EMPOWER · Entrepreneurial Multidisciplinary scientists forging Pathways Onto clean Water, sustainable Energy and Resources

Entrepreneurial Multidisciplinary scientists forging Pathways Onto clean Water, sustainable Energy and Resources

EMPOWER is an innovative doctoral training programme hosted by Wetsus (NL), in collaboration with 5 universities (Wageningen University (NL), University of Twente (NL), University of Groningen (NL), Technical University of Delft (NL), and Boku University (AU)) aiming to encourage entrepreneurship in research. The objective is to create a highly demanded type of professional in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), with the skillset to operate between academic chairs, established knowledge-intensive companies, start-ups, public authorities, and the general public. Overall, the doctoral training programme consists of four main, interconnected parts, which are dedicated to developing different skills: research, multidisciplinary expertise, entrepreneurship, and personal development. In particular, Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) enrolling in EMPOWER are asked to integrate their PhD path with an integrated business-oriented training (MBA), which allows for a dual degree. This dual training is fundamental to prepare STEM PhD students for careers in entrepreneurship. The objective of this initial period was to evaluate candidates to enroll in a total of 14 PhD positions and coordinate their training within the four above-mentioned parts. The writing and publication of scientific papers will unravel the dissemination of the results. The expected outcome of EMPOWER is that all the ESRs will be able to successfully complete both research and MBA education. When the final objective is successfully achieved, the perspective of Wetsus is to introduce this as a brand-new concept of PhD education, training scientific entrepreneurs which will in turn train universities and companies into speaking the same language.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union