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GESS Shanghai 2026 – Global Entrepreneurship Summer School
One of 40 participants worldwide at the Global Entrepreneurship Summer School Shanghai 2026: a week of building a social business model with an international team, coached and pitched to a jury.
Context
In July 2026, Heidi was selected as one of 40 participants worldwide for the Global Entrepreneurship Summer School (GESS) Shanghai, a one-week social entrepreneurship bootcamp at Tongji University (12–18 July 2026). GESS is run by the Social Entrepreneurship Akademie (SEA) in cooperation with the entrepreneurship centres of leading universities, including TUM, LMU and Tongji University, and is an official project of the UN Decade for Sustainable Development.
The programme
Students from all disciplines and countries form interdisciplinary, international teams. Within one week they pick a societal challenge, develop an innovative and sustainable business model for it, and pitch it to a jury. Along the way they are paired with a coach and take part in interactive input sessions with experienced entrepreneurs and experts, and they join a global community of change agents. Participants prepared beforehand with the online course Enabling Entrepreneurs to Shape a Better World on edX.
About GESS
- Organised by the Munich-based SEA with the university entrepreneurship centres in Munich, Shanghai, Querétaro (Mexico) and Cape Town, and held annually.
- Tongji University has been the first Asian partner since 2015. The 2025 edition marked ten years of GESS Shanghai.
- Its guiding philosophy is “Learning, Serving, Connecting”.
- Participants can earn up to 6 ECTS.
Why this shows I can…
Work in international, interdisciplinary teams under time pressure, turn a social problem into a business model, and pitch it to a jury. It connects her tech and hackathon experience with social entrepreneurship.