Context and Research Setting

The research study described in the following chapters was embedded at the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE) of the Munich University of Applied Sciences (MUAS). The following section provides a “thorough

description” (Lorz et al., 2013) of these institutions and the general context of the research to allow the reader to more accurately interpret the research findings presented in Chapter 4 through Chapter 6.

Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE)

The SCE acts as a service centre for the 17,500 students, alumni and around 2,000 staff members of the Munich University of Applied Sciences, spread across the university’s fourteen different schools. It was legally incorporated in 2002 as an independent academic institute. In 2011 the SCE and MUAS were jointly honoured for their efforts within the entrepreneurship community by the German Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology and were awarded the status of ‘start-up university’ [German: ‘Gründerhochschule’]

making it one of the first three higher education institutions in Germany to receive this honour (SCE, 2016).

The core activities of the SCE can be grouped in three categories:

(1) New venture consulting: Several full-time mentors provide free consultations for (future) entrepreneurs and advise around 25 start-ups in a competitive accelerator programme. All SCE start-ups are eligible for free office space in the 700 m² SCE incubator which is situated in a separate building next to the main campus.

(2) Entrepreneurship education: The SCE offers entrepreneurship courses at all 14 schools of the MUAS. Many degree programmes at the MUAS include mandatory entrepreneurship modules. Motivated students are encouraged to sign up for additional advanced and specialised entrepreneurship modules offered by the SCE. For students and alumni with strong entrepreneurial intention, the Academic Program for Entrepreneurship (APE) is offered as a separate study programme (see Figure 3.3).

(3) Entrepreneurship research: The SCE conducts applied research in the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Figure 3.3: Expected Progression of Entrepreneurship Education

This figure is based on internal SCE strategy documents.

The Academic Program for Entrepreneurship (APE)

The APE is the most advanced entrepreneurship education programme offered by the SCE. It was one of the first academic programmes to use design thinking as a methodology for developing entrepreneurial skills. Its main focus is to prepare its participants for careers as start-up entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial innovators within organisations. Close to 40 % of its alumni build their own start-up within five years of graduation. APE alumni have cofounded companies such as Freeletics (www.freeletics.com) and ProGlove (www.proglove.de), which were both ranked among the top 25 start-ups of 2015 by the business magazine Horizont (Horizont, 2015) as well as nearBees (www.nearbees.de) and Querfeld (www.querfeld.bio), which were both nominated for multiple social entrepreneurship awards.

Each year, 25 to 30 students, university alumni, and young professional are selected out of a large pool of applicants to take part in this 10-month programme. The APE has a total workload of around 600 hours, including both the time in class as well as the time spent on self-guided project work.

The application process is open to all individuals who demonstrate high entrepreneurial motivation, a willingness to learn and the potential to strive as

“t-shaped” innovators (see Section 2.2.4).

As shown in Figure 3.4, the programme is structured in three separate experiential learning projects (see Section 2.3.3). For each project, multidisciplinary teams of four to six participants are formed (see Section 2.2.4) to solve wicked innovation challenges (see Section 2.2.8) posed by either the team itself or by selected industry partners. These challenges are initially phrased as design briefs (see Section 2.2.6). These design briefs generally consist of a description of the strategic direction for the project and list the technical requirements as well as operational constraints, such as the budget and timeframe. Due to the nature of the “ill-defined” and “wicked”

project challenges, these design briefs often evolve over time, to reflect the ongoing developments during a project. Formalised design thinking process models are used to iteratively guide each team from the initial team formation to a final concept pitch in front of a panel of external professionals and

investors (see Section 2.2.6). These process models are used to provide the necessary structure for each team’s learning process, both from a macro and a micro perspective. This means that, at the end of the course, all teams will have gone through the process in its entirety (macro perspective) as well as having used these models to structure short sprints during individual

teamwork activities to, for example, quickly go through a cycle of ideation, building prototypes as well as business models and testing key assumptions with potential users (micro perspective). Design thinking tools from the

“designer’s toolkit” (see Section 2.2.3) are introduced throughout the

programme in short workshops, self-guided reflective learning exercises (see Figure 3.5) and through flipped-classroom teaching approaches.

The participant’s learning process is facilitated by several experienced mentors from academia and industry. In this experiential learning-centred environment, the mentors’ main focus is on engaging the participants’

curiosity towards self-driven learning (see Section 2.3.3). Knowledge is co-produced between the individual learners, teams, and mentors. Regular team-based feedback loops engage the students in peer-learning across different disciplines. Together with design studio-like physical learning environments (see Section 2.2.9), this creates engaging learning spaces where each individual’s creative confidence, informed intuition, and

preparedness for ambiguous environments are fostered (see Section 2.2.7).

Instead of grades, participants are provided with regular oral and written feedback in the form of design critiques from academic and industry professionals, start-up coaches and potential investors.

Some impressions of how this learning environment was set up at the SCE and how it is applied in the APE are provided in Figure 3.6.

Figure 3.4: APE Structure

During all three projects, design thinking process models, principles, and tools are introduced in short workshops and flipped-classroom approaches. Additional seminars on entrepreneurship-related topics supplement this practice-based learning process. Through continuous mentoring, these practices are reflected and refined. If participants chose to start a new venture after their participation in the APE, they are eligible for a space in the SCE incubator and will continue to receive mentoring in the SCE accelerator programme.

Figure 3.5: APE Teaching Tools

Core design thinking tools are provided in several formats. Short summaries and

self-reflective assignments in the form of printed stickers allow the participants to discuss these concepts and tools in their groups (picture on the left). Participants are encouraged to use these materials to produce individual learning journals (picture on the right).

Figure 3.6: APE Impressions

Teaching Loft #1 Teaching Loft #2 Teaching Loft #3

Teambuilding Workshop Prototyping Workshop

Idea Generation Wireframe Prototype Mind-Mapping Seminar