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.

This is a pilot course, giving you a unique opportunity to be among the very first to test it. The launch is scheduled for late October, with the final call planned for late November or early December. Thank you for your interest—we look forward to having you!

• 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.

• Expression of interest form: here.

• Language: English

• Free of charge.

Course Modules Overview:

• Module 1:

  
  

  Demystifying Innovation & Entrepreneurship

  
  

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

  
  

  Gergana Romanova (KU Lighthouse, University of Copenhagen) is an innovation consultant, researcher, and educator specializing in interdisciplinary learning, entrepreneurship education, and university-industry collaboration. She serves as a Senior Innovation Consultant and Postdoctoral Researcher/Program Lead at the University of Copenhagen and as a tutor within the 4EU+ Alliance. She bridges academic research on open innovation and public-private partnerships with hands-on industry experience from the corporate and IT sectors (e.g., LEGO Group) and international educational capacity-building initiatives.

  
  

• Module 2

  
  

  Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution

  
  

  This session 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 confirming an existing idea or solution. Through practical examples and activities, 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.

  
  

  Georg Fischer (Business Innovation) is an experienced business innovation coach, entrepreneurship educator and keynote speaker with more than 25 years of international business and leadership experience. He combines deep expertise in business model innovation, design thinking, product strategy and customer-focused innovation with a pragmatic understanding of how ideas move from concept to market. Today, he supports students, researchers, founders and startup teams in identifying relevant problems, testing assumptions and developing viable business models and compelling pitches. His approach is clear, practical and empathetic, helping people navigate uncertainty and make better decisions.

  
  

• Module 3:

  
  

  Designing Student Learning

  
  

  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.

  
  

  Hervé Marc is the Project Manager for Intrapreneurship and Europe at Sorbonne University, where he leads the 4EU+ Entrepreneurial and Intrapreneurial Project Management Program. With over 35 years of project management experience, lecturer specializes in turning global

  challenges into opportunities through responsible innovation and international collaboration. As a mentor to entrepreneurs and executives across Europe, he empowers individuals and teams to become changemakers and fosters solutions with lasting impact. His cross-functional background in marketing and communications at Mars Inc. gave him deep insight into large-scale organizational dynamics and operations. Today, he is committed to projects that combine

  academic rigor with industry relevance to shape a new generation of responsible leaders.

  
  

• Module 5:

  
  

  Communicating Impact: The Art of Pitching

  
  

  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 guest lectures from the Lifelong Learning Centre and the Chamber of Commerce – Ing. Radek Čajka, Ph.D., and the team behind Čím budu ("What I’ll Be"): Jan Bubanec, Career Advisor and Co-founder, and Dominika Lustig, Founder, Social Impact Award 2026 winner, People & Culture lead at @DaTeam focusing on leadership towards autonomy, and member of the Inspire & Impact Network.