SDG-based entrepreneurship in organizations (SDG - 15EC)

The SDG-based entrepreneurship minor is a challenged-based program designed in collaboration between the Delft Center for Entrepreneurship (Delft Technological University), Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University), and the Department of Corporate Law (Leiden University) and PortCityFutures.

Governments, privates and non-profit organizations, whether they are small or large, acknowledge that action is needed to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and recognize the need to aim at systemic change towards a post-2030 agenda. This action-based minor involves students in real, existing challenges that organizations face to address Sustainable Development Goals in the Netherlands and the province of South Holland in particular.

Students will learn about the SDGs' role, importance, and complexities in a global and local context, how to identify and diagnose challenges from a systems thinking perspective, engage with and mobilize relevant societal stakeholders to articulate deeper problems and translate them into actionable solutions. Students will apply user-evidenced-based design methods and apply entrepreneurial and lean thinking to develop and suggest new (inter-) organizational business models from Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) perspectives, that can contribute to solving the real existing SDG challenges based on long-term thinking and value based approaches. Active participation and co-creation with regional and local actors are central in this minor. The end result is a validated transformational SDG action plan for partner organizations based on an analysis of an SDG challenge and the creation and evaluation of an implementation strategy at the organizational level.

The aim of this minor is to involve LDE bachelor students in the SDG agenda in the Netherlands, specifically the province of South Holland, under the Engage-Investigate-Act structure:

Engage: the students will be able to identify, develop, and take ownership of a compelling, concrete, and actionable SDG challenge.

• Students learn to comprehend the concept, urgency and complexity of the SDG and (post) 2030 agenda and are able to apply and translate it to real existing cases with a long-term perspectives.
• Students learn how to situate their transformative agency when supporting partner organizations by characterizing the socio-technical and governance system driving the dynamics of the SDG challenge

Investigate: the students can develop contextualized learning experiences and conduct rigorous, content and concept-based research to create a foundation for actionable and economic, financial, environmental, and socially sustainable solutions.

• LDE students learn to engage local stakeholders by identifying, analyzing, and diagnosing SDG challenges and synthesizing empirical facts, visions, and ideas into priorities and possible roadmaps for change
• Students learn the juridical and institutional aspects of relevant organizations & corporations, and governments influencing their scope of action for addressing SDG challenges

Act: the evidence-based solutions are developed and implemented with an authentic audience in the Netherlands, specifically the province of South Holland.

• Students learn to translate SDG priorities and roadmaps for transformation into Environmental, Sustainability, and Governance (ESG) metrics and solutions.
• Students learn to translate SDG priorities into Integral Atomic Business case analysis and interventions, making use of fundamentals of entrepreneurship and innovation for public, private, and non-profit organizations

Registration for this thematic minor is on a first-come, first-served basis and available places.

Student at Leiden University, TU Delft or Erasmus University Rotterdam
Check the eligibility matrix to see if your bachelor’s degree programme offers access to this and other minors at https://www.tudelft.nl/minor

Student at another educational institution
External students cannot register via EduXchange. Interested in this minor, read the whole registration procedure at https://www.tudelft.nl/minor

The minor adopts a challenge-based learning approach. A challenge is a dilemma/problem in society that provides an opportunity to actively engage students, teachers, and stakeholders in real life. Therefore, students will develop skills for engaging and providing actionable knowledge to partner organizations by means of lectures, tutorials, and coaching.

It is expected that students work as a team on a real SDG challenge that partner organizations offer, validating and delivering a transformational solution, including an implementation strategy at the organizational level. Hence, the assessment include formative components (participation, customer satisfaction rate, intra-group assessments, active presence, case analysis, and own initiatives) and end-products like pitches, posters, learning reports, and executive recommendation briefs.