Bwcon’s Green Summer School in Constance is a fantastic place for startups and entrepreneurs to work on their projects, get expert advice and network with fellow entrepreneurs. In case you are thinking about applying for Green Summer School Constance 2018, here’s a review of what happened in 2017.
School’s Out
And that’s it. School’s out. The Green Summer School 2017 in Constance has ended.
And it leaves a certain emptiness. Like after summer camp, back in the days, having spent a week or two with new best friends formerly unknown, to then be picked up by your parents and return to the same old house you’ve been living in most of your life.
No more organized program and exciting action. No more brain-storming and role-playing. And no more group lectures and private coaching sessions.
Just you, by yourself, at that desk of yours. Not even your parents to pick you up anymore. Sometimes being grown up is not cool.
On the other hand, a head full of ideas. Insights, thoughts and inspirations, gathered within a single week of intense interaction with other bright minds of the startup community. Ideas that will easily take the rest of the year to implement into the business and sales strategy.
A week well spent. Very well spent.
First result: An article on Green Best Practices for Hotels. Make sure to share this with any accommodation provider you stay at – it hopefully inspires them to become more environmentally friendly.
The Concept Of Green Summer School – And Its Costs
Green Summer School is a week-long startup seminar for aspiring entrepreneurs. As the name suggests, it focuses on startups with sustainable business ideas. Which all new business ideas these days should be, in fact. We all only got one planet to live on. Unless Elon Musk succeeds in relocating us all to Mars, that is.
Green Summer School is annually organized by bwcon since 2014, and attracts a small crowd of bright people, all keen to make this world a better place.
The beauty is: The startup seminar for greentrepreneurs is completely free of charge for successful applicants, removing potential cost barriers. Everybody knows that startups always are on a tight budget.
That’s why here are 10 completely free marketing strategies for startups and SMEs as well as the 3 best free newsletter programs. You’re welcome.
Discussing a Business Model Canvas (BMC).
What Happens At Green Summer School
15 entrepreneurs from 5 different countries participated this year, with projects ranging from sustainable construction materials and online magazines for a more conscious lifestyle to fully sustainable clothing manufacturing processes and habit- (and hence world-) changing wristbands.
Solopreneurs as well as groups of two or three co-founders were present, all designing products or incubating ideas in the most different developing stages. From ‘I have this incredible idea’ to ‘My patent finally got granted, I need a huge ton of funding’, all stages of a startup lifecycle were present this year.
Over the course of a week, we all learned about business model development, ecological design and innovation, sales strategies, product life cycle assessments as well as access to funding and pitching ideas to investors. Lectures are complemented by interactive workshops and personal coaching sessions, which are extremely valuable.
Speakers include investors, founders and coaches from all walks of life, which results in a diverse mix of knowledge, expertise and opinions. If you are interested, you can also get a full overview of all the high-caliber speakers and coaches of Green Summer School 2017 who made the event such a major success.
Green Summer School 2017 peaked on September 15 with a voluntary business pitch in front of an experienced jury, evaluating two winning projects that get the chance to pitch to investors at the Green Innovation and Investment Forum in February 2018.
But besides the jury’s opinion, we are all winners. Winners of knowledge, new insights, ideas and very valuable connections.
Summary of a successful startup week with organizer Simona Pede.
How To Get Into Bwcon’s Green Summer School
Getting into bwcon’s Green Summer School might be easier than you think.
After your initial application, you will be contacted by the organizers. They will set up a Skype meeting with you to learn more about your project and your project’s progress to evaluate whether the Green Summer School is beneficial for you or not.
However, please don’t be scared off in case you’re in the very early stages of starting up. This year’s Green Summer School saw quite a few participants who had not even built a website yet (one of the very first steps when starting up), but joined nonetheless to become clearer on their actual business idea.
I highly encourage everyone to apply for the next Green Summer School, even if in doubt. Never try, never know, right?
Super productive sessions can be super fun as well.
Participating Startups At Green Summer School 2017
As mentioned already, the startup line was a wild mix of entrepreneurs from all over the globe, and with projects in the most diverse stages.
Hexpressions: Building Affordable Houses Out Of Cardboard
Hexpressions was the well-deserved winner of the last day’s pitch. The motto is to bring change in the society through social innovation and community participation. The project largely focuses on environmental issues (paper waste) and societal issues (homelessness and social integration).
