Created in partnership with other top Higher Education Institutions, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship course promotes exchanges between students with diverse backgrounds and interests
In 2021, Insper launched the Innovation and Entrepreneurship course, created in partnership Poli-USP, FGV, ESPM and Belas Artes Higher Education Institutions. One of its main goal is to strengthen the ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship in São Paulo, creating bridges between the various schools.
The course provides students with the opportunity to experience the development of a Garage Start-up project with an interdisciplinary team, following a set of Design Thinking concepts. Charles Kirschbaum, professor at Insper and Head of this course, explains that each institution has detected a unique way of contributing to the teaching and learning process. “With this exchange, students are given the chance to understand what an interdisciplinary team is like, something they will experience in the organizations/companies they will work for, in addition to expanding their ‘social capital’ and being exposed to different teaching styles.”
“Collaboration between students with diverse backgrounds and different interests allows us to further develop the competence of working in groups, which is central to the training of Insper students. The difficulties related to negotiating interests, working hours and choosing themes and paths for projects are close to the reality of the labor market, which generates a very rich experience for all enrolled students”, explains Professor Flávia Piazza, Coordinator of Business Administration Undergraduate Program at Insper.
Experience
Atilio Amaral, a Business Administration undergraduate student at Insper and former president of the School’s Entrepreneurs League, says that the initiative brought in positive experiences. “By taking this course, the student will have a broad look at what entrepreneurship is and will either love it or understand that it is not for them. Even for me, who have already undertaken several courses on the subject, this new course presented tools that broadened my view on certain aspects of entrepreneurship and demonstrated the importance of points that I previously understood as secondary.”
Amaral feels that the Insper’s professors have done a good job of teaming up with peers from different institutions to offer the course. “In teams, the set is greater than the sum of the individual parts, that is, when working in groups, one person is always able to complement the vision of others a little, some with design, others with the fundamentals of Administration and Economics and others with their worldview. I recommend the course not only to those already enrolled in a Business Admin program or who are interested in doing it in the future, but also to students who have family businesses, or even those who will join large companies and/or multinationals”, Amaral adds.
New partnerships
Partnerships with other Higher Education Institutions are part of Insper’s strategy to promote plural teaching that is integrated with society, preparing our students for diverse and complex work environments. “We are talking to other national and international Higher Education Institutions for future projects that involve work among our students across different courses. We will have news soon”, Professor Piazza points out.
