EIT InnoEnergy Master School presents the Energy Business Camp

The second annual Energy Business Camp just wrapped up in the heart of the German 'Energiewende'.

Twenty engineering students had won their spot last spring to attend the five-day business boot camp by pitching their best ideas for an innovative energy product or service. The winners came from around the globe, gathering in Karlsruhe to put their technical know-how, entrepreneurial savvy and team-working skills to the test. They networked with fellow participants, EIT InnoEnergy Master students, experts and mentors while developing their storytelling and pitching skills at this exclusive event.

Strong partnerships

EIT InnoEnergy Master School teamed up with AXEL – The Energy Accelerator (a supporter of early-stage energy start-ups) to create this comprehensive summer camp on energy business creation. Christos Klamouris, the start-up manager of AXEL, enjoyed working with the highly engaged participants.

Many energy engineers have great ideas – but they can be too focused on one main technical part, have a hard time involving others in their vision, or even can be unable to see the ‘big picture’. This is why we focus on these students at this stage when we can help them the most by giving them the tools and knowledge they need to develop their ideas into promising business models. We collaborate with EIT InnoEnergy to offer this business camp because we truly believe that their master’s programmes will allow these students to go deeper than a traditional programme.

Christos Klamouris, start-up manager of AXEL

The perfect environment to grow

The students pitched their energy project ideas on the first day of the event, breaking into teams after voting for the best concepts to develop into promising business models. They spent the next couple days fine-tuning, working with their coaches into the wee hours, and meeting with industry experts – truly experiencing the highs, lows, fun and pressure that energy entrepreneurs face daily. The students appreciated incubating their ideas in this supportive and fun environment, describing the event as 'inspirational', 'insightful' and 'a life-changing experience' of which they loved every moment.

On the last day, the teams shared their final presentations, showcasing their hard work and newly acquired skills. The winning team 'ChargeON' impressed the judges with their idea to make electric vehicle charging more accessible.

Team members Tamoor Ali, Nouman Akram, Jan Tršinar, Satyam Goel and Benjamin Iwuchukwu enjoyed having a taste what it’s like to be successful energy entrepreneurs and are very excited about their prize of Formula-E championship race tickets!

The camp was an amazing experience – the coaches enhanced my understanding regarding business challenges, energy transition and entrepreneurship. It was great working with 20 people from 14 different nationalities, getting together to bring the best ideas for the energy transition.

Tamoor Ali, team leader and EIT InnoEnergy MSc in Energy Technologies student

The EIT InnoEnergy Master School 

EIT InnoEnergy's Master School offers you countless possibilities to develop your entrepreneurial skills and make an impact in the energy transition. During our Master's, students can take part in an incubator programme with access to mentoring and funding to develop their business idea. 

Would you like to know more? Get in touch with one of our representatives via innoenergy[@]studyenquiry.com or +443331500488.