Business + Humanities + Technology for a positive Social Impact
From the first year, you will integrate subjects from different areas of knowledge in an interconnected way through multiple methodologies and experiences.
Contents
Business
Humanities
Technology
Year 1
Social Impact orientation: prototype
In year 1, you’ll learn the fundamentals of marketing, finance, design thinking and more to build your own website, explore the possibility of developing a product in the FabLab and ideate an Impact business model. You’ll also develop essential managerial skills including critical thinking, tolerance, stress management, the ability to deal with teamwork conflicts in random groups, and basic technology.
Strategic learning and growth
Develop mechanisms to self-direct your own learning and growth. We will present tools to reflect, plan, and act in order to learn new skills and achieve goals more effectively. The three main executive functions (EF) will be studied: working memory (WM), inhibitory control (IC), and cognitive flexibility (CF).
Applied algorithmic thinking
Applied Algorithmic Thinking is a course designed to introduce students to the fundamental principles of algorithmic thinking and problem-solving. We will learn how thinking like a computer scientist can improve our everyday lives and how concepts from computer science can be applied to solve real-world problems, such as those related to economic, social or environmental issues. We will learn how to approach such problems systematically, by breaking them down into parts and solving them separately. We will also learn to design and apply algorithms for searching, sorting and ordering through targeted exercises. To implement these techniques in practice, you will be introduced to Python, a well-known programming language, which is highly established in the industry. We will learn the basic elements of Python programming and learn how to translate solutions into programmatic instructions that can be followed by a computer.
Expressive clarity
Expressive clarity is one of the most important skills in the academic and professional context. It requires mastering a wide and complex range of tools going from the micro (word choice, sentence components and structure?) to the macro level (conceptualization of problems, elaboration of precise thesis statements, supporting arguments with quality sources, considering counterarguments to test the strength of our thesis?).
Critique and communication
One of the premises of the BITLASI is that you have the ambition to address global challenges and be an agent of change in your future career. Being an agent of change requires to critically evaluate the world we live in, imagine how things could be done differently, make solid proposals and convince others.Critical evaluation, building solid arguments and communicating arguments effectively are therefore key skills to acquire to become an agent of change.
Applied creative and critical thinking
Logical reasoning, problem solving, and recognizing and mitigating cognitive biases are among the most fundamental skills that facilitate effective work in any area. In this course, we systematically practice these skills, learning to apply them to concrete problems across domains. Students will gain a foundation in critical and creative thinking upon which they can build expertise in disciplinary knowledge.
Systems and society
Examine social interaction through the lens of complex systems theory, which provides a powerful framework for understanding human behavior and group dynamics. In addition,students learn not only to recognize the different complex social systems to which we belong, but also to understand their dynamics and behaviors and consequently be able to analyze and improve social interactions. At the end of the course, students have acquired theoretical and practical knowledge in terms of behavioral and complex-systems analysis, ethical problem-solving and evaluation of your interaction with systems.
Statistical intuitions and applications
In this course, we'll cover both the theoretical and practical foundations of Statistics and Probability necessary to adequately address decision-making in the face of uncertainty.
Designing your web portfolio: How to position yourself to external audiences
This is the course where students builds their own portfolio. Portfolios have two roles: to present yourself and your work. Before diving into the technical specificities of building a website, students will first be preoccupied with searching and communicating who you are. This is a crucial and ongoing process that requires a certain mindset and some specific tools (self- assessment)- provided at the beginning of this course - to make them fruitful (personal branding). You will then be creating the structure for your website with web design tools. Though it starts on a reflective tone, this is a practical course. You'll be provided with hands-on exercises to learn web concepts.
Prototyping an impact technology: How to prototype a MVP using digital fabrication
This course is designed to open up a world of possibilities for participants by introducing them to Fablabs and the diverse implementation opportunities they offer. Fablabs are fabrication laboratories equipped with advanced tools and technologies that enable individuals to bring their ideas and projects to life. Throughout the course, participants explore the concept of Fablabs and understand how they can leverage these spaces to transform their creative ideas into tangible projects.
Prototyping an impact business model: How to prototype a social impact business model
This course covers the basics of Micro Economics, Entrepreneurship, Strategic Marketing, Operations Strategy, Financial Analysis, Financial Markets and Lean Start Up. Students are introduced to basic concepts in key management areas such as Marketing and Finance, which are important to understand how organizations work and what is the role of the different functional areas. They will also learn concepts and tools related to entrepreneurial activity, both from a social impact perspective and from the point of view of implementing a business model.
Second, they will have the opportunity to design an impact business model to address a specific social challenge. This will provide them with practical knowledge about how to become an entrepreneur (or a social entrepreneur) and the challenges that they would face in that process.
