Engage with Imperial academics:
6 to 12 February 2025

Societal grand challenges are massive social and environmental issues such as Digitisation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation, Climate Change, Energy, Water, Food, Health, Ecology, Poverty and Equality. These transcend national borders and have potential or actual negative effects on large numbers of people, communities, business and the planet. Business models will be impacted, new economic opportunities will emerge and social solutions will need to be found. The post pandemic global economy requires a new generation of creative business and social entrepreneurs.

This programme will provide you with latest innovative tools in business and entrepreneurship to equip you with the knowledge and skillset need for the 21st century and to systematically understand, design & differentiate new business models and facilitate innovative ideas for novel products and services.

Topics covered include:

  • Introduction to grand societal challenges – UN SDG Framework
  • Importance of Open Innovation Frameworks for Global challenges and business
  • Innovating and commercialising business models
  • Entrepreneurial finance
  • Strategic Management & Competitive advantage
  • Business strategy
  • Leadership and team building
  • How to write a business plan
  • How to communicate your ideas
  • Build and maintain networks (networking)
  • Presentation to jury: business model & financials

Arrival and Departure Dates

Arrival date: 4 February 2025
Departure date: 14 February 2025

For queries, please contact:

More information

Programme structures & format

The winter school will be delivered with up to 30.5 learning hours to include:

  • Lectures with interactive exercises, group discussions and questions.
  • Group projects for assessing the learning outcomes, supported by Q&A/tutorials.
  • Guest speakers will include start-up founders, investors, mentors and innovators etc.
  • Final day for project presentation.

Project work will be done through team-based learning and tutorials. Final projects will be presented in groups on the last day of the programme. A prize will be awarded to the team with the best project. 

The entire programme will be taught in English.

Teaching faculty

The winter school will be taught by Dr Ebrahim Mohamed and a multi-disciplinary teaching faculty from the other departments.

Dr Ebrahim Mohamed is an innovation expert and formerly Director of Executive MBA programmes at Imperial College Business School where he worked for over 20 years. Ebrahim was one of the founding team members of the Imperial Entrepreneurship HUB and received the prestigious Imperial College Graduate School Award for contribution to Innovation/Entrepreneurship (transferable skills) programme. Ebrahim has mentored executives, young professionals and entrepreneurs for over two decades from the elite institutions of the UK and Europe.

Ebrahim held one of the most significant roles in Europe as the Director of Education at Climate-KIC where he was mandated to define the new paradigm for climate innovation education. Climate-KIC is Europe’s leading organisation focused on innovation opportunities to mitigate and adapt to societal grand challenge of climate change. It is a public-private partnership with an impressive array of over 200 organisations including academic partners (Imperial College, ETH Zurich, UPMC and Oxford University), research institutes (Grantham and Potsdam) and a multitude of corporate partners from across Europe (KLM, ENGIE, Velux, Knight Frank). Through this work Ebrahim has a strong foundation on the innovation agenda of grand challenges. He is a specialist in the field of entrepreneurship education and helped spearhead Climate-KIC’s reputation in technology and innovation in Europe.

Ebrahim continues to work with a number of prestigious international Business Schools such as INSEAD, DUKE-FUQUA, Columbia and Stanford University on the challenges of education and business. He has been an expert advisor to multiple EU Agencies, EU Skills Agenda and the new EU Framework Programme. Ebrahim is currently working on initiatives empowering women as technology innovators and leaders. Also, he is focusing on MedTech and Cybersecurity entrepreneurship training. Ebrahim works as a freelance teacher at the London School of Economics and the Open University.

Ebrahim has received accolades for innovation in entrepreneurship education from the European Commission, OECD, Comite21, The Guardian and Forbes. Ebrahim is an ESRC (UK Economic and Social Research Council) Scholarship Winner, a graduate form the London School of Economics and a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and has contributed regularly to the Financial Times, Independent, Times, Guardian and other media channels.

Certification

Students will receive a verified Imperial College London certificate of attendance on successful completion of this programme and a prize will be awarded to the best project team. Each student will also receive a transcript for their project marks.

Entry requirements

All students are expected to be studying an undergraduate or a postgraduate degree in any subject disciplines, at a well-recognised university. 

English requirements:

The winter school is designed for students studying an undergraduate degree in any subject discipline.

Applicants should normally demonstrate good overall university performance in their current year of study.

Applicants must be at least 18 years old before the start of the winter school.

Applicants should have a good command of English, and if it is not their first language, they will need to satisfy the College requirement as follows:

  • a minimum score of IELTS (Academic Test) 6.5 overall (with no less than 6.0 in any element) or equivalent.
  • TOEFL (iBT) 92 overall (minimum 20 in all elements)
  • CET- 4 (China) minimum score of 550
  • CET- 6 (China) minimum score of 520