Hexpressions is a social enterprise that want to address increasing homelessness and social exclusion from our society by providing an affordable housing solution for all, with a new age raw material called ‘Composite paper Honeycomb panels’. The proposed “Paper Honeycomb Composite Panel” is a new age wonder material which can replace the traditional raw material for construction, products & packaging industry. This solution will not only provide a mere living space to the people but also give them a dignified life.
In case this sounds super complicated to you: Think ‘Lego’ on a grand scale. Made of specially prepared cardboard, to make it fire- and water- and even soundproof. Then imagine you could easily assemble these huge cardboard parts to build a house within weeks, for a total cost of about 5k. That’s Hexpressions.
Learn more about Hexpressions
Find Hexpressions on Facebook
Jallenges: Challenge Yourself. Change The World.
Jallenges are New Year’s Resolutions that only last a single week. Due to their short time frame, people actually stick to their commitment. To avoid ‘forgetting’ the commitment, Jallengees wear a little wristband, reminding them of whatever they set out to do.
Jallenges can be as diverse as humans walking planet Earth. You may decide to not smoke for a week. You could cycle to work instead of taking the car. Not buy single use plastic. Or simply laugh more or spend more quality time with your family. Whichever aspect of your life you are looking to improve – give the Jallenges a try. They’re completely free of charge, so you have nothing to lose.
Find out how to challenge yourself and change the world
Or join the Jallenges Community on Facebook
Unico Concept Store: Sustainable, Hand-Made Fashion From South America
Unico Concept Store began in the beginning of 2017 with the aim of offering in Europe handmade and unique handcrafted products with a great design mainly from South America. One of the main products are jewelry from Colombia. All jewelry is made by single moms or women who are suffering from difficult living situations like violence or abuse.
Unico Concept Store offers its clients total transparency about the origin and the production of its products. Therefore, they work with pictures or little videos on either their website or in their social media. Design, fairness and sustainability are the three keywords to best describe UCS’s mission!
Learn more about sustainable South American fashion
Find Unico Concept Store on Facebook
Yes, Indeed! Online Magazine For A More Conscious Lifestyle.
Yes, indeed! is a German online magazine addressing young adults with a conscious lifestyle. It provides high-quality information on the topics of environment, health and psychology. The information focuses on the essentials, is easily comprehensible and based on empirical studies.
Unlike other online magazines, Yes, indeed! not only provides articles but also documentaries, podcasts and galleries with brief tips related to the topic. The magazine is financed by affiliate links integrated in the articles, so don’t worry about annoying ads.
The products promoted are always high quality and contribute to a more healthy or sustainable living. The Yes, indeed!- team consists of several contributors who are experts on their field (environment, nutrition, sports, psychology, etc.).
The website goes live in early 2018. Watch this space. I’ll also update this article once the social media presences are established.
Visit Yes Indeed! Today for a more conscious lifestyle. (Website in German.)
What I Learned At Green Summer School
When I approached the technical school of applied sciences in Constance, Southern Germany, on September 11, I had not much more than a rough ideological idea of my new project, the Jallenges.
Since completing the workshop, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Green Summer School to every entrepreneur in any stage of the startup cycle. Wantrepreneurs in the early stages probably profit the most from it, if they are willing to put in the effort and the hours.
Besides creating and visualizing the business model behind the Jallenges, I learned lots about legal company structures. And we developed over a dozen potential new revenue streams for the project. The latter is key, since we all know that without revenue it is hard to sustain a business.
If all else fails: Here are 9 ways to make money online.
I also learned about intellectual property protection, funding and pitching, all extremely valuable knowledge once the idea is ready to take off.
Last but not least, I learned that it is paramount to talk about your project as much as you can, with as many different persons as you can. Everybody comes from a different background and incubates different ideas and thoughts. Get as much feedback and input as possible. You can still decide at a later stage what is of value to you and what isn’t.
Feedback Session. You may not always like what you hear at first, but contrary opinions are usually the most valuable to push you forward.
Green Summer School 2018 – A Preview
Green Summer School 2018 takes place towards late summer / early autumn. In case you are interested to join (and yes, you should be), I’d recommend signing up for bwcon’s newsletter, where they’ll announce the opening for applications first.
Now tell me: Will you apply? What’s your project idea? Leave a comment below. As you should have learned, it pays to talk about your idea with as many people as possible.
Gordian Knot to further strenghten the team spirit.
Note: Despite being very enthusiastic about this year’s Green Summer School, I am in no way affiliated with it or its organizers bwcon, nor do I receive any remuneration for writing this article.
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