Socratic Dialogue I
With this course we want to create a space for slow, respectful and insightful reflection, meaningful conversation, and a profound understanding of one another. We want to provide you with the tools and the time to ponder about the complexities of what makes us human- after all, as Socrates reminds us, an unexamined life is not worth living. When we stick to prejudices and ideas that do not allow us to have a complex understanding of the world around us, the result is that we do not make the best decisions. Using the Socratic Dialogue methodology we will discuss some of the most important issues that appeal to us all.
Liberal Arts I: Perception and self-awareness
The course "Perception and Self-Awareness" explores self-awareness in leadership. Divided into two parts, "Mind and Heart" and "Heart and Body," it focuses on developing self-reflection, values alignment, emotional intelligence, and conflict resolution skills. Participants will also learn about body awareness, authentic self-expression, communication skills, and the integration of mind, body, and spirit. By the end of the course, participants will have a comprehensive understanding of self-awareness and its importance in effective leadership.
Year 2
Humanistic foundations: create
In year 2, you’ll create marketing plans, build your own markstrat strategy, create competitive or corporate strategies, propose challenge-based solutions, and move onto more advanced concepts in business, humanities and technology.
Systems and strategic leadership
Discover the concepts of leadership, strategy, and negotiation from the perspective of complex systems. By understanding the dynamics of complex systems, you will learn how to interact efficiently in social groups and organization
Deriving insights from evidence
Students in this course learn to combine creative and critical thinking to quantitatively apply methods used in the natural and social sciences. Students learn to frame problems effectively, develop and test hypotheses, and derive insights from empirical evidence. Students will dig deeply into different types of data; comparing cases in which direct manipulation of the phenomena being studied is not possible (such as observational studies, case studies, and surveys), and cases in which variables are manipulated to different degrees (such as randomized controlled medical trials and quasi-experiments). We emphasize the tenets of good research design, strengths and limitations of different design types, quantitative methods to validate data, and the generalizability of inferences drawn from distinct study designs.
Computational modelling and decision theory
The overall objective of the course contributes to the program by equipping students with the theories, techniques, and tools to make effective decisions and solve complex problems in a business environment. The blend of theoretical and practical sessions, along with the integration of Python programming skills, provides a comprehensive learning experience that prepares students for a wide range of roles in business, analytics, and strategy.
Interpretation, communication and design
To communicate effectively, one must be able to convey the result of one's thinking to others in a compelling manner, and to persuade them to adopt the same or similar views. Humans organize and interpret what they see and hear according to certain principles. Everything from sophisticated art forms to everyday gadgets must take these principles into account in order to be successful. Knowing these principles enhances our ability to evaluate a wide range of products from films and video games to material objects. Applying them enables us to create high quality multimodal and multimedia communications. In this course, students will learn to interpret and create communications from written essays to presentations to artistic works based on the principles of verbal and nonverbal expression and design.
Solving a fast impact-driven challenge using Sprint: How to develop products
By the end of the course, students will have acquired a solid understanding of project management basics (from both academic and practical perspectives as well as from a top-down and a bottom-up approach), project costs and accounting principles, and the design sprint method by means of limited resources and costs. Students will be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively manage projects, control costs, and drive innovation.
Solving a b-corp challenge I: How to build a brand with purpose
By the end of the course, students have acquired the knowledge from Marketing Trends, Fundamentals of Marketing Management, Marketing Plan, and Decisions in Marketing and the skills necessary to build robust and sustainable marketing plans, effectively implement them, and measure the corresponding impact metrics. Students will be equipped with the tools and insights to navigate the complex marketing landscape and drive their organizations and the society towards success in today's dynamic business environment.
Solving a b-corp challenge II: How companies compete, grow and deliver superior performance
This course focuses on the fundamentals of strategic and operational management within socially responsible organizations. It emphasizes the practical application of strategic thinking and the implementation of operational plans. The course is divided into three sections: Competitive Strategy, Corporate Strategy, and Operational Management. These sections provide insights into analyzing the external and internal environment, managing business portfolios, and understanding the interplay between strategy and operations. The course promotes a holistic understanding of management in socially responsible organizations and enhances practical skills through hands-on learning.
Socratic Dialogue II
This course aims to create a space for reflective and meaningful dialogue, fostering a profound understanding of ourselves and others. By using the Socratic Dialogue methodology, we will explore important topics and engage in critical thinking. By looking at what the most important thinkers have said about those matters we will work on improving our ways of thinking, in order to better understand ourselves, refine our thoughts, and appreciate the diversity of opinions that surround them. These exercises will help us improve our capacity to make decisions in complex environments, and thus become better managers and citizens.
