After completing the course, students will be able to understand basic issues in the following areas, and apply them to real- life, current examples:

- general entrepreneurship and innovation

- the origins and discovery of innovation/opportunities

- the strategic implementation of innovation.

Students will know and understand important approaches, i.e. theories, methods and empirical findings in the areas general entrepreneurship and innovation, the origins and discovery of innovation/opportunities, and the strategic implementation of innovation. Students will be able to structure and solve complex problems in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation using existing theories, methods and empirical findings, as well as to reasonably evaluate existing solutions.

Students will also learn the following skills:

Social skills:

- Participating in different team work settings in order to solve problems/complete tasks Personal skills:

- Analyzing various perspectives of a given situation, for instance a practical innovation challenge, and developing suitable solution strategies

- Independently organizing their time and preparing for class each week Communication skills:

- Presenting and defending findings/solutions/ideas in a factual, logical and structured way

- Demonstrating argumentation skills (both verbally and in writing) Analytical and problem-solving skills:

- Analyzing real, multidimensional issues and developing solutions

- Identifying strengths, weaknesses, potentials, and risks

- Developing solutions and promoting innovation in organizations

By successfully completing the Core Lecture, students will be well prepared for the challenges of the upcoming practical and application- oriented projects in the Specialization’s application-oriented courses.

Each Monday, there are two course units: Module Closing (course 4129 – late morning) and Module Opening (course 4661- noon). There is also a Module Check (early morning). Students can decide whether they want to participate in them or not.

Although there are two course units (4129 and 4661), students only need to enroll in ONE of the courses. The choice has no consequences. Particularly, students can freely decide whether they want to attend the Module Openings, the Module Checks, and the Module Closings.

If they attend, however, they are requested to actively participate: They should arrive in time and stay the whole unit, bring along their name plates (distributed in the first unit), make use of the interactive format, and refrain from using laptops and smartphones during the course.

In the “Module Opening“, the content of the respective Module will be explained. Typically, the lecturer will lead students through the slides, initiate discussions, provide examples, point to interdependencies, explain the big picture etc. The objective is to empower students to understand and apply the concepts in a better way. The time is Monday noon (Course 4661).

The “Module Check“ is a weekly short test on the module content, a week after the respective Module opening. It will be written in teams (up to three students) or individually. The time is Monday early morning. Module Checks will be graded within a week. Students can register for feedback by the feedback coach.

In the “Module Closing” (Course 4129), circa 15 minutes after the Module Check on Monday morning, the test question and potential answers are being discussed in order to facilitate effective learning.

The E&I Welcome Day (February 12, 2020) is part of the Core Lecture (including the Founders’ TV task) for E&I SBWL students. Participation is mandatory.

There are two different modes.

(1) The Individualist Mode is designed for students who have little time attending courses (e.g. because they are working) and/or have outstanding capabilities for learning independently. For them, there are three components for grading:

        · Founders’ TV (5% of the grade)

        · A seminar thesis (20% of the grade)

         · The exam at the end of the semester (75% of the grade)

Students in the Individualist Mode have the right to participate in Module Opening and Closing, but they not to participate in the weekly Module Checks. It is the default mode for students.

(2) The Community Mode is the designed for students who want to train their capabilities during the semester in the community of E&I students. For them, there are also three components for grading:

        · Founders’ TV (3% of the grade)

        · The weekly Module Checks (39% of the grade)

        · The exam at the end of the semester (58% of the grade)

Students in the Community Mode may participate in Module Opening and Closing and in the weekly Module Checks. We recommend this mode as experience has shown that many students have a hard time adapting to the transfer questions we ask in the exam. Students willing to switch to this mode agree to its features and send an E-mail to Ms. Hanousek during the first semester week.

The exam is identical for both variants. There will be a repeat exam at the end of the following semester break (it overwrites the first exam grade). It is necessary to achieve half of the points in the exam, otherwise the Core Lecture 1 grade will be negative.

Students who have an exchange semester in the following semester and hence cannot attend both exams (proof needed) can keep their points collected throughout the semester (via Module Checks). All other students need to repeat the course if there is a need (because they were negative or could not attend the exam).

Details will be discussed in the first unit of the course.