The new learning model is fundamentally experiential. As well as classrooms, the keystones now include laboratories, which will serve as meeting points between knowledge, training, and the business world. This is a new educational methodology based on student experiences’, said Josep Franch, dean of ESADE Business School, during the presentation of the Rambla of Innovation – a new support ecosystem for learning and entrepreneurship opened at the ESADE international campus in Sant Cugat (Barcelona).

The evolution of ESADE's educational and academic model is reflected in the development and definition of the new Rambla of Innovation, which has required the redesign of the main campus boulevard. The redesign (total area of 2,100 m2) involved the construction of five learning laboratories: open spaces with modular furniture, networking points, and simulation environments for group experiments. Investment in these new technological infrastructures has totalled two million euros.

Synergies to increase impact

According to Josep Franch: ‘the Rambla and the synergies generated between the laboratories are designed to increase the impact. This environment will combine entrepreneurship and innovation and place students at the centre of their own learning journeys’. Franch also stressed that ‘projects will become more complete by incorporating complementary capabilities in the laboratories. Challenges will generate ideas that can be rapidly prototyped, assessed, and turned into sustainable start-ups’.

It is expected that more than 90 lecturers, and 2,500 students from 109 nations and a variety of programmes, will pass through the Rambla of Innovation each year. In addition, the Rambla is expected to involve more than 175 companies in research projects and challenge-solving activities (real challenges posed and solved in the classroom).

The construction of this new ecosystem is part of the Student First project, presented last year, in which ESADE plans to allocate a total of €10m over three years to adapt methods and teaching environments to the challenges of globalisation and the digital revolution.

The five Rambla laboratories

The Rambla of Innovation includes five technically equipped laboratories for experimentation and learning, and enables applying innovative educational dynamics for fostering entrepreneurial initiatives and innovation:

Fusion Point: a space where ESADE students can work with engineers and designers to resolve real business and social challenges. Fusion Point is the result of five years of cooperation between ESADE, the Institute Europeo di Design, and the Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya. The lab is supported by Accenture and draws on the more than 20 years of experience of the Aalto University Design Factory in Finland.

Fab Lab: this is first Fab Lab in Europe located within a business school, and follows the model initiated by MIT. It is an open digital fabrication laboratory that employs the most advanced technologies (including laser cutters, 3D printers, CNC machines, and an electronics lab) and is designed for building prototypes and pre-launch testing.

Decision Lab: ESADE’s first academic research laboratory and the first of its kind in a Spanish business school. Its mission is to position ESADE as a leader in research on management sciences, behavioural economics, and the analysis of decision-making.

EGarage: a space launched by ESADE five years ago to encourage entrepreneurship among students. With the creation of the Rambla of Innovation, the EGarage has been reformed and positioned as the scenario where the creative and entrepreneurial impulses of students can be harnessed to produce projects.

EWorks: this area is for entrepreneurs who already have a clear plan and want to start work. EWorks benefits from the services and activities offered by the other laboratories: projects developed at Fusion Point or the EGarage can be converted into start-up projects incubated in EWorks. Entrepreneurs can prototype in the Fab Lab and use the Decision Lab to validate value propositions. During its first three years of activity, EWorks has assisted in the launch of 27 companies, incubated 48 entrepreneurs in co-working spaces, and accelerated 24 entrepreneurial projects (which have attracted more than €2.5 m in funding).