REAL: Interdisciplinary Impact Project (GRAC001)

REAL: Interdisciplinary Impact Project course is an intensive interdisciplinary capstone program designed to bridge the gap between corporate scale and startup agility. The course brings together Master’s students from Innovation & Technology Management, Global Leadership & Strategy, Financial Economics, International Marketing & Management, and Impact Entrepreneurship to work in cross-functional teams on real innovation challenges provided by partners from private and public sectors.

Operating as internal venture units, student teams apply lean startup methodology to develop, test, and validate new business concepts within an accelerated timeframe. From the first week, students are immersed in authentic, ill-structured industry problems and are required to translate strategic ambitions into testable hypotheses, customer insights, and viable solutions. The course emphasizes evidence-based decision making through rapid experimentation, customer discovery, and iterative learning cycles.

The pedagogical approach integrates experiential learning, problem-based learning, design thinking, and the Build–Measure–Learn framework. Faculty act as mentors and facilitators, providing just-in-time guidance while students take ownership of the innovation process. Throughout the sprint, teams develop prototypes or minimum viable products, conduct validation experiments, and construct innovation business cases that meet corporate finance and implementation requirements.

The program culminates in a public Innovation Showcase, where teams present their solutions and strategic recommendations to business representatives and faculty.

In addition to the course coordinator, the program is supported by course mentors, each responsible for guiding student teams of five and providing ongoing methodological and strategic feedback throughout the sprint.