Liberal Arts I: Understanding the human being
In the year-2 liberal arts course, you will receive an introduction to social and cultural anthropology and ethnography. In order to be an agent of change and transformation, capable of creating disruptive and impactful startups and promoting positive change in organizations, it is important to have a deep understanding of people. The introduction to social and cultural anthropology and the understanding of ethnography as a research method will teach you to observe, perceive and be sensitive to differences, and allow you to approach collectives and groups with profiles and life stories very different from your own.
International Ecosystems 1: How to take advantage of the German marketplace
The International Ecosystem I is given at the end of the second year of the program. The course "International Ecosystems I: How to take advantage of the German Marketplace aims to equip our students who want to become agents of change with the "tools" they need to excel in unfamiliar environments and take advantage of any ecosystem for social impact. Then, the course helps the students immerse into one of the most vibrant and active ecosystems in Europe and Worldwide, providing a hands-on experience and a direct immersion in the local culture, startup and corporate ecosystems. It encourages BITLASI's students to stepped out their comfort zones and lived through experiences that are very difficult to learn within the confines of a classroom, gaining all these tools.
Year 3
World context: scaling impact
You will continue to add layers of knowledge on top of what you have already acquired and assimilated. You’ll apply more critical and disruptive thinking to help your possible future business plans take shape.
Legal System Overview for (intra) and (entre)preneurs
This course offers a comprehensive understanding of the legal framework essential for entrepreneurs, irrespective of their country of origin. Students will acquire the necessary legal knowledge and skills to navigate various aspects, such as company formation, employment contracts, patent protection, and the processes involved in closure, liquidation, or sale of a business.
Disrupting a B-Corp Organisation: How to manage technology and digitalization to implement change
The overall objective is to ensure that students acquire knowledge about Information Systems, Technology strategy management and Digital business Models. They will undestand the nature of technology and its role. Furthermore, they will be able to design a technological and digitization strategy for an organization and learn about organizational management and corresponding metrics. Also, to comprehend the dynamics of technological change and how to turn potential disruptive threats into positive opportunities for disruptive innovation and the creation of new business models beneficial to society, from a short- and long-term dilemma point of view.
Building an exponential organisation: How to transfer accelerating technology from R&D to business
This course covers Organization Theory, Exponential Technologies, R&D and disruptive Innovation, and from Science to Business topics.This subject allow students to make the connections between blocks of technology, social impact, and the construction and financing of business models. The fundamental objective is for students to know how to identify, characterize, protect, scale, and finance business opportunities based on scientific knowledge.
Socratic Dialogue III
On your third year, Socratic Dialogue 3 will consist of an Impact Talk related to technology followed by a Socratic Dialogue group conversation. These will build on the topics and the knowledge you acquired during last year's course. The main goal of the Impact Talks is, as it was last year, to understand some of the complexities of the world we inhabit and learn some theoretical frameworks that can help us make some sense of it.
Liberal Arts II : Sensitivity
In this third year of BITLASI, the Liberal Arts courses will focus on developing your sensitivity and creativity. Students will choose two elective courses among the four that are available. Each one of them focuses on an artistic discipline. The goal is four you to become familiar with that discipline, to better understand that language and be able to use it in your projects (photos, music, movies and paintings).
Liberal Arts II: Creativity
The Basics of Geopolitics
This course introduces the participants to key concepts, the theories and perspectives of today’s global and regional geopolitics. It aims to provide the students with a wide-ranging approach to these topics and other related fields (geography, history, philosophy) in order to duly portray contemporary world politics, its background and its key drivers. The syllabus also examines the main challenges and opportunities of States international society, as well as the ongoing trends in cooperation, competition and conflict in key regions (i.e. China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Russian invasion of Ukraine). It also highlights the need to further evolve global governance and the associated hurdles forward.
The Basics of Global Governance
This course, designed upon the foundations of Q1’s “The Basics of Geopolitics”, further analyses the opportunities and difficulties of global and regional governance. The objective is to provide a theoretical and practical setting to understand and interpret the alternative schools of thought in international relations and transnational governance. Apart form State behavior, the syllabus also examines the increasing number and influence of NSA (Non-State actors) and their impact in regional and global governance dynamics. Finally, it assesses the growing agenda in terms of global challenges (social, environmental, technological) and the ability the current governance schemes to address them (i.e. the rising Technological Cold War, competition to access critical minerals, climate emergency, energy transition).
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People Management
The choice of a career is crucial for personal fulfillment. To make the right choice, it's necessary to develop two important concepts: self-awareness and professional presentation.The course covers self-awareness, helping students identify their strengths, areas for improvement, and where to focus. It will also guide them in creating an ideal professional career plan and designing a strategy for its achievement.
