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.

Due to COVID-19, the Core Lecture 1 will be held in online mode in the winter term 2020/2021.  We regret this – but we will ensure that you will have a great learning environment despite this!

Each Monday, there will be two course units: Module Closing (course 0085 – late morning) and Module Opening (course 0445- noon). Students can freely decide whether they want to attend them or not.

Although there are two course units (0085 and 0445), 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 and the Module Closings.

In the Module Opening, the content of the respective module will be explained. Typically, Prof. Franke 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 methods and concepts in a better way. The time is Monday noon (Course 0445). At the end of the unit, Prof. Franke will provide three different exercises (Module Checks) to the class. While every student is invited to work on them, three teams of students (of each three students) will be selected for providing a written solution on one of them until the next Thursday – these solutions will be graded. The Module Check questions are largely similar to the questions in the final exam. Students are also invited to submit voluntary Student Module Checks and Answers for further training purposes.

In the Module Closing (Course 0085), Prof. Franke discusses the three solutions to the Module Check questions provided by the student teams in order to facilitate effective learning for the entire class. Also, the best Student Module Checks and Answers will be provided to facilitate further training possibilities.

The E&I Welcome Event (held on Oct. 2, 2020) is part of the Core Lecture (including the Founders’ TV task) for E&I SBWL students. Participation is mandatory.

Please make sure that you participate in the first unit (October 5, 2020 from 9:45 to 11:15am) – here we will explain the concept in detail.

There are four components for grading:

· Founder´s TV (up to 5 points)

· Module Check assignments (up to 10 points)

· Student Module Checks and Answers (up to 20 points)

· Exam at the end of the semester (up to 100 points, we require a minimum of 50 points in the exam to pass the Core Lecture 1)

We use a scale for grading from 0-100. 

The exam will be held on Dec. 21, 2020.

The repeat exam will take place in February 2021 and will follow the same principal rules as the exam in December 2020.