In the Activation phase of the PM SET, you will carry out a challenge that you design yourself.

You can choose from five options, which are guided by the challenge owners:

• Option #1: Idea Validation - Discovering the product-market fit for your idea (Supervisor: Dr. Thomas Funke)
• Option #2: Sustainability Initiatives - Researching and Designing for Social and Behavioural Change (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Sami Asad)
• Option #3: Career Growth - Pivoting towards a new path and creating opportunities (Supervisor: Marion Trigodet)
• Option #4: Topics supervised by further lecturers
• Option #5: Human-Centered AI products (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Dr. Ana-Maria Olteteanu or Prof. Dr. Nellie Marangou)
• Option #6: Strategy for Life: Work on Your Personal Growth Plan (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Thomas Maidorfer)

The challenge structure will give you some orientation and help you to make progress in performing your challenge in the given timeframe.

Some key points to bear in mind are:

• Your challenge should include elements related to all three strands of the PM SET – sustainability, entrepreneurship (or intrapreneurship), and technology.
• Look back to the personal mission statement you created at the start of the program. Your challenge should relate to this.
• It should be achievable within a timeframe of 10 weeks.
• You should have access to the company and/or people you need to carry out the challenge and, if necessary, their permission to carry out the research you need to complete the challenge.

The Challenge Journal aka. Master’s Thesis

Your Master’s Thesis is a 30 pages challenge journal (45 pages for MSc), where you keep a record of what you’ve done, why you’ve done it, and what you’ve found out. The journal can include multiple formats. For example, you could include pitch decks, prototypes and/or presentations in the sections on what you’ve done and what you’ve found out.

The key sections that could be included (depending on your topic) are:

1. The challenge statement – What was the challenge you decided to work on, and why did you decide to address this challenge? How does this relate to your personal mission statement?