The EIT Digital Academy announces that this year’s Kick-Off for newly enrolled EIT Digital Master School students will be held in Trento on 25 and 26 October. About 500 international students - admitted to one of the seven EIT Digital Master School programmes - will come together to work on an exciting business challenge and lay the foundations of their international network. Students have until 15 April to enrol on these programmes.
The Kick-Off is the official start of the academic year for the EIT Digital Master School, in where 16 outstanding technical European universities to educate the future innovators that a strong digital Europe needs. All students receive a deep tech education with a layer of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Learning to think like an entrepreneur is a key element of the EIT Digital Master School. The School seeks out the best technical students and equips them with cutting-edge knowledge and business skills, to help guarantee Europe’s leading role in the global digital economy.
“Our education system immerses our students from day one to think like entrepreneurs. Most of the students are so inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit, that they want to start their own businesses,” says Roberto Prieto, head of the EIT Digital Academy, referring to a survey held among Master School alumni. Sixty percent of students said they would be willing to start their own business someday, and 35% said they want to do so within two years of graduating.
The Kick-Off is the students’ first encounter with the innovation and entrepreneurial aspect of this special double degree masters for all seven EIT Digital Master School programmes (students pursue their degrees at two different universities). Other elements are the innovation and entrepreneurship classes, a two week Summer School and an internship with one of the EIT Digital partners.
The Kick-Off is held every year at a different location where EIT Digital has an office. Prieto said: “We want to show our students that we need to think about a strong digital Europe and therefore how you need a pan-European network.”
Trento is, according to Gian Mario Maggio, Director of the EIT Digital Node: “characterised by a favorable environment for innovation. Trento has established itself as a hotspot of technological and social progress, drawing on some of the most promising startups in Italy, working closely with the university, research centers and research hubs.”
The Kick-Off will be organised in collaboration with the University of Trento, where the students will be tasked to think out and pitch innovative solutions in a realistic business competition. About 50 teams of eight students each will be working on a total of 50 ideas. At the end of the intensive two days, each team has to pitch their solution to make a better world and only one of them can win.
Programmes
The EIT Digital Master School students can choose from seven technical Master School programmes. They study in two top universities in two countries.
During the two-year course, students complete a work placement as well as a two-week Summer School programme. In total students can visit around five countries over two years. Graduates of the EIT Digital Master School programme are rewarded with a double master’s degree coupled with a certificate from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).
The students can apply until 15 April for one of these EIT Digital Master School programmes:
- Autonomous Systems (AS)
- Cloud and Network Infrastructures (CNI)
- Cyber Security (CS)
- Data Science (DSC)
- Embedded Systems (ES)
- Human Computer Interaction and Design (HCID)
- Visual Computing and Communication (VCC)
Below is the list of participating universities welcoming international students within the EIT Digital Master School programmes.
