout the course, students work in teams and develop their own ideas using methods and tools from Design Thinking, ideation, project management and Business Model Canvas. They learn how to structure and develop ideas, organize teamwork and use digital tools to support project execution and collaboration.

The course also encourages students to reflect on their own roles, values and ways of working in a team. Through practical exercises and collaborative project work, they experiment with different approaches to idea development, problem-solving and the creation of sustainable business models.

The course combines conceptual input with hands-on application. Rather than focusing solely on theoretical concepts, students apply the methods and tools directly to their own ideas and projects. This allows them to develop both an entrepreneurial mindset and practical skills for working on sustainability-oriented challenges.

This course allows you to collect credits for the Sustainable Education Certificate (BNE).

Learning Targets:

You’ll learn about

• 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations
• Earth’s systems and planetary boundaries
• Team Roles, project management and organization
• Social & Impact Entrepreneurship
• Impact Measurement and Reporting
• Idea development, design thinking tools and thinking 
• (Digital) tools for organization, idea development and project execution
• Business Model Canvas for understanding and building business ideas

This course allows you to collect credits for the Sustainable Education Certificate (BNE)

Outline:

For a successful completion of the course, active and regular participation is needed. Why? You'll be working in teams everyone in a team wants to have equal and fair learning and contribution parts. Plus, it is all about your ideas.

Active participation contains "homework" that is prepared in advance for single sessions. What does this mean? You'll be continuously working on and for your own idea. You will also be developing them throughout the course. Regular participation in activities is simply more fun for all. This concerns specifically tools and methods used for ideation processes as well as concerning applications of Theory U - again all for you and your ideas. Regular pitches of the current state of work are part of the course, too.

While this may all sound a lot - the most important thing is that you have time in this course to pursue your own ideas, discover yourself and what is important to you and how you can create purposeful ventures through this. And throughout all this, we won't forget to have fun :) 

Sessions with input and teamwork will alternate with sessions of self-studying individually and in teams.

Literature:

Literature will be given in class next to video and audio material. 

It is beneficial for students to get acquainted with concepts in and ideas behind the Business Model Canvas (BMC). For this, you'll receive access to an online course on the BMC after your registration. You'll have about 4 weeks to complete the online course before our joint seminar starts. 

• Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Bernarda, G., & Smith, A. (2015). Value proposition design: How to create products and services customers want. John Wiley & Sons.
• Osterwalder, Alexander, Pigneur, Yves. (2011): Business Model Generation, Frankfurt am Main 2011.
• Scan through the book, get an idea and zoom into the nine sections of the BMC, so you have an idea prior to the course, what the sections entail.

Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to get to know the business model canva – we’ll provide access to more material.

Methods of Assessment:

Portfolio: a) Frequent presentation of results (throughout). b) Final presentation of results in last session (22.10.2025) c) written report (approx. 10 pages, deadline 09.11.2025, 23:59h)