University teaching is evolving. Entrepreneurship education is creating an interdisciplinary field of expertise that aims to build new bridges between academia, industry, and society.
Today, key success factors for a business location are innovative strength and entrepreneurial activity. Accordingly, the government, states, and universities are also committed to these areas.
“When students and graduates start up businesses, the ideas are often knowledge-intensive and technology-heavy,”
so Prof. Dr. Klaus Sailer, Managing Director of Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE) at the Munich University of Applied Sciences.
“These companies are often particularly innovative, their business models are scalable and offer corresponding growth potential.”
Munich is a leading location
The study "Gründungsradar" examines how well universities throughout Germany support their students, graduates, and researchers in starting their own businesses. Two Munich universities, the Technical University and the Hochschule München, are at the forefront of the large universities category. The TU Munich, for example, has UnternehmerTUM not only has one of the largest innovation and start-up centers in Europe, but also one of the most research-intensive units in the TUM Entrepreneurship Research Institute with four professorships.
Scientists train business skills
Fraunhofer Venture promotes and supports spin-offs by scientists from the research environment of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.
"We discovered early on that our strengths lie in research, development, and patents. However, the necessary skills to exploit these findings were often lacking,"
said Managing Director Thomas Doppelberger.
“These were very basic questions, such as how a managing director speaks to customers or investors.”
A project with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research investigated how these skills can be fostered. This is how the Fraunhofer FDays were born. As part of the program, scientists explore how scientific findings can be transformed into a product. This involves analyzing the market, defining target groups, and developing business models. Participants from Bavaria meet at the Munich location. The FDays comprise several modules, including in-person events, independent units, pitches, and external coaching. The first round will soon be completed.Not everyone will start a business, but the skills are valuable in any case", says Doppelberger. "We want to prepare participants for future challenges."
Europe-wide network further develops teaching
The Munich University of Applied Sciences is currently leading the development and implementation of Connect, the international network of universities dedicated to establishing and improving entrepreneurship education. This Europe-wide training program for lecturers is supported and funded by the European Union. Participants benefit from access to the European startup scene, the exchange of ideas, and the resulting network. Coneeect offers five international, one-week intensive training courses for 50 participants each in Munich, Aberdeen, Sofia, Tel Aviv, and Lisbon.
Business plan vs. mindset
“In Bavaria, the measures have developed to not only promote the lighthouse Munich, but also to stimulate initiatives at all universities and to establish start-up centers,”
says Sailer.
“Universities are also moving away from being pure science and research factories; they are becoming part of society as a whole.”
The topic of entrepreneurship helps build bridges between science, industry, and society. German universities pursue different strategies in this regard.In Germany, the focus is still strongly on founding a business, in the sense of 'How do I write a business plan?' Internationally, the trend is moving towards personal development.“, says Sailer.
At Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship, training is becoming increasingly interactive. Instead of learning theoretical content, students gain competence through real-life projects and hands-on experience. Business plan skills are only introduced when they are truly needed.
Conclusion
One example is the Proto funding program, which supports potential founders at a very early stage. Teams receive free space, infrastructure, and a small budget for material resources to develop a prototype.
“While many investors and funding programs start later and with much larger sums, we give a small leap of faith.”
so Prof. Dr. Herbert Gillig, Head of Start-up Support at SCE,
“and we have found that you can achieve a lot with it.”
Sailer believes universities have a responsibility to prepare students for the future in a dynamic market. They must, for example, deal with uncertainty, implement new concepts, collaborate with other disciplines, and demonstrate leadership qualities.Entrepreneurship training is a great opportunity because it is currently the only one that promotes these skills in an interdisciplinary manner", says Sailer. "It is less about imparting formal start-up know-how than about developing the entrepreneurial mindset“.
