Timeline & courses
Your route to innovation
On this page you can find more details about the curriculum and program structure.
The Master in Innovation and Entrepreneurship program begins in September each year and lasts for 24 months. The full two-year program is worth 120 ECTS credits.
The program is split between foundational courses and advanced electives:
- Foundation courses covering the most important aspects of Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
- Advanced electives delve deeper into specific industries and applications that will help you progress towards your career goals.
MIE program timeline and courses
- Business Economics
- Judgement and Decisionmaking
- Financial Management and Corporate Finance
- Financial Accounting
- Economics of Innovation and New Technology
- Foundations of Entrepreneurship
- Foundations of Strategic Management
- Business Presentations
- Fluency: Professional English
- The Do’s and Don’ts of meeting
effectively - Coding (mandatory for MAAI)
- Operations and Global
Supply Chain Management - Managing Organizations in a
Global Context - Marketing Management
- Entrepreneurial Finance and
FinTech - Innovation Policy and
Regulation - Design Thinking
- Organizing for Innovation
- Vali Sustainability Bootcamp
- Process Mining
- The Psychology of Conflict Resolution
- Cross Cultural Management
- Effective Virtual Collaboration
- SCRUM
Summer immersion
During the summer months you will gain practical experience at an internship at a startup or by working on your own company during the Summer Entrepreneurship Program with Vali Berlin.
The Summer Entrepreneurship Program helps entrepreneurial talents to develop and expand upon their startup ideas: from finding co-founders, identifying trends or problems and finding and building solutions, to pitching in front of Venture Capitalists (VCs) and angel investors.
The teams benefit from expert mentoring, access to the ESMT and Vali Berlin network, and a structured program of workshops by entrepreneurs and thought leaders from Berlin's startup scene.
In coordination with ESMT, you may alternatively choose to complete an internship of up to six months with a company and industry that meets your career goals. German students are encouraged to complete their internship abroad.
ESMT currently works with a growing number of companies to offer internships.
Please note that while ESMT has agreements with internship providers to offer internships, participants are still required to apply and pass the target company’s selection procedures. Participants may also source their own internship opportunities.
- MARGA Strategy Simulation
- Doing Business Sustainably
- Data Science for Analytics
- Modeling and AI for Sustainability
- The Data Scientist: Modern Tools
- Survey Design
- Innovating with AI: Large Language
- Models in Business
- Entrepreneurial Sales and Marketing
- International Finance
- Investments: Portfolio Theory and
Asset Pricing I - Investments: Portfolio Theory and
Asset Pricing II - Ambidextrous Leadership
+ MGM and MAAI core courses
- Analytics Project Management
- Building Professional Networks
- Consulting
- Designing for Social Inclusion
- Human Rights in Business
- Innovation Project Management
- Storytelling
- Next - B2B Accelerator Program
- Deep Tech Innovation Program
- Corporate Innovation Project
Take language classes in German, French, Spanish or Chinese (optional) at our partner GLS Sprachenzentrum Berlin (German Language School Berlin).
- Negotiation
- Open and Distributed Models of
Innovation - Analytics and AI for Healthcare
Management - Advanced Optimization Models
- Analytics Leadership
- AI Models in Production
- Social Entrepreneurship
- Advanced Investment Strategies
- Alternative Investments
- Risk Modeling
- Valuation
+ MGM and MAAI core courses
- Applied Improvisation and Creativity
- Cyber Security
- Impact Consulting
- LEGO Serious Play
- Next - B2B Accelerator Program
- Deep Tech Innovation Program
- Social Impact Project
This week provides a foundation in research methodology and strategies. You will be introduced to the principles of conducting effective research, exploring both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The importance of identifying a research problem, formulating research questions, and selecting appropriate methods will be emphasized. Key strategies, such as surveys, experiments, case studies, and ethnography, will be discussed, along with data collection techniques and ethical considerations. By the end of the week, you will understand the basics of designing research projects and selecting suitable strategies to investigate various topics.
Take language classes in German, French, Spanish or Chinese (optional) at our partner GLS Sprachenzentrum Berlin (German Language School Berlin).
While working on your Master thesis, you may seek the opportunity of a second internship and carry out your research with support from practitioners. Alternatively, particularly those who intend to pursue an academic career, you may opt for working on a thesis topic in close coordination with a professor’s own research agenda.
