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Priorities:University de Montevideo Student Priorities

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= STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP CULTURE AMONG UM STUDENTS =

== Strategy One: Create an entrepreneurial club of UM students ==

Despite there is a center of leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators at the University, we find a weak innovation and entrepreneurship culture among students, especially because the same students go to the workshops and talks, and there are few. Many students don’t know about the existence of Initium or they don’t take advantage of it privileges. So we think that if create an independent entrepreneurial club with UM students, this could change. But not any student can get in. It must be something that make this club special. So it would be a pre-selection. The judges (at the beginning would be us: Cecilia, Romina, Matías and Luis) must see an entrepreneurial spirit, and show that they could be an agent of change. Being a member of this club would be also a privilege for the CVs of the members. In the club, the members can work for projects or areas (logistics, communication, fundraising, etc). Then, the same members can reclute students for specific projects. It would count with Initium’s support, but it would be independent, so it must have a director that at the beginning would be probably one of us, or a graduate student. The director can also make recommendation letters for the members which would help in finding a job. The meetings would take place in ZROOMs (classrooms that already exist in the UM, that is similar to Stanford classrooms) or even better, the Design Thinking Room that we’re also planning to do (see Strategy Six), once a week, the day that all the members agree about. - Step #1:Talk to UM authorities and see what type of benefits the group members can have. Romina will handle this task by the end of March.<br/span><br/~~span~~> - Step #2: Create a selection commitment who will pick the members of the club by interviews. Romina will handle this task at the beginning of April.<br/span><br/~~span~~> - Step #3: Make a communication campaign to invite members to the club. Cecilia will handle this task at the middle of April.

== Strategy Two: Students lead social events ==

Strong academic pressure and curricula makes it difficult to have time to explore other projects. This has been a problem that the four of us have experienced but we agree on the fact that time is always a limited resource but motivation is the key to success. We believe this problem has strong connections with the weak student entrepreneurship and innovation culture we have at our campus.

For this reason, our solution to this problem involves a new course that boost motivation by getting the students 100% involved in doing and not just planning. Class projects that end with a powerpoint presentation to the rest of the class have became a classic but no one really cares about the project and hardly ever people get motivated and really involved. Start Up 01 is a 4,5 credit course, as any other elective, that takes the students to a real startup launch in 16 weeks. Its an applied course that lets the student learn by designing, testing, and develop his team venture. - Step #1: Talk to María Martha, Business Administration’s coordinator and Josefina Maisonnave, Initium’s director, to find the correct professors to lead this class and make a good programmation. Matias will handle this task at the end of March. <br/span><br/~~span~~> - Step #2: Talk to the coordinators of all the careers and authorities to add this course in students curricula. It’s important that subjects like “Creativity & Innovation” and “Entrepreneurial initiative” go first. Matias will handle this task at the end of April.<br/span><br/~~span~~> - Step #3: Make a communication campaign to invite students who have the old programme, to take it as an elective course. Matias will handle this task at the end of June.

== Strategy Four: Create a mentor’s network that guide entrepreneurs in each step of their projects ==

Initium center only help students in their first steps of their projects: to make their business plan and find financial support, but it’s difficult to support them after that because of it’s capacity, space and lack of time for the people who work there. If they create a project in the courses that Initium offers, then they don’t have the space and materials to continue it. A Design Thinking Space without fixed classes where any student can work in their projects, at any hour, would be a great solution.

This would take place in Engineering Faculty because we can also solve the problem of Engineering students who feel disconnected from the other faculties, so any student who wants to use it must come to this Faculty. Also we find an interesting space where now are the labs, but if we construct a 2 floors building, we can put all there. Finally be thought that if Civil Engineering students can help with the construction, it’ll help them to improve their practical work, it’s more personal and it reduces the cost. - Step #1:Talk to Civil Engineering professors, so we can plan a project with their students to construct the building. Romina will handle this task, between 13th and 17th of March. - Step #2:Make events to raise money or find sponsors. Cecilia will handle this task, and she’ll organise them in April. - Step #3:Buy all the materials. Cecilia will handle this task. We hope to do this in July-August. - Step #4:Make a communication campaign to invite UM students to try it. Cecilia will handle this task. We hope to do this in August-September.<~~br/><br~~/span><br/~~span~~>

= RELATED LINKS =

[http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Universidad_de_Montevideo Universidad de Montevideo] [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Cecilia_Tejera Cecilia Tejera] [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Romina_Dominzain Romina Dominzain] [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Matias_Menendez Matias Menendez] [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Luis_Gurmendez Luis Gurmendez]

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