Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation MSc

About the Course

The results of unsustainable human development in the 21st century are evident as climate change, species extinction, pollution, poverty and inequality become inescapable global realities. Our society needs to use our knowledge, skills and resources to rethink, redesign and rebuild a positive future for our planet.

The "MSc in Sustainability, Entrepreneurship and Innovation (with Professional Development)" is an 18 month programme – 12 months for the study at Brunel followed by a 6 month professional development phase. There is an option to complete the "MSc in Sustainability, Entrepreneurship and Innovation" in 12 months (without the professional development phase) but students will be encouraged to engage with the professional development phase to achieve the maximum from the programme.

Aims

This MSc in Sustainability, Entrepreneurship and Innovation blends a core training in environmental science with design and business, such that our postgraduates can be leaders and entrepreneurs involved in shaping a sustainable economy for the future. Practical-based professional development programme is designed to enable individuals to become leaders in environmentally sustainable enterprises - either as entrepreneurial new business owners, inventors or as change-makers in existing businesses.

Enquiries

Dr Edwin Routledge, MSc Programme Director
Email edwin.routledge@brunel.ac.uk
Web www.brunel.ac.uk/ife

Institute for the Environment
Halsbury Building
Brunel University
UB8 3PH

Special Features

The programme has a number of innovative features. For example

• The fusion of environmental education with design, entrepreneurial and business skills.
  
  
• The programme will be affiliated with Blekinge (Sweden) University's MSc in Leadership for Sustainable Development, and offered with visiting lectures from this market leader. These will include those by Professor Göran Broman (founder of the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development) and Professor Karl-Henrich Robért (Blue Planet Award winner and founder of the Natural Step - a global alliance centred around sustainability). Professor Terry Collins (Institute of Green Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University, USA) will deliver programme material on green chemistry.
  
  
• Structural flexibility - so that the needs and desires of individuals can be met through offering optional modules within various themes relevant to sustainable enterprise (in the Business or Design Schools or in the Institute for the Environment).
  
  
• Practice based assessments - for example, the development of a detailed business plan for those who wish to start their own business, a product design for those taking the inventors route, or a research (PhD) proposal (for those eventually wishing to pursue a doctorate.
  
  
• Professional development activities - following the multidisciplinary learning programme, students will undertake a six month professional development activity in which - for example - they can undertake an internship or start their own business. (The provision of incubator space for these students will be an integral part of the MSc and is another distinctive feature of the programme. The students will also be equipped with pitching skills and a business mentor).

Course Content

Compulsory modules

• Introduction to Strategic Sustainable Development
• Sustainable Design
• Business Planning
• Entrepreneurship

Optional modules (choose any four)

• Clean Technology
• Environmental Hazards & Risk
• Essentials of Ecotoxicology
• Chemical Regulation and Legislation in the EU
• Design Innovation Futures
• Professional Design Studio
• International Business Ethics and Corporate Governance
• International Business Strategy

Teaching and Learning

• The programme will be delivered beginning with an overview of core concepts and followed by progressively deeper consideration and application of the concepts later on through a self-directed learning approach. The programme is structured to provide leadership opportunities and move progressively from learning the "rules of the game" to "playing the game". This means that as the programme progresses it becomes less instructor-led and more student-led where students direct their learning towards their own needs and tap the collective wisdom of the group via project work.
  
  
• There will be four integrated streams:
  1. Ecological and sustainability theory
  2. Leadership
  3. Design and Innovation
  4. Business planning and start up.
  
  The benefits of this combination will be unique; students will be cross trained, drawing upon the resources of a world class university. They will develop three complementary networks of peers and alumni and engage in Brunel’s collegiate experience, interacting with students and faculty from three corners of the university. Through this combination, graduates will able to enter the professional arena with an energetic and inspired approach to societal change.
  
  
• By taking part in the programme, students will gain:
  - The deep scientific knowledge for strategic planning towards a sustainable society , including ecological theory and sustainability design principles
  - Innovation, creativity and team working skills
  - Experiential learning and mentorship from leading entrepreneurs and business leaders
  - Communication skills to enable working with members of engineering, design and marketing teams
  - Leadership skills
  - Intensive corporate exposure
  - Career paths as sustainability practitioners in business, academia, government, and community organisations.
  - Business start up opportunities
  - Membership of the Made in Brunel Sustainable Business alumni, an elite group of successful ecopreneurs and their mentors

Assessment

• Core coursework integrating business , design and sustainability
• Optional modules will be assessed
• Business plan outline, prototype design or research proposal

Employability

• The programme will gain employers recognition, because graduates will obtain qualifications and skills enabling them to deal with sustainability and environmental management issues which are now becoming important factors for all various types of businesses
  
  
• The move to a sustainable society is likely to see a transformation similar to that of digital economy with all sectors of the economy and industry responding to sustainable development and low carbon imperatives and targets, demanding both industry and public informed strategy and leadership.

Careers

Graduands from the MSc course will expect to take up posts at middle and senior executive level in corporate institutions and public bodies (eg local and regional government, NGOs) as sustainability and environmental coordinators/managers and advisers on sustainable business and policy, sustainable new product development and investment, as well as in consultancies and in new business ventures. The latter will include new ‘green’ product and service enterprises and sustainability service providers.

The global market for environmental products and services is projected to double from US$1,370 billion per year to US$2,740 billion by 2020. Half of this market is in energy efficiency and the balance in sustainable transport, water supply, sanitation and waste management. 2.3 million people have in recent years found new jobs in the renewable energy sector alone. Employment in alternative energies may rise to 2.1 million in wind and 6.3 million in solar power by 2030

Fees for 2013/14 entry

Fee information for this course will be available when it is fully approved.

Read about funding opportunities available to postgraduate students

Fees quoted are per annum and are subject to an annual increase.

Entry Requirements

A good honours degree (2:1 or above) in design, science and engineering, management, business studies or a cognate discipline. Mature candidates with non standard qualifications; graduates with only a lower second class degree (2:2), or those with relevant work experience, may be considered provided they can demonstrate significant, relevant occupational experience and/or promise as entrepreneurs.

English Language Requirements

Brunel also offers our own BrunELT English Test and accept a range of other language courses. We also have a range of Pre-sessional English language courses, for students who do not meet these requirements, or who wish to improve their English.