MQ Incubator Student START Program

In this four-day highly interactive program, students are taken on a journey using tools from LEAN startup and Design Thinking techniques to: • define a problem to solve • test assumptions with end users, beneficiaries, and stakeholders • identify the value proposition of an idea • construct a rapid prototype to aid communication • build out a business model • articulate an idea in a pitch-to-peer setting. By the end of the program, students of START will be able to: • Find problems worth solving: students advance their skills in customer discovery, validation, and iteration while utilizing design thinking and entrepreneurial tools to evaluate real-world problems and projects. • Cultivate endurance: students practice and develop skills that increase their awareness of self and team, confidence and agency, improve communication and problem-solving abilities, and identify self-purpose. • Sell themselves and their ideas: students practice oral communication and develop confidence in applying an entrepreneurial mindset and skills. • Create value: students create presentations and business models that articulate and operationalise knowledge to identify entrepreneurial pathways. • Mobilise people: students learn valuable leadership and enabling skills that help identify future team members, networks and research opportunities. Program Design • Delivery details: students participate in a four-day applied learning experience delivered in-person at MQ Incubator, with individual and groupwork components. • Activities include theoretical learning, practical hands-on activities, team initiative exercises, and reflection. • Volume of Learning is 4 x 7-hour in-person workshops.