Imagine you got in at one of the most prestigious universities of the world, but you still feel unable to fully get rid of you creative innovation juices. Harvard University offers the solution: the Harvard Innovation Lab (i-lab).
The i-lab was launched in November 2011, and offers programs to students from across Harvard - nicknamed Cantibrigians or Cantabs - interested in entrepreneurship and innovation. It accepts any student from any Harvard school with any idea, fostering cross-disciplinary, cross-university collaboration. The current student ventures span social and cultural entrepreneurship, health and sciences, technology, and consumer fields. An important part of the i-lab approach is the collaboration it fosters among Harvard students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and members of the Boston communities.
What does it do exactly? Well, it offers 'Foundational learning' (courses and online video), expert resources (workshops and one-on-one appointments with lawyers and entrepreneurs, experiential learning experiences (challenges, trips, and startup weekends) and the so-called 'Venture Incubation Program' (incubation, mentoring, private workshops, community building events)
The i-lab itself consists of nearly 30,000 square feet of space, with workstations, conference rooms, a workshop/prototyping room, a classroom, video conference suite, and - important to hungry students - a stocked kitchen.
So, what has come out of this i-lab recently, you may wonder? An interesting innovation is for instance LifeGuides, a service that provides young professionals with free career guides authored by mentors who have been there, done that. The team behind it was a resident at the i-lab in 2014. The idea actually started at Harvard Business School when founder Phil Strazzulla observed that a coffee chat with the right person could change your career. He comments: “During a coffee chat, you get two main benefits. One is information. The second is a gateway to job opportunities." Strazzulla claims that by having a presence on LifeGuides, you’re getting in front of the right people in a way companies have typically struggled to do before – by creating useful and relevant content that users are searching for.
LifeGuides actually wants users to learn what a job is really like day to day, how to get that job, and what the career path is like. It also synthesizes strategies, techniques and tips from the very best people in a given field. By signing up, LifeGuides creates a career graph that keeps track of your activity on the site, and tells companies what you're interested in.
A screenshot of LifeGuides:
I would encourage you to check out this innovative approach to job searching by going to the website: http://www.lifeguides.me
For more information on the i-lab, go to: https://i-lab.harvard.edu
So, what do you think: Could Ghent University benefit from such an initiative fostering team-based and entrepreneurial activities among students? Comments below!
Astrid
Dear all,
first of all: a very warm welcome to our 2015 IBCE blog!
Here, over the coming weeks you and your classmates will be able to post items on GREEN innovations and comment on posts made by others.
As you know, the driving force behind this blog (and our entire course) is the concept of innovation; what does this mean to you, what have you read or heard about it recently, which innovations have you been confronted with lately, etc.
This year, for the second time we focus on GREEN innovations, so keep that in mind as you scower the media and the internet for interesting topics to write about.
We urge you to post a minimum of 6 items (per team) on this topic during the course, which amounts to more or less one entry a week.
Feel free to browse your peers' entries and comment on them. This is a blog, after all!
Happy blogging!
Astrid
