Ten third-year EMLV students spent five days in Leuven, Belgium, to work together with international students on marketing strategy innovations for SMEs. They participate in an International Innovation Lab, in collaboration with the university UC Leuven-Limburg.
Damilola Enitan, Manuel Golmayo, Youssef Karti, Valeriia Kostinenko, Phuong Le, Binh Ngo Tung, Simon Olsson, Bernhard van den Ende, Glendy Yang and Lowie de Krom take part in the International Innovation Lab. They all follow Professor Marcos Lima‘s International Marketing class.
International Innovation Lab: working hand in hand with students from Europe
Organized by UC Leuven-Limburg, the 2018 edition of the International Innovation Lab gathers marketing students from Laurea University of Applied Sciences in Finland, Banku Augstskola in Latvia, Yasar University in Turkey and Paris-based business school EMLV.
The main objectives are: exchanging views and solutions with one another and analysing real-life business cases submitted by small and medium-sized enterprises.
The 12-week programme includes one week in Leuven in March and one week in Paris in April. In between these two intensive weeks, students keep in touch through emails and Skype. During their week in Leuven, EMLV students visited local organisations and studied business cases among other activities.
“Multiple guest lectures were organized, the most memorable one was given by a representative of the World Health Organization who gave a lecture on food and food innovation. The whole week was focused on innovating products based on trends in the world”. Bernhard van den Ende
Belgian participants took the international students on a tour to visit the city, making sure to give them an authentic glimpse of Leuven‘s atmosphere.
Developing innovative and creative solutions for existing companies
One of the International Innovation Lab’s core goals is to offer marketing strategy and communication plans for SMEs. In Leuven, several companies presented the students with business cases. The latter featured development of a strategic marketing plan, business model and communication plan with a BtoB focus to name but a few.
Students analysed business cases from local SMEs in the fields of healthcare, education, dry-cleaning, information and communication technologies…
In multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, students came up with solutions, using brainstorming and creative techniques such as LEGO serious play, an experimental process designed to enhance innovation and business performance.
Working together with international students fostered emulation, enhancing creativity through the sharing of local uses and specific ways of working.
Learning-by-doing is part of EMLV’s educational approach. Working in groups, on student or company project is an opportunity to develop skills that are crucial for future career success: teamwork, the ability to evolve and interact within a team, conflict management, project management problem analysis and resolution, reporting and presenting to an audience.
Interested in international marketing? Learn more about EMLV’s Master Programme
