Cross-Border-Project between students from Amsterdam & Munich

Within the bachelor modul MM.4 "B2B Marketing & Sales Management”, students from Amsterdam (AUAS) and Munich University of Applied Sciences worked in mixed teams on the internationalization strategy for two young and ambitious companies.

Munich based TOPOSENS invented and designed the world’s first 3D ultrasonic sensor. Possible first applications are seen in (but not limited to) the automotive and robotics sector. Four Amsterdam-Munich teams elaborated the international Go-To-Market strategy for the European and American region with focus on the AGV (automated guided vehicle) market. Anna von Berg – project lead from TOPOSENS - about the collaboration: “Through the detailed elaboration of the topic by the student teams, we as a start-up were able to gain an additional new perspective on our market segment and have acquired numerous useful impulses for our future market entry strategy.”

Amsterdam based TINYBOTS invented Tessa - a healthcare robot and application which support elderly people with dementia in their daily routines. Three Amsterdam-Munich teams worked on the export strategy of the Tessa-business idea – which is already successfully implemented in the Dutch market – to the German healthcare market. Herefore, multiple customer interviews with healthcare insurances and service organizations were performed in order to identify a route for reimbursement.

However, the cross-border-project was not only about the fulfillment of the two company tasks. Within 10 weeks, the students from Amsterdam and Munich had to quickly team-up and find solutions to challenges set-up by differences in culture, working style, lecture plans etc. And according to the two lectures Maurik De Groot (AUAS) and Matthias Schlipf (HM) they did this very well!

On the student side, some quotes from the HM bachelor marketees:

“The project was pretty challenging but also fun. After the CORONA years and all the online lectures, it was refreshing to perform in presence – even more in Amsterdam - again. A real memory effect for our studies.“

„I will remember this project for a long time. I learned a lot by the company project but especially by collaborating with the Amsterdam students. Thanks for this cool and inspiring exchange.”

After the kick-off and company task presentations in Munich in April, where the Amsterdam students visited HM (and had the possibility to compare Amsterdam and Munich style beers), there were different virtual milestone meetings. End of June, the Munich students visited the Business School of AUAS and held the final presentations in front of the company sponsors. A boat trip through Amsterdam – organized by the Amsterdam students – was a great ending of a special project – truly to be remembered.

On behalf of the complete course module, thanks to the Joint Committee consisting of students and faculty staff and the International Office of our faculty for making this exchange with the University of Applied Science in Amsterdam possible.