Lectures in Entrepreneurial Leadership

 

For selected small groups of students, a series of lectures is organised by MTEC-professors and business leaders. Credits are collected in a special diploma, which complements the Master programme at D-MTEC.

Overview of the week February 5-8, 2008

Each February, the Department of MTEC organizes a week-long lecture series on entrepreneurial leadership. The course targets the most talented Master's students and involves between 20-30 participants selected based on academic excellence and work experience. Students are international and have diverse backgrounds, mainly in management, engineering and hard sciences.

This year was a special program focused on bringing together world-class academic lecturers, several CEOs and entrepreneurs from successful start-ups, and leaders from Google, investing, and insurance industries. The lectures varied from topics of risk-taking and risk management to founding a start-up to angel investing. One of the highlights of the week was the day spent with the CEO, James Schiro, and other top-level employees at Zurich Financial Services, one of the largest insurance companies in the world. The day's discussion ranged from challenges faced by insurance companies to climate change. Students were able spend 2 hours with Mr. Schiro asking questions about managing business and managing life. It was truly a unique experience!

In addition to this busy week, the students applied the knowledge they obtained in the course to “found” their own companies. This involved pitching the idea to “investors” in addition to performing a thorough risk-analysis of the proposed venture. Each student then “invested” in the companies, with the winning team receiving a prize.

 

Access to the pdf of all the lectures »»

 

Program Announcement of the 2008 course »»

 

2007 Course

The first lecture was held in March 2007 entitled: "Lectures in Entrepreneurial Leadership: The Banking Industry"

Articles in ETH Life:
English Version
German Version