Collaborate, innovate and develop solutions to real-world challenges with experts across disciplines
2026-05-15 07:00 - 2026-07-03 00:00 UTC | Online
Work with experts and multidisciplinary teams to solve real-world challenges

INSPIRE, CREATE & ELEVATE

Online Course – Free – May 15 → July 3, 2026

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Free course

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This course offers an exciting journey of discovery. Learn from experts Food Biotech, Biomedicine, AI and Creative Industries and from entrepreneurs how to work together to create innovative solutions for real world problems.

When: 15 May to 3 July 2026, every Friday morning

How: An international 20-hours online course intersecting Food Biotech, Biomedicine, AI and Creative Industries with entrepreneurship competences and tools, which includes a case challenge based on real problems.

For: Students, academic and non-academic staff, and professionals from different knowledge areas.

Fee: Free!

Plus: Be eligible to win 20 hours of tailored mentoring to take your solution to the next level

Register Here

Free course

Register Here

Course Overview

This international and multidisciplinary unique course is designed to train future entrepreneurs across diverse knowledge areas – food biotechnology, biomedicine, artificial intelligence, and the creative and cultural industries.

Inspire creative ideas

Create interdisciplinary solutions

Elevate entrepreneurial capacity

Students will attend sessions on different core knowledge areas with an applied perspective, entrepreneurial training, mentoring, and teamwork, with plenty of time for discussion and questions. The course is centred on a real-world challenge, where teams will compete to develop and pitch innovative solutions, supported by dedicated mentors.

This will prepare students with knowledge-based concepts and entrepreneurial skills and tools for developing innovative solutions across different sectors.

With this course you can:

Get new skills Practical experience in interdisciplinary teamwork, entrepreneurial thinking, and solution design.

Be eligible for an award competition The team who delivers the best idea will win 20 hours of tailored mentoring to take their solution to the next level.

Join a unique opportunity This new course is a unique opportunity to build your entrepreneurial capacity, grow your network, and kickstart your journey as an innovator.

Course Details

The online program will be offered in English, every Friday morning, from the 15th of May to the 3rd of July. The total contact time will be 20 hours, and will vary per week, depending on the schedule for the selected core areas. The 20 hours will include a common component of 14 hours plus 6 elected hours. After an introduction to the course structure and the case challenges to all students, you will select two core topics (3 hours each) among Food Biotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Biomedicine, and Creative Industries (totaling 6 hours). This will be complemented by essential topics to all participants, including Technology Transfer, Entrepreneurship Tools and Competences, Mentoring, and Pitch Preparation. By selecting core topics that complement their academic or professional background, participants from diverse fields will combine their strengths to apply creative thinking and problem-solving to a real-world challenge, making use of entrepreneurial skills and mentoring to develop, in a team, a solution to the case challenge. The teams will be selected after the first session and will include 3 to 5 members.

Core Topics for selection (6h)

Biotechnology (3h)Bioeconomy as an opportunity for sustainable entrepreneurshipValorization of agrifood waste into high-value productsPractical cases and development of competitive business solutions

Artificial Intelligence (3h)Introduction to key AI conceptsEffective prompting techniques with the SWETI methodHands-on exercises with generative AI and agent workflowsPractical skills for personal and professional AI use

Biomedicine (3h)Health economics and innovation valueAI and creative approaches in biomedical solutionsKey challenges in scaling and regulating health technologiesStartup case studies in health and medtech

Creative Industries (3h)Potential of emerging technologiesInnovation through hands-on experimentationDigital skills and strategies for a strong online presenceEthical and inclusive use of digital innovation

Common Sessions (14h)

Introduction (1h)Case Challenges explained (1h)Technology Transfer (1h)Entrepreneurial Competences and Tools (6.5h)Mentoring and pitch preparation (4.5h)

Eligibility

Participants with academic or professional backgrounds in any field are eligible. A minimum of a bachelor’s degree is recommended.

Course certification

Teams will need to work together and pitch their creative solutions to complete the course and receive a final certificate. An internation jury composed of entrepreneurs and academics will select the best solution, which will be eligible for 20 hours of tailored mentoring.

ELEVATE consortium

This course is provided by the ELEVATE consortium, supported by EIT Food and the EIT HEI Initiative, funded by the European Union. The project is coordinated by the Research and Innovation Office (RIO) at Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Portugal), with the following partners: Aarhus University (Denmark), Università degli Studi di Trieste (Italy), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy), Food4Sustainability CoLAB (Portugal), TecmaFoods (Portugal), and MateraHub (Italy).

Register Here

Free course

Register Here
