Electives

Considering I am already an entrepreneur, and having the desire to bring new products to the market, it was actually obvious for me to choose the track 'Design Leadership and Entrepreneurship'. I like being in control, keeping the overview, connecting the lines. As such I have chosen my specialization competencies to this as well as my electives 'From Creative Idea to Business', 'Design Innovation Strategies ',  and also an extra-curricular elective 'From Industrial Ecology to Cradle to Cradle' is partly related to business, in my case addressing the circular economy. Circular business models are also investigated  extra-curricular in by understanding circular economy, which I find very worthwhile to count with in product development.

 I practiced a lot, while often taking team leaders tasks in groups, organizing, being in charge of communication with external parties,  and taking initiatives to potentially interested companies. As such we could visit the company which makes Arnitel, the plastic we printed with at the M1.1 design project, for instance.

Although I know what it is to be an entrepreneur, to 'live by a value proposition' in a certain way, and to take risks, product development is quite a different area. By participating in all those electives I gained a broad understanding from the risks and different aspects of creating a business proposition and all it encounters, such as dealing with multiple stakeholders, finances, marketing, branding and market research, which can be found at the linked pages. I also worked on those topics in the M1.1 project of REINFORC3D, by developing a businessmap mostly containing infomation structured by a business model canvas, contacting potential stakeholders. In de FMP, I  focussed more on designing the value proposition itself. 

External (business) relations

In my FMP,  I also have had quite some contact with experts or companies, to start with prof. dr. Wijnand IJsselsteijn From the HTI department who coached me on VR and restorative environments. I also have had meetings with a prof from Groningen UMC (SAD expert),  Toine Schoutens (entrepreneur developing light therapy glasses), and I met several people from the Hyperspace collective, a VR platform with connected VR specialists in  Eindhoven.
I have no evidence here, but I was in quite some meetings with Geestelijke Gezondheidszorg Eindhoven (GGzE) as they like to be involved in research and development of the VRtalight and we are still looking for opportunities as they really value the concept.
I contacted Nationale Nederlanden, presented the VRtalight at several people who are seriously interested unto the level the CEO of the department Income has asked for a quotation to execute a research project in their company.  I also applied for a subsidy for a Feasibility Project. As this contains personal information, I won't put a link here.  The answers are still pending.