Abstract
The Business Oriented Technological System Analysis (BOTSA) program is a new teaching and learning concept developed by Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands) with participation from innovative companies in renewable energy. It is designed to stimulate sustainable entrepreneurship among engineering students in this field. The program combines the placement of students in companies to study and contribute to the development and incubation of sustainable energy innovations, with a curriculum at the university designed to support these internships from a scientific perspective. The teaching method assists students in developing a broad system view that enables them to analyze the potential of, and bottlenecks to promising innovations from a realistic business perspective. This empowers students to identify those techno-economic aspects that are critical to innovation success, and advise the entrepreneurs about these aspects. Experience indicates that teachers, students, and entrepreneurs find BOTSA a valuable way of coaching, learning and working. Theoretical support for this method is found in system analysis originating in evolutionary innovation theory in combination with concepts of entrepreneurship, business model generation and sustainable/green innovation.
Highlights
Education and research in the field of sustainability and in the field of sustainable energy technologies has been growing in importance at universities around the world
This paper documents how the TU/e spawned an innovative teaching and learning method aimed at fostering entrepreneurship among its students in the area of renewable energy, called “Business Oriented Technological System Analysis” (BOTSA)
The BOTSA program for technological entrepreneurship education that has evolved over time at Eindhoven University of Technology gives expression to the modern “entrepreneurial university” as its students grow more open minded towards business opportunities through the method applied in combination with supervision and skills taught through courses
Summary
Education and research in the field of sustainability and in the field of sustainable energy technologies has been growing in importance at universities around the world. To introduce the essential features of BOTSA to foster entrepreneurship among its population of students of sustainable energy technology; to reflect on the value and effectiveness of the approach so far; and to explore relevant theoretical underpinnings to deepen its academic relevance and rigour—a dimension which is still under development. In the course of time, perspectives based on innovation systems analysis by, e.g., Geels [1] began to form the backbone of the teaching and learning, supplemented by concepts and theories on entrepreneurship, business model generation and green/social innovation. Key aspects of these theoretical perspectives and their importance in providing conceptual coherence to the BOTSA methodology are explored .
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
