As Europe aims to advance in global tech markets, the search for skilled tech talent and entrepreneurial leaders becomes critical. An answer to this challenge comes from the ATTRACT project, which seeks to combine deep-tech innovation with hands-on entrepreneurship training through its educational arm, the ATTRACT Academy. In a recent podcast by Science|Business, Jonathan Wareham, Professor at Esade Business School and member of the ATTRACT Consortium Board, discussed how the Academy’s model prepares students for the real-world demands of bringing advanced technologies to market.
ATTRACT Academy is a scale-up of the ‘Young innovators and entrepreneurs’ pilot from phase 1, and the aim is that university students could generate ideas for social innovation inspired by the technologies developed within the ATTRACT ecosystem. The main objective is to create a new generation of researchers who perceive co-innovation between academia, research infrastructures, and commercial organisations as a natural way of working.
Professor Wareham highlighted how more than 700 students from all over Europe, from engineering to business to design, have participated in multidisciplinary teams, working alongside professional researchers to explore potential commercial applications for deep-tech innovations, such as advanced sensors and detectors. By engaging with the technology, students develop a practical understanding of the science and a broader perspective on its real-world implications.
A key aspect of the ATTRACT Academy’s approach is its focus on experiential learning. Wareham emphasized that this is not traditional classroom-based entrepreneurship training. Instead of simply studying business concepts in theory, students are immersed in hands-on projects where they must think critically about how to apply technology in new ways.
Here you can listen to the Science|Business podcast “Hot Talent: how to train Tech Innovators”.
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Visit the ATTRACT showroom to see all the Academy programs.
