Itinerary
Five European business models, compared
Fifteen days, five countries, five different questions. In each country you look at one single way of running a business, chosen because that country does it better than the others, and at the end the five models are set side by side.
On this page
Fact sheet
- Days
- 15
- Countries
- Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland
- Cities
- Milan, Berlin, Amsterdam and Eindhoven, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Espoo
- Recommended season
- January, and it is the only route in the catalog designed for January
- Group
- 12 to 15 participants; above 15 the route changes, and how is written further down
- Language of the visits
- English at all five main sites; German available in Berlin
- Schengen days used
- 15 out of 90, counting the day of entry and the day of exit
- Price
- Quotation on request
→ Request a quotation · Download the itinerary in PDF
In the quotation we write which sites are confirmed and which are being confirmed, one by one.
The map, described
A line going up. It starts in Milan, in the middle of the continent, and climbs in five stops northwards to the Gulf of Finland: Milan, Berlin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Helsinki. Each stop is a city and the transfers are four flights inside Europe, with no intermediate stops. Inside two of the five stops there is a one-day trip that does not leave the country: Eindhoven from the Netherlands and Espoo from Finland, both overland.
The line neither doubles back nor crosses itself: each flight lands further north than the last, and the return is bought from Helsinki.
The route, country by country
| Country | Days | The subject | What you visit | Next transfer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Italy, Milan | 3 | Manufacturing and brand: how a physical product becomes a name that sells for more | ADI Design Museum (bookable) · La Centrale dell'Acqua (bookable) · Fondazione Pirelli (on request) | flight to Berlin |
| Germany, Berlin | 3 | Scale-up and corporate venture: how a large company buys innovation instead of producing it | EUREF-Campus (bookable, groups of up to 15) · Startup SAFARI, three to five startups chosen according to the group's subjects (on request) | flight to Amsterdam |
| The Netherlands, Amsterdam and Eindhoven | 3 | Deep tech: how a campus produces technology nobody else knows how to make | High Tech Campus Eindhoven (on request, weekdays only) · Heineken Experience (bookable), as a marketing counterpoint | flight to Copenhagen |
| Denmark, Copenhagen | 3 | Design and the city: how design becomes industrial policy | BLOXHUB (on request; its public form lists students among the types of delegation) · Danish Architecture Center (bookable) | flight to Helsinki |
| Finland, Helsinki and Espoo | 3 | Student entrepreneurship: students who found companies on their own | Maria 01, private visit (on request) · Startup Sauna, student hub in Espoo (on request) · A Grid, the Aalto campus (on request) | return |
Why Finland comes last and not first. The route starts with a product you can touch and ends with people the same age as the participants who founded a company inside a campus. On a geographical route that would be the last stop before the flight; on a thematic route it is the conclusion of the argument, and that is why the order of the five stops does not change.
Schengen days used: 15
This route uses up 15 of the 90 days a Mexican national may spend in the Schengen area within a 180-day period without a visa. Every day of stay counts, including arrival and departure, and the count is cumulative across the whole area: the five countries on this route are all inside Schengen, so the fifteen days add up to each other and add to any earlier trip by the same participant in the last six months.
Since 10 April 2026 entry and exit are recorded automatically at the border, so the count no longer depends on passport stamps.
Anyone who traveled to Europe recently may not have fifteen days available, and that check is made before the group is enrolled, not at the desk. → Visa and residence permit
What changes with 15 and what changes with 30 participants
This page declares a maximum of 15 and the reason is a measurement, not a preference.
| 15 participants | 30 participants | |
|---|---|---|
| Berlin, EUREF-Campus | The whole group goes in, on one single visit, in the format the campus offers | The campus takes up to 15 people per visit: two visits at different times are needed, and half the group spends the morning somewhere else |
| Berlin, Startup SAFARI | It is the ideal size the format declares, between six and fifteen | It is above the range: the sessions with the startups are split in two or the conversation is lost, and the conversation is the value |
| Copenhagen and Helsinki | Delegations of this size are the format those hubs routinely receive | A delegation twice the size has to be negotiated, and neither of the two publishes a ceiling: the risk is finding out late |
| Amsterdam, Heineken Experience | No group discount | It is the only site on the route that rewards a large group: the discount applies above twenty people |
| Flights and hotels | Ordinary booking | One or two more group fares on the flights, but it rarely makes up for the double shifts |
| Cost per person | It is the lowest point on the curve | It does not go down, and on some lines it goes up, because double shifts stretch the days and cost guides, transfers and time |
Above 15 we do not sell the same route cheaper. We sell a different route, built on sites with larger capacity, and we write it in the quotation instead of discovering it along the way. If the group is thirty people, that is the right question, and the answer arrives as a rewritten program.
The fallback plan for the transfers
Four flights in fifteen days are four chances for something to fail. The rules we build the calendar with are four and they are written into the program handed over.
- The calendar is built backwards from the constraints, not forwards from the flight dates. Two sites have a day restriction: the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven closes to the public at weekends, and in Berlin the campus visit is booked first because it has the lowest capacity on the whole route. Those are booked first, then the flights are bought.
- No visit on the day of a flight, and never in the morning. Each transfer takes up the first half of the day, and that day's visit is in the afternoon, in the city of arrival. If the flight moves, you lose half a day and not a site.
- One reserve day, declared. In each country one of the three days includes a classroom session, which can be moved at no cost. It is the day that absorbs a delay.
- The overland alternative is checked when quoting, not along the way. For each of the four transfers the program states which alternative connection is available in that month and how long it takes, with the warning that the last leg towards Finland is the one with the fewest alternatives. The group travels with that information in hand, not with an emergency number.
And one rule that falls on us: the person from the Istituto traveling with the group has the mandate to rewrite the day on the spot, informing the institution's office the same day.
What is included and what is not
Included: admissions and visits to the confirmed sites, the booking and coordination with all of them, the guided working sessions in each country, the materials, one person from the Istituto with the group for all fifteen days, the final report handed to the institution that brings the group and the certificate of participation.
Not included: the intercontinental flight, the four internal flights and the overland transfers, lodging, meals, urban transport, travel insurance, which is compulsory and paid by whoever travels (the accident and public liability cover for the activities is taken out by us).
The season, and why January of all months
It is the only route in the catalog meant for January, and it is not an emergency fallback.
All five stops are urban, indoors and with short distances inside each city. None of them depends on the weather, the farming season or a mountain road. On top of that, in January the cities of northern Europe work at full pace while tourism is at a standstill, which means available counterparts and lower accommodation costs.
One warning we give first: the EUREF-Campus walk in Berlin takes place largely outdoors, and in January two hours outdoors in Berlin are prepared for with the right clothing; the campus visitor service itself recommends checking the weather. In Copenhagen and Helsinki the hours of daylight in January are few, and that is why in those two cities the itinerary is built around the hours of daylight and not around waking hours, with the visits concentrated in the middle of the day.
The Italian experiences in the catalog, by contrast, are almost never sold in January. The reason, month by month, is on the Seasons page.
Cover
The program includes an accident and public liability policy for the whole stay. The sums insured, the insurer and the policy number are published once it is taken out and are attached to the contract; until then they can be requested in writing, with an answer within two working days.
Do you want it to count as training, with a certificate? This route can be built as an Istituto program, with classroom hours in each country, a piece of work delivered at the end and a certificate of attendance. → For groups
Related routes
The other variants of the European route are built on request: a longer version that adds a second Italian city and a day in a German car plant, and another that adds Paris. They are compared at the quotation stage.
Let us talk about this route
We answer within two working days with the dates, the day by day program and the quotation.