This two-day course was intended to equip academic researchers from all over the world with a basic understanding of the entrepreneurial process, the generation of business models, and the respective managerial challenges. It analyzed the environments of academic entrepreneurship from types of opportunities, to how decisions are made depending on the opportunities pursued. The focus was on the unique challenges involved in founding and managing academic entrepreneurial ventures. Moreover, lecturers addressed the analytical and administrative domains of technology transfer, business model generation, and managerial behaviour.

Photo: HLRS

The course comprised theoretical insights into the entrepreneurial issues at hand and combined these with practical applications concerning the presentation of technologies and business ideas.

In preparation of the course, participants were asked to do some background reading on two Harvard case studies: Nanogene Technology and Walnet Ventures. While the former case provided details on technology transfer from within the university, the latter case study explicitly focused on business planning activities.

Participants were invited to read the next case studies before the course started, since they were discussed in the afternoon sessions. On the second day, participants provided and discussed their on case studies in an interactive session. This way, the interaction between participants and lecturers was stimulated.