TECHucate: A German-Egyptian Tandem Programme
19.09.2024
Daniela Musial-Lemberg
Backstage
This summer, around 10 Master's students and scientists from KIT were able to exchange ideas with students and doctoral candidates from the Egyptian National Research Centre and the Zewail City of Science, Technology and Innovation and get to know each other's start-up ecosystems.
As part of the TECH4Transition module TECHucate, the students develop a business model in workshops in German-Egyptian tandems over a period of two weeks based on technologies and patents developed at KIT. The programme consisted of a series of lectures, workshops and excursions.
The programme kicked off in Karlsruhe at the end of July with an introduction to entrepreneurship by Prof. Orestis Terzidis and various team-building activities. The participants received various inputs on topics such as technological patents and marketing and worked together on models such as the ‘Value Proposition Canvas’ and ‘Jobs to be Done’. They also visited cyber labs and start-ups at the Cyberforum and went on an excursion to SAP in Walldorf and the KIT Campus North.
The trip then travelled to Egypt at the beginning of September. After the KIT students arrived, the programme started immediately with lectures and workshops on the topics of ‘Ideation in DeepTech’ and ‘Supply Chain Management’. Visits to Egyptian start-ups such as Proteinea and Labtronics enabled the participants to gain valuable practical insights and cultural experience. In other workshops such as ‘The Basics of Venture Capital’ or ‘How to do a perfect pitch’, the students practised presenting their ideas to potential investors. Visits to the Greek Campus and the NilePreneurs Incubator were also on the programme. An excursion to the pyramids and the Grand Museum as well as guided tours through the historic centre of Cairo were of course also part of the programme.
The German-Egyptian TECHucate programme was a complete success: through the interplay of theory, practice and culture, the participants from both countries were able to deepen their knowledge of entrepreneurship and strengthen their intercultural skills.
TECH4Transition was developed at KIT and is implemented in cooperation with GIZ.
