Let talented master's students help you to (further) design and validate a business model for your sustainable energy solution.
In the course Business Models for Sustainable Energy, a student team will help you design and validate a business model around a sustainable energy solution you are planning to bring to the market.
They will receive training and guidance by lecturers from University of Twente.
✅ Key features of the challenge
Students per team: 5-6 students
Course: Business Models for Sustainable Energy
Programme: Master Sustainable Energy Technology
No. of hours spent per team: 250+ hours
Deliverables: Presentation and a proper business plan (e.g. market research, financials, go-to-market plan, business model canvas, etc.)
Company time investment: Your time involvement is 8-12 hours in total (e.g. weekly (short) meetings, interviews, final presentation, etc.)
Matching fee: €850,- (ex tax, charged by Master Challenge (NOT the university))
📑 Challenge topics
Here are some examples that the students can work on, but not limited to:
How to get energy from A to B efficiently
Help us introduce a groundbreaking transformation to smarter, more efficient and more sustainable energy management
Creating new business models with a Virtual Power Plant
Any challenge from the energy sector related to market research, strategy and business development are relevant to participate in this challenge.
🔎 Case study example
Curious for how such a project could look like? Have a look at 👉this case study about a collaboration between a team of students from the University of Twente and Energy Cooperatives Tilburg.
🏢 Requirement for participating companies
Any company/organization operating or planning to operate in the sustainable energy market.
Planning or considering to develop a new product/service.
💰 Costs
Master Challenge charges a matching fee of €850,- (ex tax) per team. This is to be able to further operate and close the gap between education and practice.
❗️You will only be charged when matched to a team.
📨 How to apply
You can submit the challenge directly through the website. Provide a title that summarises the challenge. Subsequently, briefly elaborate on your challenge. See link for a template you could use: https://link.masterchallenge.me/challenge-template or use the challenge generator: https://masterchallenge.me/challenge-generator
🗓 Planning
July 17: Deadline for submitting your challenge
July 17 (or sooner): Receiving message if your challenge is approved by the Course Coordinator
September 1-4: Matching phase
September 1: Student teams rank the challenges
September 3: Challenge owners rank the student teams
September 4: Matches are communicated
September 7-9: Kick-off meeting (your team will contact you to schedule a kick-off meeting)
October 28, 10:45-12:30 and 13:45-15:30: Final presentations in time slots of 20 minutes (after you are matched to a team, we will schedule the time slots)
Questions? Want to discuss your challenge before submitting one? Feel free to schedule a call 👉 here.
We're happy to have you on board 👋
Make sure to completely finish your registration (click here). Incomplete profiles will not be taken into account.
This will happen next 👇
We will use your input to form well-balanced teams. We will notify you about your team on September 1.
Once you are assigned to a team, get together (offline or online) with your team asap, to discuss which challenges you want to work on and why, and submit this selection. Deadline is September 1.
Subsequently, the participating organizations will rank the teams that want to work on their challenge on September 3.
Finally, our platform will generate and share the team-challenge matches on September 4.
Once you're matched to a challenge, schedule a kick-off meeting with the company representative on September 7-9. (☝️Use this template)
In case you have questions about then use of the platform, feel free to use the chat (purple thingy bottom right).
TIP: Create a 'Social Contract' for your team (click here to learn why this makes sense). And check this article for clear instructions on creating a social contract.
Consulting Skills Course
To boost your consulting skills we offer you the Master Challenge Online Consulting Skills Course for free, click 👉 here (password 👉 mccsc).
Good luck!