Christoph Zrenner explains what the MedTech Startup School Tübingen is about:
1. Who initiated the summer school and why?
The trigger for the summer school was actually a call for proposals from the federal ministry of education and research (BMBF: “Industrie-in-Klinik Plattformen”) in fall 2014. Christoph, from the neurology hospital, Lukas, from the University startup office, and Daniel, CEO of a technology spin-off start-up from the medical faculty, joined forces to propose launching Steve Blank’s Lean Launchpad for Life Sciences and Healthcare curriculum in the form of a 100 day entrepreneurship acceleration program in Tübingen. This initiative really hit a nerve and garnered tremendous support from the university, the hospital and the regional entrepreneurship community.
2. What is the goal?
We believe in the power of the academic world to generate innovations to make the world better. So we are trying to build this “machine” where in goes a an idea from the research lab or the university hospital on day zero, and on day 100 out comes a working prototype that can taken up by investors or industry and developed into a product. But without people, ideas don’t turn into anything: So the key ingredient that makes all this work is the participants and the process that we teach them (see Steve Blank’s Startup-Owners Manual). We want the participants to learn how to start a company and to realize from this experience that they can do it.
3. Who can participate?
The hospital and research institute ecosystem is a fantastic advantage for what we are trying to do: Bring together doctors, scientists, engineers and MBAs to create something together in 100 days. The summer school benefits from the different backgrounds of the participants and we don’t have strict criteria: any researcher, graduate and undergraduate with a demonstrable passion for entrepreneurship, healthcare and innovation can apply. We are also looking for established entrepreneurs who want to share their experience, accelerate their start-up or even join a new one. Moreover, medical doctors, even if they can only make themselves available for a few hours every day, provide a key-input to the teams by sharing the end user perspective and providing daily feedback as on-site customers.
4. What are the participants going to learn?
It’s an intense 100 days, every week a different part of the business model canvas will be validated by the teams and in parallel to understanding the need and the market, the prototype will actually be built. The course is part teaching (by Prof. Högsdal and Daniel Bartel) and part practical execution, with help from many experts and mentors following the Lean Start-up methodology: achieving a lot with minimal resources. In short, the teams learn how to build something that people want, and will actually build it.
5. When and where does the summer school take place?
The summer school takes place here in Tübingen, Germany. It’s one of the oldest universities in Germany and one that receives special funding as one of the universities in the federal government’s “Exzellenzinitiative”. We have co-working spaces and classrooms available at the university and the university hospital for the duration of the program. The summer school runs from July 4th through October 12th and is divided in separate parts, including a clinical immersion program, and then a two-part curriculum running July 27th to August 31st, and September 1st to October 9th 2015. Participants who take part in the entire program receive 12 ECTS points from the university.
6. What can you tell people that missed the summer school this year?
Don’t worry when you miss one bus, just be ready to get onto the next one! The 2015 batch is a our pilot batch, while there is magic in beginnings, 2016 will probably be even better and we look forward to your application ;-) Meanwhile, you are welcome to participate in the story, come to our open events, join the conversation on this blog and on slack. There’s a big community that’s ready to help you once you’ve made the decision to start something. Good luck!