On 31 August, the Centre for Entrepreneurship VU welcomed its newest cohort of MSc Entrepreneurship students to REC Impact, on UvA's Roeterseiland campus, for the programme's annual kickoff day.
This year we welcome 120 students from around the world to Amsterdam. The joint degree, offered by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam, brings together the strengths of two universities to help students learn to think, feel, and act like entrepreneurs. The MSc focuses on founding a venture, joining a scale-up, or driving innovation inside an established organisation. The programme deliberately welcomes students from across the academic spectrum, not only those with a background in business or economics, on the view that a diversity of disciplines makes for a richer, more entrepreneurial classroom.
This year's cohort joins a one-year, full-time programme built around a holistic, cross-disciplinary approach to entrepreneurship — one that treats new venture creation, scaling, and organisational renewal as related but distinct challenges, each demanding its own theories, tools, and habits of mind. Over the coming months, students will move between the classroom, the lab, and the field, working alongside real entrepreneurs and organisations on the kind of uncertain, resource-constrained problems that define entrepreneurial practice.
The afternoon's line-up brought together academia, practice, and lived experience:
Our first speaker was Erik Boer who has over the last 15 years worked intensively in and around universities in the field of knowledge transfer, stimulating entrepreneurship among students and researchers and leading several entrepreneurship and impact programs. He spoke about how to get the best out of the amazing entrepreneurial ecosystem in Amsterdam.
Next up we had Simone Peloso (UvA) and Bram Bark (VU) who introduced students to two of the ecosystem's key resources: the UvA's Founder Space, and VU's Demonstrator Lab. Both spaces are designed to turn ideas into action. These spaces enable students to meet and discuss venture and innovation ideas, turning theory into practice.
Arthur Oudendijk was our next speaker. He is a member of the programme's Advisory Board and representative of IBM. Arthur spoke to what industry looks for in entrepreneurially-minded graduates. He also spoke about how entrepreneurship can create career opportunities beyond establishing a venture.
Finally, Iffat Rose Gill, founder of The Code to Change, shared her own entrepreneurial journey. She elaborated about how the path from idea to impact is rarely a straight line. She was an inspiration for our new entrepreneurial students.
Neil Thompson and Martin Obschonka, co-program directors of the MSc Entrepreneurship returned to close out the formal programme with practical guidance on communications and logistics, followed by an open Q&A.
The day ended, as it should, with networking and drinks which was the first of many informal conversations this cohort will have with one another, with faculty, and with the wider Amsterdam entrepreneurial ecosystem over the year ahead.