Course Topics
It is a capstone course for competence development, in which the knowledge and skills acquired in the various courses are pooled using problem solving based learning to analyse real situations and develop an action plan for starting a new venture including a business plan, the application for an accelerator program and/or a pitch deck for investors. List of topics covered: • Opportunity Evaluation and Selection. Students learn to identify and assess market opportunities based on evidence, feasibility, and strategic fit. What distinguishes a promising idea from a passing trend? • Customer Validation and Pricing. Participants. engage in real-world testing to validate customer needs and define pricing strategies that reflect value perception. Have you listened closely enough to build what people truly need—and will pay for? • Marketing Plan. The module covers lean marketing approaches for early-stage ventures, focusing on positioning, messaging, and channel selection. Can your message cut through the noise—and reach the right audience? • Finance Plan. Students design a basic financial model to estimate costs, revenues, and key performance indicators. Do your numbers tell a story that investors will believe in? • Business Model. This unit explores business model design tools (e.g., Business Model Canvas) to define how ventures create, deliver, and capture value. Who benefits from your solution—and why now? • Business Plan. Students learn how to synthesize their concept into a coherent, compelling business plan aimed at partners or funding institutions. Can you turn your vision into a convincing narrative? • Applying for an investment or to an Accelerator Programme. Participants gain insight into investment/application processes and how to communicate traction, potential, and team strength effectively. What makes your venture stand out from the crowd?

Teaching format
Frontal lectures, lab & projects

Educational objectives
Knowledge and understanding The student acquires advanced knowledge and understanding of the models and instruments of economic-business analysis for the creation of a new company with particular attention to the identification of new market opportunities, the availability and procurement of economic-financial resources and technological and organisational skills for the development of the company The student acquires advanced knowledge and understanding of the models and tools of economic-business analysis for the management of a new enterprise, from the financial and organisational point of view and with respect to the dynamics of growth and development I/we acquire advanced knowledge and understanding of the theories and tools for the economic analysis of business decisions. I/we acquire knowledge and understanding of theories and tools for the economic analysis of the market, at the level of the individual enterprise and the supply system I/we acquire knowledge and understanding of the theories and tools of statistical analysis for making market forecasts The student acquires knowledge of the legal forms necessary for the establishment of a company and for the legal protection of intellectual property rights Ability to apply knowledge and understanding ability to acquire and select information that may be relevant from an entrepreneurial point of view, also in economic-productive contexts different from those studied ability to analyse the combination of market opportunities and resources of the enterprise and to identify entrepreneurial formulas, also with the elaboration of original, compatible and sustainable solutions and combinations ability to select business economics models, suitable for the appropriate analysis of a specific economic-social and productive context ability to select the tools for the strategy and management of the enterprise, consistent with the enterprise economy models considered appropriate ability to assess the potential and sustainability of new business projects (business plan), from a multidisciplinary (economic, business and legal) perspective ability to assess the entrepreneurial potential associated with the development of an innovation by an enterprise (learning area 2) ability to propose and implement strategic and operational courses of action to favour the birth of a new enterprise Autonomy of judgement Acquire the ability to analyse complex entrepreneurial problems, such as the elaboration and evaluation of a business project (business plan) or the development of a new product. Acquire the ability to make forecasts, such as analysing the future consequences of entrepreneurial, managerial and operational choices. Project-based training is particularly suitable for developing autonomy of judgement with respect to situations and problems typical of innovation management and the creation of new businesses. Autonomy of judgement is developed in the training activities carried out for the preparation of the dissertation, as well as in the exercises that accompany the lectures and that involve group discussions and the comparison of individual analyses carried out by students in preparation for the lectures. Communication skills Acquire the ability to describe and communicate in an intercultural context, in a clear and precise manner, problematic situations typical of the management of a new enterprise and the development of innovation, such as, for example, the conditions for the validation of a problem or solution, the prospects and risks associated with a business model or an innovation project. The development of communication competences assumes heterogeneous situations such as, for example, the presence of internal stakeholders (e.g. colleagues, managers, owners), or external stakeholders (e.g. potential investors, suppliers and other business partners) and the ability to sustain an adversarial process. The achievement of these objectives is assessed in the course of the training activities already mentioned, as well as in the discussion of the final thesis. Learning ability Acquire the ability to study independently, to prepare summaries. Acquire the ability to identify thematic connections and to establish relationships between different cases and contexts of analysis Acquire the ability to frame a new problem systematically and to generate appropriate taxonomies. Acquire the ability to develop general models from the phenomena studied.

Assessment
• Intermediate presentations (30%) - validating assumptions • Final powerpoint-based presentation of the project work (30%) - testing the attractiveness of the idea and the plan • Project work (written): written project report done in groups (40%) - generating an action plan for starting a new venture • Intermediate presentations (30%) - validating assumptions The presence and participation at the lectures is obligatory; there is no assessment for non-attending students. Students attending less than 75% of the lectures will automatically fail the course.

Evaluation criteria
Relevant for intermediate presentations: • progress in integrating new content • mastery of language • ability to evaluate the state of the project • application of project to real world problems Relevant for powerpoint-based presentation of the project work: • clarity of expression • mastery of language • logic and coherence (in terms of structure and arguments) • conveying key messages in a reduced format • attention getting • mastery of key concepts Relevant for written project work: • clarity of expression • mastery of language • logic and coherence (in terms of structure and arguments) • integration of the various topics • establish logical relationships between sub-topics • maturity of project and funding probability