Matthijs Niemeijer, a Life Science & Technology BSc student
Matthijs Niemeijer participated in the minor Science & Research Based Business 2009. "Bachelor students in their 3rd year had the possibility to choose a minor for the first time in 2009 but I had no idea what to choose. I knew I wanted to do something else than the minor of my own study, Life Science & Technology."
“Not that the LS&T minor wasn’t interesting but I wanted to broaden my horizon. I received an email about the minor Science & Research Based Business (S&RBB) and I knew that this could be what I was looking for: I have always liked business and management. Although I like the science in my study I am not the person that wants a job as a hardcore scientist in a laboratory and this was the perfect minor to combine my business interests with my own study.
S&RBB is a minor programme that is divided in two parts. The first part, Science Based Business (SBB), is mostly about established companies. We had financial and marketing classes with some interactive group discussions. During the SBB part we also participated in an interactive project management course, where we had to create a project plan as a group. This was much harder than you would expect. I think, this part tells you how to run a big company in the Science sector, or how you could be able to provide a good service, like project management or consultancy, for big companies in the Science sector.
In the second part of the minor, Research Based Business (RBB), we discussed many Harvard Business Cases about New Ventures. We discussed how you can become a successful entrepreneur, how you can get investments and about the do’s en don’ts of entrepreneurship. This was very interesting because you saw what went wrong in the Harvard cases and I have learned a lot from this. The minor students also participated in the Holland Entrepreneurship Week. We spoke with many (successful) people who had started their own company and we did a small project on how to start a company based on your own idea, which is again much harder than you would expect.
At the end of the RBB part we had to write our own business plan, and I had to consider much more things than I would have expected.
When I look back at the S&RBB minor I think it is a very useful course. The programme tells you very much about how to run your business in the Science sector, whether it is a big company or a new venture. And because I always liked the management and business side of the science sector this was the perfect minor to explore that side. And I have to say that I liked it!
If the business and management side of your study appeals to you and if you are thinking of a job in the business sector of science based companies, I would really recommend the S&RBB minor.
The minor is also a good preparation for the SBB master specialisation including an internship in the business sector of Science. I’m also planning to do the SBB master specialisation because I really liked the minor and I want to know and learn more about science and research based business. Besides that, it is the perfect preparation for a job in the business and management sector.”