MBA students to work with MITdesignX on their final projects
Students in the Reykjavik University Executive MBA to work on strategies for Icelandic start-up companies with MITdesignX innovation centre at MIT and present them to a panel of experts at MIT in April.
The Final Project of the RU MBA is developed in cooperation with MITdesignX innovation center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston and Icelandic Startups and is the first of its kind in Iceland. The goal of the project is to give students know-how and international experience in innovation strategies, and give them the tools to create pathways for Icelandic start-ups into an international marketplace.
During the final project course, students will work in groups and complete four workshops, in addition to having regular meetings with mentors. The first workshop was completed in RU last weekend but the fourth and final one will be at MIT in Boston in April 2020. There, students will pitch their strategies for start-ups that have gone through the Icelandic Startups accelerator program, to a panel of MIT experts. They will have developed a thorough analysis and growth strategy, covering product development, customer acquisition, organizational development, and financial planning, needed to scale the new ventures and create sustainable and viable businesses. The students will apply an interdisciplinary venture design framework developed by the MITdesignX, where close collaboration with stakeholders and detailed understanding of their needs are used to create insights and opportunities for creative solutions, product fit and successful launch and scaling of new ventures.
Dr. Auður Arna Arnardóttir, Director of the Executive MBA at RU, says the new Final Project structure is a welcome addition to an already international program. „We enjoy having distinguished teachers from leading business schools on both sides of the Atlantic and consider the collaboration with MITdesignX to be a very exciting addition. It gives our students the opportunity to make use of the knowledge and skills they have accumulated in the interest of international start-up ventures and get feedback from MIT, RU, and industry experts, both here in Iceland and in Boston.“
The teachers in the Executive MBA in RU come from many of the world´s best business schools, for example IESE in Barcelona, Madrid, and New York, Richard Ivey and Rotham in Canada, MIT and UVA in the USA, London Business School and BI in Norway. The program has received the AMBA accreditation from the Association of MBAs.
MITdesignX is a graduate level interdisciplinary academic program and startup accelerator dedicated to human-centered innovation and entrepreneurship. The program is a new approach to design innovation, one that is based on creative optimism and close collaboration with partners and stakeholders.
