The Idea Designers’ Laboratory (LabCI) is an innovative training and guideline tool for Université Gustave Eiffel students wishing to create a business activity. This programme helps them to develop a product or service idea, to structure and design their idea, and even produce a first prototype thanks to the tools, content and network provided by the lab. This is an online course which offers lessons in addition to individual and collective activities, and is aimed at developing three skills:
- Obtain information and build a network during the development and design of an idea
- Design and define a ‘value proposition’
- Structure and conceptualise a product or service idea
With a total duration of around 64 hours (2 hours’ work per week), the programme is geared towards all students, regardless of level or field of study, and requires no theoretical baggage or professional experience. Students can work independently and are guided by a teacher-tutor. They must create a log book which will enable them to visualise the development of their idea into a product or service design, which is then presented during a final interview.
This programme was set up by Université Gustave Eiffel (formerly Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée) in 2017 by the Centre for Educational and Digital Innovation, in the framework of a call for projects by IDEFI (Excellence Initiative for Innovative Training). Two sessions of the programme have already taken place (the first from October 2019 to February 2020, the second from February to May 2020), with positive outcomes:
- A total of 52 students enrolled for the two sessions
- 4 video testimonies from entrepreneursStudents who have undertaken and pursued their entrepreneurial project by applying for student-entrepreneur status
- Students who met through LabCI and have decided to work together
- The integration of the PEPITE 3EF scheme as an inherent service offer for entrepreneurship
Download the presentation of the Idea Designers’ Laboratory
