Fostering Entrepreneurial Mindset & Transversal Skills (4EU+ Alliance)

An international online course within the 4EU+ Alliance designed primarily for tutors, supervisors, and interested PhD students across the 4EU+ Alliance. The aim is to equip academics with the skills required for effective leadership, team motivation, and fostering an entrepreneurial mindset in an academic setting.

• Format: 5 online modules with worksheets in the Moodle environment + a final live module (live online meeting).

• Certification Requirement: Submission of all worksheets and participation in the final online meeting.

• Course pre-registration: here.

• Language: English

• Free of charge.

Course Modules Overview:

• Module 1:

  
  

  Unveiling Innovation and Entrepreneurship

  
  

  Entrepreneurship as a learnable competence (EntreComp framework), viewing your research through societal impact, and identifying value beyond purely academic outputs.

  
  
  

• Module 2

  
  

  The Problem Is Not What You Think - How to challenge assumptions before jumping to solutions

  
  

  Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution focuses on one of the most important – and often underestimated – stages of innovation: deeply understanding the problem before developing solutions. Academics, researchers, and students are trained to solve complex problems, but expertise and cognitive biases can also encourage premature assumptions about what the real problem is. This module explores why a problem statement should be treated as a hypothesis rather than a fact and how tutors can help students distinguish assumptions from evidence. Participants learn how desk research and AI can be combined with real-world investigation through doing, observing, and interviewing. Particular attention is given to conducting interviews without unintentionally validating an existing idea or solution. Through practical examples, participants experience how surprising evidence can lead to a fundamentally different understanding and reframing of a problem. The module equips tutors with practical methods to foster curiosity, patience, critical thinking, and a problem-first mindset in their students.

  
  
  

• Module 3:

  
  

  Design Thinking in Life and Pedagogy

  
  

  This 20-minute session applies core Design Thinking principles directly to the tutoring experience. Participants map their key energy drivers and drains, reframe an everyday challenge into a clear focal question, and map out a practical 48-hour test. A focused introduction connecting agile methodology with everyday self-management and course delivery.

  
  
  

  Cheng-Wen Jaw is Entrepreneurship Education Manager at hei_INNOVATION, the transfer agency of Heidelberg University, as well as Design Thinking Facilitator and Entrepreneurship Lecturer at Heidelberg University – there, since November 2024, he has been responsible for curriculum development, workshops, and summer schools in Chile and India. Previously, he worked as a Startup Advisor at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg.

  
  
  

• Module 4:

  
  

  Mentoring Without Taking Over

  
  

  Navigating the core dilemma of mentoring: guiding students to find their own path without micromanaging, including actionable coaching questions.

  
  
  

• Module 5:

  
  

  Pitch Perfect: From Concept to Delivery

  
  
  

  Coming up with a great idea is only half the battle — knowing how to deliver it to the right audience is what makes it land. In this module, we'll walk through the process of crafting the perfect pitch, from initial idea to final presentation. Along the way, we'll cover structure, language, and visual design, as well as body language and the techniques that help you stand out.

  
  
  

  Eliška Jandová is a PhD candidate at Charles University's Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, where her research focuses on hematological malignancies. In 2022, she was named first runner-up in the international FameLab science communication competition, and she has been active in scicom ever since — hosting a podcast, creating science content for social media, and leading workshops on presentation skills. Apart from her research she focuses on teaching not only scientists how to deliver tough topics to the general public.

  
  
  

• Module 6

  
  

  Reflection and Bridging Practice with Academia (Live online session)

  
  

  Final reflection, sharing plans for implementing knowledge into practice, supplemented by a guest lecture from the Lifelong Learning Centre and the Chamber of Commerce Ing. Radek Čajka, Ph.D.