In the course “Garage” the students will learn to implement instruments and methods that help in discovering, evaluating and realising technology-oriented, explorative business ideas. Students have the possibility to bring in their own business ideas and develop them in interdisciplinary teams within a structured process. The teams will be supported in each step by the course instructors and by external mentors, with the goal of transforming an initially rough idea into a convincing business concept. At the end of the term the students' start-up-teams will present their business ideas and profit-oriented business case in front of potential investors and other experts.

This semester's garage course will be emphasizing the importance and value of data. Therefore, you will receive the opportunity, via premium access to DataCamp,  to develop data science skills throughout the course to get a better understanding of the technicalities of developing an idea revolving around collecting and exploiting user/financial/environmental data.

It is not required to engage with the content on DataCamp to comnplete the course. However, it gives you an opportunity to develop highly valuable technical skills as well as gain a better understanding of the opportunities unlocked through and the discipline of data science & working with data beyond Excel.

Areas that can be explored on the platform at your own leisure:

• Data Manipulation
• Data Visualization
• Data Collection
• Intros into R and Python
• Intros into Machine Learning

The Garage received the "Award for Excellent Teaching2011" at WU Vienna and stands out due to its highly interdisciplinary setting. Students from different Vienna universities take part in this course (e.g. WU, BOKU, TU). Interdisciplinary teams consisting of students from diverse fields allow - similar to real start-up situations - various perspectives, skills and competencies to shape the business idea and implementation.

In the summer term, the course will entail students from WU Vienna, TU Vienna and BOKU Vienna. This means, the schedule @learn.wu will be neither complete nor valid.
The valid schedule, available for students from all three universities, can be found at Garage WiSe 2018-2019 This calendar is subject to change until the kick-off.

In the winter term, the course will consist of WU & BOKU students, therefore the schedeule .... will be adhered to

On the basis of the real-practice situation students will learn what is necessary to develop and realise a business idea.

After completing this course, students will have the ability to:

• search for, recognise and evaluate innovative business possibilities,
• develop business ideas using appropriate methods and tools,
• identify customers and their needs,
• analyse and evaluate the environment around a business idea,
• develop sustainable business models,
• apply creativity techniques.

Furthermore the students will acquire relevant complementary skills:

Project management:

• successfully managing innovative (therefore less structured) projects
• reaching decisions under uncertainty
• managing several different stakeholders at once
• summarising the most important project results in a business proposal

Team work:

• working in an inter-disciplinary team
• efficiency through recognising and utilising individual strengths of team members
• dealing with various work methods, opinions and perspectives

• lively discussions and interactive workshops
• structuring complex data (project results), presenting them in writing and orally to various target groups

To complete this course with a positive grade, students must attend 80% of scheduled classes (exception: 100% attendance at literature test, kick-off and E&I Touchdown – event)

The course is built around several workshops, which are structured to be interactive and combine several teaching methods to impart various topics and skills. Among them are working in teams, open discussions, individual team coachings and coachings by external mentors.

The basic principles of idea generation, searching for business possibilities and the methods to be employed during the semester will all be presented and discussed during the kick-off session. After the kick off, each student is obliged to submit a business Idea, of which a number will be chosen by the lecturers to develop throughout the course, in teams which are formed in an in class marketplace. the rest of the course will revolve around the forming and validating of a business model through group work and field interviews with customers and experts.

The students will be supported in the further development of their business ideas by the course instructors and external mentors in both online and offline coaching sessions and expert talks. Regular presentations of results are scheduled. The results of the start-up-planning process will be summarised in a business proposal.

The teaching method of this course is supposed to emulate the realities of forming a startup as closely as possible, so while the workload is high, the rewards consist of highly transferrable skills along multiple personal and professional dimenions, not to mention the chance to work on an actual, viable business!

This semester the course is taught in English.

The final grade in the course will depend on:

• 10% literature test  (in German / literature according to Learn@WU)
• 30% project progress (quality of working papers, implementation of feedback)  
• 10% mid-term pitch
• 40% project result (contributions in coachings, attendance, final business proposal and final pitch)
• 10% reflection paper

Additionally, there will be mid-term and end of term peer ratings of the team members which may result in individual up- or downgradings.

Literature test:The aim of the compulsory literature test (1.10.2018 from 8:00 am to 9:00 am) is to examine the necessary basic as well as specific knowledge in order to successfully work on your project. If the literature test is not successfully passed, the Analyst Support Program will be automatically applied. Within the Analyst Support Program, a single performance has to be carried out in the further semester course, instead of the group work. In case of non-participation (only due to illness), a medical certificate must be presented. An alternative date will be offered for this purpose. You will receive detailed information about the content and location of the test after registration to the course.

Attendance: In order to successfully pass this course, your absence is limited to 20% of our appointments.  Please note that the attendance of the literature test (1.10.2018), the kick-off (4. & 5.10.2018) and the E&I Touchdown (18.1.2019) is obligatory!

Studierende der SBWL Entrepreneurship und Innovation.

Bitte beachten Sie, dass eine Kursanmeldung verbindlich ist. Sobald Sie sich zu diesem Kurs anmelden, wird dies als eindeutiges Commitment Ihrerseits gesehen. Ein nachträglicher Wechsel in einen anderen Kurs (nach Ende der An- bzw. Abmeldungsphase) ist ausnahmslos nicht möglich, denn ein solches Verhalten ist unfair gegenüber Ihren Kolleginnen und Kollegen (die dann unter Umständen keinen Platz in Ihrem präferierten Kurs bekommen haben, weil Sie mit Ihrer Anmeldung einen Platz versperrt haben). Aufgestockt kann nur werden, wenn die Platzkontingente in allen Parallelveranstaltungen voll ausgeschöpft sind.

alexander.staub@wu.ac.at

ATTENTION: In WS 2018/2019 the course is taught in English.

Achtung: am 1.10.2018 zwischen 8.00 und 9.00 Uhr findet der verpflichtende Literaturtest statt. Die Teilnahme am Kurs ist nur mit einem positiv abgeschlossenen Literaturtest möglich - falls Sie dem Termin nicht beiwohnen können, melden Sie sich bitte nicht zum Kurs an. Genaue Informationen zu Inhalt und Ort des Tests erhalten Sie nach Abschluss der Anmeldungen zum Kurs.

Der Literaturtest dieser Veranstaltung überschneidet sich mit denen der anderen Lehrveranstaltungen innerhalb der Kurse 4&5. Ein gleichzeitiger Besuch dieser Kurse ist also nicht möglich. Dies ist intendiert.

Um die Lehrveranstaltung positiv absolvieren zu können, dürfen sie höchstens 20% der Termine fehlen (Ausnahme: Anwesenheitspflicht bei 1. Literaturtest in der ersten LV-Einheit, 2. Projektkurs-Kick-off am 4+5.10.2018 und 3. E&I Touchdown am 18.1.2019).