A personal experience: Claudia

Graduate assignment: The design of niche empowerment strategies for FLEET

As a Masters student in Innovation Management from the University of Technology in Eindhoven, I was lucky to get a place as a graduate intern on the FLEET team. This is an internal start-up based on a new solution and technology within Vanderlande.

I immediately felt part of the team. One of the reasons for this was that I had the opportunity to join them at the inter airport Europe exhibition in Munich. This was an experience that I will never forget. It gave me an accurate impression of what Vanderlande stands for. To me, the company culture is very open and trust-based.

My current project looks at what we want to achieve with FLEET from a transition point-of-view. For example, which niche empowerment strategies can we use to improve its external viability in the market. Eventually, the strategies we choose will influence the final business model. Therefore, my research also includes aspects of design science.

My colleagues involved me in all types of meetings, which I really enjoyed. It was interesting to see how decisions were made and how a lean start-up works in practice – it is a concept that I only knew about in theory, but now I am a key part of it.

Although I am still working on my research, I can already say that it was an amazing experience to have done my internship at Vanderlande. It gave me the opportunity to further develop a broad range of skills, such as presenting, networking and problem-solving.

 

Author
Claudia Picavet
Graduate Innovation Management