International Ecosystems II: How to take advantage of the Asian marketplace
Becoming a social entrepreneur or business innovator is a lifelong journey. Within the four-year timeframe of BITLASI, our goal is to provide you with the tools you need to create triple value, no matter where you are. At Bitlasi, we believe that high-quality "knowledge" is essential, but it alone is insufficient. In today's interconnected world of rapid innovation and evolving global challenges, true professionalism extends beyond theoretical understanding. It encompasses practical application, adaptability, dealing with uncertainty, and a commitment to continuous learning.This module is the last course of the 3 BITLASI year, which is around "scaling and being disruptive." Students will continue to add layers of knowledge on top of what they have already acquired and assimilated. They will acquire the bits of knowledge and experiences necessary to learn how to scale or disrupt a corporate business or a start-up, both for social impact.
Year 4
Taking action: people, planet, profits
Year 4 is the time for taking action and making decisions. Which specialization track will you choose? Corporate innovation for social impact or social entrepreneurship? Where will you do your profesional internship? Will you do a solidarity internship in the summer? And of course it is also time for your final Project or thesis.
CORPORATE INNOVATION AND TRANSFORMATIONAL BUSINESS
Impact Management and Measurement
Gain a vision of innovation as a business process, beyond the technological approach, including the relationship between innovation and strategy, creativity and innovation, and more.
Intrapreneurship
Get a comprehensive view of the phenomena of corporate entrepreneurship and corporate venturing as innovation strategies.
Data Sciences for Intrapreneurs
Develop the knowledge and management skills to better understand the digital transformation process and the new types of digital infrastructures and platforms that are emerging in the digital economy. The course provides an overview of the concepts and models associated with digitization, digital convergence, and digital platforms.
Change management
Organizations exist in environments of permanent change. In this course, you will learn how to manage change processes from a leadership perspective.
Non profit Management
Learn how to design and manage product development processes as a strategic process.
Sustainable Corporate Finance
Analyze the phenomenon of innovation from the perspective of public policy.
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Stakeholders Management
The course will build on previous courses in which you have learned how to design an impact business model. Using case studies of social ventures that have reached a stage of maturity, you will learn about the challenges and tensions inherent in high-impact business models, and reflect on what strategies can enable the consolidation of a stable financial return and significant social impact.
Scaling Impact and Nonprofit Management
Focus on the scaling phase of entrepreneurial ventures. Learn about different strategies that can help startups grow quickly and become global enterprises. The course will also include an overview of the different options that startups have for financing their growth and how to attract those investors.
Impact management and measurement
Learn about different impact measurement tools and methodologies, with an emphasis on the importance of understanding impact measurement as a process and not just as a set of metrics and indicators. The course features guest speakers who will talk about how impact is measured and managed in different types of organizations (foundations, social enterprises, NGOs, large corporations, etc.).
Impact Investment
An introduction to the field of impact investing, in which investors aim to achieve financial returns as well as significant social and environmental impact. The course covers different tools and strategies used by impact investors, as well as a reflection on the benefits and challenges of the sector.
AI applications and insights for entrepreneurs"
A focus on financial analysis that provides you with the skills and tools necessary to analyze a company's financial statements and decide whether it is worth investing. You will deepen your understanding of financial analysis and its link to a company's strategy, operations, and growth.
Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Study the opportunities at the base of the pyramid, oriented toward those segments of the population that are more disadvantaged and those with lower income levels.
PROFESSIONAL OR SOLIDARITY TUTOR-GUIDED INTERNSHIP
Your BITLASI studies will culminate during the fourth year in this learning experience, which will allow you to join a national or international organization, professional or solidarity internship, and take on real responsibilities to put your knowledge into practice.
In both cases, you’ll establish the goals you want to achieve and the skills or competencies you wish to strengthen during your internship.
More information
You’ll join a national or international organization and take on real responsibilities. Put your knowledge into practice as you learn first-hand about day-to-day life in transformational companies or NGOs, developing practical abilities that help your CV stand out.
Final Project
To successfully earn the Bachelor in Transformational Leadership and Social Impact (BITLASI), you will be required to prepare and successfully defend a final degree project during the fourth year of the program.
When you complete this project successfully, you will have acquired the knowledge and core skillset you need to solve managerial problems connected to economic, social, and environmental impact.
There are three different types of individual final degree projects to choose from:
- Creation of a start-up: Create a start-up with social impact ready for the first investment round.
- In-company business project: An in-company project for positive social impact consisting of a written report, supervised by a tutor within a company.
- Undergraduate thesis: A supervised research project on sustainability and social impact