Entrepreneurial Spirit at the JKU

The inspiring summer school program for entrepreneurs and innovators was aimed at those interested in creating their own business.

Summer school for entrepreneurs in 2021
Summer school for entrepreneurs in 2021

The five-day program attracted 14 highly ambitious and dedicated JKU students from a wide range of academic degree programs, inviting them to turn their ideas into business ideas and work on further refining their business plan. The spectrum of business ideas was broad, ranging from an app for job applications, ways to provide clean water in Africa, to distributing regional food and products, and lifelong learning.

Four teams took part in a program that included a variety of workshops led by entrepreneurial experts. The workshops focused on design thinking, business modeling, and practicing methods to successfully pitch ideas to financial backers. Organizers for Founders.Week also welcomed a number of mentors and experts from the patent office, LeitnerLeitner, Haslinger and Nagele, upart, Bridge Corporate Finance. They were able to provide the program participants with valuable advice and inspiration. We would like to take this opportunity to not only thank them, but also the Vice Rectorate for Innovation and Researchers as well as other supporters and sponsors.

The final event was held at the LIT Open Innovation Center on Friday and the proposals were presented to a high-profile jury consisting of Elisabeth Berger (head of the Institute for Entrepreneurship at the JKU Linz), Christopher Lindinger (Vice-Rector for Innovation and Researchers at the JKU Linz), Elisabeth Ulbrich, (head of Operations at the LIT Open Innovation Center), and Raphael Friedl, (head of tech2b). Proposals by "Desin-Up" and "vicap" were selected as the winners. The "Desin-up" team created a proposal that focuses on using electrolysis to purify wastewater and improve water supply, particularly in Nigeria. "vicap" aims to create a platform to bring job seekers together with company representatives by means of short job application videos.

Much to the delight of all of the participants, Founders.Week took place in-person and on-site. The event was held in compliance with all current Coronavirus rules and mandates. Elisabeth Berger (head of the Institute for Entrepreneurship) remarked: "Our goal is for students to not only learn something about creating their own business, but also experience entrepreneurship for themselves. Founders.Week is a great opportunity to quickly try out the ‘experiment-fail-learn-repeat’ concept." Those interested in perhaps one day creating their own business should check out the institute’s website and keep an eye on the various courses offered by the institute.

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