Ponts Startup Day

Ponts Startup Day is a day of entrepreneurial discovery organized with the active participation of the Genius Ponts club for all 1st year students, to raise awareness of this professional path they are likely to take on completion of their studies or during their career.

This day is part of the overall program set up by École nationale des ponts et chaussées to encourage and support student entrepreneurship. The aim is to break down potential barriers and provide answers to questions such as: How do you become an entrepreneur? How do you go from idea to action?

The concept

Students work in teams to solve concrete problems (business, technological, marketing) proposed by start-up entrepreneurs, most of whom are graduates of École nationale des ponts et chaussées. The students use design thinking tools to tackle their problem. Throughout the day, they are accompanied by mentors from these start-up partners, who in turn are supported by experts and teachers from the School. The day begins with a testimonial from a graduate of the School.

At the end of the day, the teams present the results of their work to the start-ups. A cocktail party brings together all the players, enabling the students to informally share their impressions, review their results and get to know the start-ups better.

Testimonials

"I really enjoyed meeting real start-ups and having a project and a goal that weren't "fake", they had a real outcome. I also really enjoyed the first conference to see just how far a start-up can really take off."

"The innovative aspect of the day breaks with the school curriculum. We're confronted with concrete problems."

"Working in small groups was really productive, the strartuppers were really super accessible, it made the idea of the start-up a lot less mysterious."