Interview with Olga Belusova and Mark Govers

Associated professors Mark Govers from Universiteit Maastricht, and Olga Belusova from University of Groningen in The Netherlands visited Uppsala University and EIT Health in November 2019.

Hello Mark and Olga! Why were you in Uppsala?
Olga and Mark: In November 2019, we came to talk about Business models for the Innovation Tuesdays of the E-train program.

What was the experience like?
Olga and Mark: Uppsala and Groningen Universities have strong connections with each other, and it is always a pleasure to meet each other, get updates on the recent development and to discuss future ideas. It was also great to meet the diverse students. Teaching at a different university provides you with a new perspective on your material.

Do you have any take home message from this activity?
Mark: Collaboration is the key. Finding ways to learn and design, in teams settings, to combine different insights creates the conditions for innovation.
Olga: I join Mark here: Collaboration is the key. I was also positively surprised to see two of my very good students from another class - also taught jointly by Uppsala University and University of Groningen - taking part in Innovation Tuesdays, offered as an introduction course. It showed me that especially for students of medicine entrepreneurship it is a different universe: they need to learn from different teachers, different perspectives, different projects they undertake in order to get a better feeling for this new way of thinking. This also means that we need to increase their exposure to courses and that overlapping courses may actually be useful for students who do not get exposure to entrepreneurship theory and practice in their regular curriculum. 

What was the impact/ importance of EIT Health and this specific activity?
Olga and Mark: courses within E-Train help students to take first steps in the process of entrepreneurial thinking and behavior. It is in a way a process in which they reflect on their own paradigm (view on reality). Often participants do not have a lot of experience and a limited entrepreneurial mind-sets. E-Train helps them to reflect and to start seeing – by experience – the value of innovation, which starts with their view on reality.