Additional options
Summer innovation & entrepreneurship programs
- Join Vali Berlin's Summer Entrepreneurship Program from April to July to develop and elaborate your own startup idea
- Receive expert mentoring, access to the ESMT and Vali Berlin network, and a structured program of workshops by entrepreneurs and thought leaders from Berlin's startup scene
- Alternatively, take up an internship for up to six months at one of ESMT's many corporate partners and delve deep into the world of corporate innovation, giving you invaluable practical insights and preparing you to customize your learning journey in Year 2 of your degree
Winter innovation & entrepreneurship programs
- Join the NEXT program to accelerate your start-up in product-market fit, human capital, fundraising, legal, administrative, and tax issues
- or join the Deep Tech Innovation Program to get insider insights from founders in science- and technology-based startups and advice on how to implement your own innovative new ideas and strategies.
- or join the Corporate Innovation Project to deliver an innovation consulting project or develop venture ideas together with a corporate partner.
An exciting path awaits you
Create your own journey
Interested in data management? Want to know more about machine learning or global operations and supply chains?
Innovation thrives on cross-pollination. To facilitate this, you can choose from a broad selection of electives including any core course from other ESMT master programs to form your own tailor made learning journey.
Prepare for employment
The MIE primes you for success by equipping you with the core business skills needed to take your innovation skills and apply them successfully in real-life business contexts.
Learn by experimenting
Your time in the MIE is an opportunity to experiment and learn in a safe space.
Try out deep tech, entrepreneurship, corporate innovation or embark on an international exchange program.
You will always find yourself in a collaborative and stimulating environment that fosters creative thinking, while sitting next to data scientists and general managers to collaborate and learn from each other.
Collaborative learning
Modern business is global - ESMT students thrive in a global environment
The value a diverse international cohort brings to your personal development is that it prepares you for any challenge and opportunity the modern world holds in stock for you. With over 30 nationalities represented in the classroom you benefit from fresh perspectives, unique experiences, and a broad set of skills.
ESMT Berlin's unique approach to collaborative learning means that working and thriving in diverse and international teams comes as second nature.
Angeliki Papachroni
Nationality: Greece
Education: University of Warwick, Ph.D.
Research area/focus: Strategy & innovation
Courses taught: Foundations of Entrepreneurship (MIE), Organizing for Innovation (MIE), Ambidextrous Leadership (MGM)
Fun fact: So far I have traveled to 29 Greek islands, there are approximately only 198 to go!
“There is nothing more practical than a good theory” - Kurt Lewin
Linus Dahlander
Nationality: Sweden
Education: Chalmers University of Technology, Ph.D. and Stanford University, Post doc.
Courses taught: Innovation, entrepreneurship, new technologies
Fun fact: I once broke my arm while arm wrestling with a childhood friend. We are still friends even though he won.
"AI is changing how we innovate by opening new ways to solve problems and think creatively. But many people still don’t understand how to leverage it to the fullest potential."
Matthias Qian
Nationality: Germany
Education: University of Oxford, Ph.D.
Research area/focus: AI and entrepreneurship
Courses taught: Econometrics, Large language models
"Data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding, understanding is not wisdom."
Jens Weinmann
Nationality: Germany
Education: London Business School
Research area/focus: Innovation, digital transformation, design thinking, energy transformation, sustainability
Courses taught: Design Thinking, Sustainable Energy Future
Fun fact: Tried to become rich with producing NFTs and publishing them on web3 marketplaces (failed, at the least the part of becoming rich.
“We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction.” - Bill Gates
Find out more about the master's programs faculty at ESMT
Want to get more information about the talented team of people who will be delivering your master's program?
Visit our dedicated page to find out more about the faculty behind the Master in Global Management, Master in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Master in Analytics and Artificial Intelligence.
Dedicated lecturers
ESMT's international faculty combine the very best business teachers and researchers from around the world, brought together in Berlin to share their experience in business practice and thought leadership with a passion that puts the learning experience before everything else.
Situated in state-of-the-art facilities and supported by a world-class community of entrepreneurs and corporate partners, ESMT Berlin has laid the foundations for innovative research and excellence in the classroom.
