Entrepreneurial Leadership Seminar 2019

The 2019 ELS provided participating MSc, MAS and doctoral students with a rewarding learning opportunity: a real case study of strategy and innovation in close collaboration with Swisscom AG. Working with Swisscom’s Data, Analytics and AI division, they contributed to work on future-oriented topics like “Voicebots” and “Algorithmic Fairness”, and had an impact on their implementation at Swisscom. In the various team assignments, not only technical and innovative aspects but also social, ethical, HR and marketing-relevant aspects played an important role and had to be taken into account. In a final presentation the three student teams gave their recommendations to key Swisscom stakeholders and received valuable feedback in return. Several D-MTEC professors supported and coached the participants during this educational journey.

Voices from MTEC

The Entrepreneurial Leadership Seminar was….

“…both challenging and extremely rewarding. It was challenging in that it required us to devise economically viable, practically feasible and contextually coherent solutions for a complex problem. It was extremely rewarding in my eyes because the ELS seminar is unique in its setup, as it allows us to acquire leadership skills not theoretically from a textbook but practically from a real-world case and through interactions with the team, our case managers and academic coaches.”
Daniel Wochner, doctoral candidate, D-MTEC, KOF Swiss Economic Institute

“…a creative and fun course that worked as a contrast to most of my other courses. The case was very intriguing, and this kept me motivated. Very labour-intensive, but rewarding and interesting. Exactly like a case course should be.”
Vidar Trojenborg, MSc MTEC exchange student

“…a fantastic learning experience! I really learned a lot working with people from different cultures, putting theoretical academic frameworks into practical use, and delivering presentations.”
Niharika Singh, MSc MTEC student

“…a unique opportunity to learn a huge variety of different skills that are extremely valuable for the future. Our case manager showed us the potential problems that can arise in such a project and gave us the sandbox environment to test ideas and techniques without greater consequences.”
Simon Neff, MSc MTEC student

Would you recommend this seminar to a good friend from among your peer students?

“Definitely. Although it is a lot of work (which I emphasise!) I think that the working style and learning pay off. In no other course are students given the opportunity to interact like this in ‘real’ group work. My favourite course at D-MTEC so far!”
Corrado Fraschetti, MSc MTEC student

“I would. It is the perfect format for learning more about working in a team and using your current skillset and toolbox to solve interesting real-life problems.”
Vidar Trojenborg, MSc MTEC exchange student

“Definitely! This is a course which tested my capabilities to the core; its intensity increased day by day. A very satisfying experience in the end.”
Harish Surana, MAS MTEC student