UTAlumni NetworkNewsCelebrating 15 years of NIKOS entrepreneurship

Celebrating 15 years of NIKOS entrepreneurship

NIKOS, the University of Twente’s department for Entrepreneurship, Strategy, Innovation, International Management and Marketing, is celebrating its 15th anniversary with a series of venture classes and master classes that are open to members of the public.

The celebrations will take place from 10-14 October. To mark the anniversary, NIKOS will be supporting EREI (Enschede Refugee Entrepreneurship Initiative).  Eighteen refugees will be pitching their entrepreneurial ideas during a venture class on Thursday 13 October.

NIKOS will be offering highly interesting classes which will be open to students and staff at the University of Twente, and members of the public. Prof. Petra de Weerd-Nederhof, Department Chair since 2015, says “The ten master classes cover a wide range of topics and are each organized by different researchers. The five venture classes, which will be held in the evenings, have a practical focus.”

Anniversary programme

NIKOS has already organized two classes, which took place in September: a master class on teaching entrepreneurship, in cooperation with Saxion, and a venture class on entrepreneurial happiness. The anniversary programme will continue on 12 October with a master class on academic entrepreneurship and social innovation by Padmakumar Nair, Director of LM Thapar School of Management in India. On 13 October, NIKOS’ Carla Millar and guest speaker John Mahon (University of Maine, US) will give an afternoon lecture on the influence of cultural differences between countries and groups on international management, in relation to innovation and entrepreneurship. On Friday 14 October, researchers from both the Netherlands and abroad will present brief ‘key notes’, and two graduation prizes will be awarded. There will also be three doctoral degree defences on social entrepreneurship, technology transfer and technology commercialization.

Enschede Refugee Entrepreneurship Initiative (EREI)

The venture class on 13 October will begin with pitch sessions by teams from DELITELABS. DELITELABS aims to encourage entrepreneurship in areas with high levels of youth unemployment and among disadvantaged young people, such as refugees. Eighteen refugees are currently taking part in the DELITELABS programme in the Netherlands. The University of Twente has invited the participants to attend the DesignLab for a week, where they will be assisted with the development of prototypes for their products and services. DELITELABS is the nominated charity for the NIKOS anniversary celebrations. Proceeds will go towards establishing EREI, a joint venture by DELITELABS and University of Twente. During the venture class that evening, Ray Quintana (Cottonwood Technology Fund) will give a presentation entitled ‘Internationalizing World Class Early Stage Funding’, together with the founder of NIKOS, Prof. Aard Groen.

Further information

You can register for the various sessions via this link. Registration is free of charge. Locations:
12 October at 15.45 in Room 2 of the Waaier Building; 13 October from 15.00 in The Gallery; 14 October in the Ravelijn Building. Anniversary donations to DELITELABS: Stichting Delitelabs, Oude Waal 4E,
1011BX AMSTERDAM,
NL39 TRIO 0390 9747 14
TRIONL2U

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