Eight weeks immersed in an ecosystem of start-ups and a project to pitch at the end to convince investors.
No, we’re not talking about a business school course, but an optional module that can be taken in the 2nd year of the ISAE-SUPAERO engineering course. This year, ten students set their sights on this business creation course. They had two months to set up an entrepreneurial project in the field of data, at IoT Valley. With the possibility of transforming it into a start-up within InnovSpace, the Institute’s incubator.
As a research and training institute, two years ago ISAE-SUPAERO made innovation one of its third pillars. InnovSpace, the Institute’s fablab, has been transformed into an incubator for entrepreneurial projects led by its community. At the same time, ISAE-SUPAERO has incorporated training modules devoted to innovation and entrepreneurship into its curricula. This includes the elective module “Setting up a business creation project”.
An evolution in line with market aspirations
“Companies in our ecosystem are looking to recruit engineers who are committed, creative, autonomous and have a ‘market’ approach,” explains Romain Buquet, professor in charge of innovation and entrepreneurship at ISAE-SUPAERO. “As for our students, they have a real appetite for innovation.”
Born into a family of engineers, but with a background in business, this former creator of high-impact start-ups has been in charge of the entrepreneurship and innovation courses for the past two years. His credo is an innovative approach to teaching. A simulation of “Who wants to be my partner?” with a real coach and a panel of judges from the M6 programme, pitches to (fake) investors with (fake) money… any idea is good enough to pass on to engineering students his taste for entrepreneurship.
A mini-entrepreneurial adventure in 1A
This year marked a new stage, with the integration of an entrepreneurial challenge called Problem Solvers into the core curriculum of the engineering course, starting in the first year. In groups of four, the 217 engineering students had four weeks to create a business project based on a problem raised by an alumni. “The problems were not necessarily related to aerospace and they had to go and interview professionals to put together a credible project”, explains Romain Buquet.
Throughout their mini-entrepreneurial adventure, the students received coaching and met inspiring speakers. To achieve this, Romain Buquet mobilised both the Institute’s alumni community and speakers from a wide range of backgrounds. “No fewer than 105 different professionals took part in this challenge”, he notes. His aim? For the students to have fun! And they did. The winners received a trip to Paris to meet investors and, why not, continue their entrepreneurial adventure.
An MS to “train transformative leaders”
From the start of the 2024-2025 academic year, Romain Buquet will also be in charge of the new Specialised Masters® IEM (Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Management)*. This course is accessible after a Master’s degree and is open to profiles other than engineers, even though it has a strong technological dimension. “The unique proposition of this course is to train transformative leaders capable of understanding both the market and the technology”, he explains. “In other words, they must master the technology and know the industry like an engineer, while at the same time demonstrating the business acumen and capacity for innovation of an entrepreneur.”
And Romain Buquet recalls the expertise and specificity of ISAE-SUPAERO in this area: “Among the four French industrial start-ups with unicorn status – those valued at more than 1 billion dollars – three were created by alumni of the Institute”.
* The MS IEM replaces the MS MGPIE (Management of Innovative Projects & Entrepreneurship).
In 2022, innovation, the Institute’s third pillar, has taken on a new dimension at ISAE-SUPAERO. My arrival as a permanent teacher in charge of innovation and entrepreneurship is concrete proof of this. I’ve been able to start drawing on my dual experience as an entrepreneur (INCO, Impact Campus, Virvolt) and as a teacher-researcher (ESCP Business School doctorate, teaching at the École Polytechnique, etc.) to design and run top-quality training courses on these subjects, drawing on inspiring speakers and cutting-edge partners such as IoT Valley.
Romain Buquet – Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at ISAE-SUPAERO
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