The Master of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (MIE) welcomes students from many different backgrounds, from engineering, science, IT and applied economics, to product development. Simon De Ruyter is an alumni of last year's MIE who studied Product Development before he came to AMS. We ask him how he found the MIE and what it was like as a product developer.
"At first I was doubtful to spend time and money into studying at AMS. After all there is a risk involved, and an extra year of studying is not for everyone. However, at AMS you get quality classes, a superb environment, a great personal development and a year full of opportunities (events, visits, competitions, networking, intercultural learning …). In the end it still is up to you to really grasp all those opportunities, to get the fullest out of the classes, to cry for help when you need it and to be open to develop yourself and to leave your comfort zone.
Before I started at AMS I was a product development student that really valued the user-centred approaches and the creative and abstract thinking that were taught and developed at the university. However, I also noticed I could not get enough energy out of designing and I knew that becoming a product developer wouldn’t do for me. Therefore I was looking to develop a manner to leverage my creativity skills in a business setting, which AMS could offer through the MIE.
Throughout the year I really noticed how my way of thinking and my visualisation skills were not only appreciated by my peers, but also proved to be quite rare and beneficial to the different projects, class assignments and competitions. Via the personal Development Track I got to know more about my strengths and weaknesses, about what gives me energy and how I could translate all of this to what kind of jobs could fit me and how I can apply for them.
After graduating I started my career at Board of Innovation, an innovation consultancy company, where I learnt so much more about innovation, and got in touch with innovation and entrepreneurship in different industries. After recently creating my own change in my career path I will soon start working at ORMIT, where I will be working and creating changes in the financial sector. This is something I never thought I would be doing while I was studying product development.
To me AMS really was a stepping stone to develop myself and to have a lot more new opportunities. Now it is up to me to keep up the pace and to keep on developing myself and to keep on grasping opportunities. Personally I think AMS is the best place to be studying Innovation & Entrepreneurship, as these words fit the school itself. To me AMS comes across more as an underdog and authentic business school. It is less traditional and rigid than other business schools and it has a ‘DIY and we will support you’-attitude which all is a perfect fit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and especially for product developers."
Every year Product Development students join our MIE program. They bring an important added value to the class and are able to develop themselves further because of it. Anneleen Vanhoudt, founder of service design company Peel, also studied Design. Listen to her story in the video below: