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Entrepreneurial Honours students explore sustainable business in Vancouver

Honours Course in Sustainability
Master’s in Entrepreneurship Class of 2012
Entrepreneurial Honours students explore sustainable business in Vancouver

Students from the MSc Entrepreneurship and New Business Venturing class of 2012 at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) travelled to Canada in early June to learn about a variety of sustainable business initiatives emerging from Vancouver, named the world’s  “most liveable city” in 2010.

Just 24 students were selected by RSM’s Faculty of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship to take part in this Honours class, which presents an all-encompassing view of the responsibilities associated with sustainable growth, and the smart use of global resources. It exposes students to the business world they will experience after graduation.

During their trip to Canada, the entrepreneurial minds of the students were triggered to find different ways to develop and promote sustainable ‘clean-tech’ solutions through participation in a start-up company, with discussions and case studies.

The group of 24 students, together with the Faculty Professors Dr Orietta Marsili and Dr Luca Berchicci, spent 11 days exploring the world of sustainable ideas, using Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University as a hub. They prepared case studies and presented findings for a heat and humidity exchanger product, explored ways to commercialise a more efficient way of extracting phytochemicals from food, and discovered the venture capitalist’s role in the process.

The class was invited to an entrepreneurial event at the Vancouver campus of the University of British Columbia (UBC), which they described as ‘inspiring’. The event took place in UBC’s Centre for Innovative Research on Sustainability (CIRS), based in the most sustainable building in North America with an impressively low carbon footprint, where RSM students presented a comparison of wind farms industry in Europe and Canada. The day finished with an open discussion of carbon emission rights and a presentation from the CEO and president of the most active clean-tech venture capital fund based in Vancouver, Wal van Lierop from Crysalix, followed by a concluding presentation from RSM’s student organisers Ashkan Mortezapour and Jozef Misik

Grouse Mountain is one of Vancouver’s landmarks. Students were invited to a question-and-answer session with a member of the family which owns the area, during which they extended their understanding of the importance of responsible development. “It was a rare opportunity to see downtown’s skyline from inside of the Eye of the Wind – a wind turbine with a viewing deck, located on the peak of Grouse Mountain, which supplies about a quarter of energy being used by the ski resort located below,” said the students.

After completing their assignments and visits to sites of sustainable businesses and initiatives, students enthusiastically explored Vancouver’s sights with shopping in colourful Robson Street, a visit to the False Creek marina, and cycling trips to the Sea Wall and Granville Island. For some energetic nascent RSM entrepreneurs, they continued their discussions with an extra trip to the islands of Okanagan Lake in British Columbia where they had a chance to further discuss their thoughts about sustainability in business.

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University is consistently ranked amongst the top 10 business schools in Europe. It is located in the international port city of Rotterdam where core Dutch values of openness, flexibility and acceptance of diversity have attracted businesses on a global scale. Our emphasis is on groundbreaking research and practices relevant to business; our primary focus is on developing business leaders who carry their innovative ideas into a sustainable future. Our portfolio includes a broad array of bachelor, master, doctoral, MBA and executive education programmes. www.rsm.nl

For more information on RSM or on this release, please contact Marianne Schouten, Media & Public Relations Manager for RSM, on +31 10 408 2877 or by email at mschouten@remove-this.rsm.nl.