How your PhD can lead to a (Hardware) Start-up - 2024

With this seminar we want to show PhD students how to translate their research results into a product on the market in a very pragmatic and hands-on way. More precisely we will focus on hardware devices. Two cases will be used where we present the different steps these spin-offs made, starting from a PhD and ending up in a (successful) company.

We will give an answer on questions like: How to switch from an academic PhD mindset to an entrepreneur? How to detect the right market? How to raise money? How to convince investors (and yourself)? What should I do myself and where to use partners for? What about production? …
To support these 2 cases, we will explain the product development process, and what steps to take. The first steps will focus on how to find the right product-market fit, whereas the last steps focus on industrialization and scaling up your product.

This session will be taught by Sander Van den dries, director of Comate Engineering & Design.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the workshop, participants will be...

• have insight in the product development process.
• able to better assess what it means in terms of effort, time and cost.

Competences

An important part of preparing for any further professional step is becoming (more) aware of the competences you have developed and/or want to develop. In the current workshop, the following competences from the UHasselt competency overview are actively dealt with:

• interpersonal competences:
  • stakeholder awareness
• personal effectiveness:
  • entrepreneurship
  • initiative
• intellectual competences:
  • innovativeness

For whom?

• PhD students who want to know more about beginning a start-up or who are curious to see how a research result can reach the market.

When and where?

• November 05, 2024 - 14:00-15:30
• Campus Diepenbeek, building D, room A5

Registration?

• Registrations are closed as from October 08, 2024.
• As places are limited, registering does not automatically imply that you will be able to participate. You will be notified by email after the registration deadline has passed.
• Please cancel your registration at least one week in advance in case you cannot make it (cf. cancellation & no-show policy).

Acknowledged as?

• DS ST: career management & personal development - course/session about career or personal development