Are you a student, consultant, or entrepreneur and keen to develop a business idea around ecosystem services and products? An online training course starting this October offers you a range of support including writing your own business plan.
NEPCon is taking part in an initiative called ECOSTAR Natural Talents that aims to increase the value placed on the natural world by helping people bring business ideas on ecosystem services to fruition. The initiative is running an online course on ecosystem services and products that focuses on how to turn ideas for a nature-based company into reality.
The course “Ecosystem services and products: from ideas to business” will show you how to initiate your business idea on natural capital, economic evaluation of ecosystem services, sustainable investments, wild forest products, payment for ecosystem services, forest certification, carbon accounting in the carbon markets, and ecotourism.
If you participate in the course you will get access the network of mentors, including top international professors, experts and company directors who are specialised and active on the field of forestry and ecosystem services and products.
The course is designed to help you gain insights into the market prospects for ecosystem services as well as turn your idea into reality.
- How long does the course last? There’s up to 40 hours of e-modules which will translate into approximately 150 hours of learning, spread over three months.
- When is the course? From October to December 2017.
- How much does the course cost? If you’re a student at the University of Padova, the Universidad Politécnica of Madrid, the University of Manchester or the Transilvania University of Brasov then it’s not only free but also gives you credits that you can use towards your degree. For everyone else, it costs €149.
- What will the course be about? There will be five different modules, and then a final exam. The modules will be on:
How to be innovation friendly
Entrepreneurship ecosystems, including understanding regulatory frameworks and driving market forces
Market outlooks, including key concepts and trends within the ecosystem services market
The business idea, including advice on how to write a business plan, and more detailed study of two selected topics
- How do I apply? Go to http://www.ecostarhub.com/e-learning-course/. The deadline to sign up is 30 September 2017.
The ECOSTAR initiative is funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and other investors and is a collaboration between universities and private sector organisations in Italy, Romania, Spain and the UK. We’ve written about our work with the initiative here.
