The schedule is subject to change both until and after the kick-off due to the inclusion of a lot of external workshop organizers who may have to postpone or cancel at short notice! Please make sure to follow the information provided to you via e-mail and the means communicated during the kickoff.  The Garage course during summer semesters is held in collaboration with the TU and BOKU, hence these students won't have access to information and resources provided on learn - which in turn means that as of the kickoff, we won't be updating or uploading anything on learn!              

In the E&I Garage course, students learn to use tools and methods helpful for identifying, evaluating and realizing technology-oriented, explorative business ideas. Students are welcome to bring in their own business ideas and develop them in interdisciplinary teams as part of a structured process. Course instructors and external coaches mentor teams at every step as they transform an initially rough idea into a persuasive business concept. Student start-up teams present their business ideas and profit-oriented business models to potential investors and other experts at the end of the semester.

The Garage course received WU Vienna’s 2011 "Teaching Excellency Award" and stands out for its highly interdisciplinary setting. The course is open to students from three Viennese universities (WU, BOKU and TU). Students from diverse fields come together in interdisciplinary teams, similar to real start-up scenarios, bringing a range of perspectives, skills and know-how together to shape the business idea and its implementation. 

In addition to the content provided in class, students have premium access to DataCamp, giving them an opportunity during the course to improve their data science skills and better their understanding of the technical aspects involved in collecting and exploiting user/financial/environmental data for developing an idea.

Students are not required to engage with the content on DataCamp to successfully complete the course. It is, however, an excellent opportunity to develop highly valuable technical skills as well as gain a better understanding of the discipline of data science, the opportunities it unlocks, and working with data beyond Excel.

Students can explore the following areas on the platform at their own pace:

· Data manipulation

· Data visualization

· Data collection

· Introductions to R and Python

· Introductions to machine learning

Based on real-world practice and experience, students learn the necessary elements for developing and realizing a business idea.

In the past successful alumni have gone on to create companies like:

- Hokify

- Mimo (Google self-improvement app of the year 2018)

- Alpengummi

- Lympik

After successfully completing the E&I Garage Build Your Own Start-Up course, students will be able to:

· Search for, recognize and evaluate innovative business opportunities.

· Develop business ideas using the appropriate methods and tools.

· Identify customers and their needs,

· Analyze and evaluate the environment around a business idea.

· Develop sustainable business models.

· Apply creative techniques.

Project management skills:

· Manage innovation (therefore less structured) projects.

· Make decisions in the face of uncertainty.

· Manage several stakeholders at once.

· Summarize the most important project results in a business proposal.

Team work skills:

· Work in an inter-disciplinary team.

· Recognize and use team members’ individual strengths for maximum efficiency.

· Effectively deal with varied working methods, opinions and perspectives.

Communication skills:

· Conduct lively discussions and interactive workshops.

· Structure complex data (project results) and present them to various target groups in writing and orally.

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 (21.1.2021) – event)

As this course will be held online due to ongoing Covid restrictions, we will be tracking your attendance by whether you have your camera on or not. Unless you don't have a device that is equipped with a camera and inform us beforehand, you will be assumed absent. Lectures and coachings will not be recorded.

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 kickoff session. The kickoff will not only provide you with vital information for the rest of the semester, but give you the chance to get to know your colleagues from WU, TU and BOKU, that will form part of your team for the course.

You will form your startup team for this course shortly after the kickoff. A select number of you will present an idea, while the remainder of your colleagues will present themselves as potential cofounders during the session following the kickoff. Thereafter, founders will be able to submit their preferences for cofounders, and cofounders will be able to submit their preferences for ideas they want to work on during the semester. Based on your preferences, you will be matched as best as possible to produce teams of around 4-5 individuals. The remaining course will revolve around the formation and validation of a business model through group work and field interviews with customers and experts.

The students will be supported in the development of their business ideas by the course instructors and external mentors in online coaching sessions as well as expert talks. Regular presentations of results are scheduled. The results of the start-up-planning process will be summarised in an investor pitch deck as well as accompanying documentation.

The teaching method of this course is supposed to emulate the realities of forming a startup as closely as possible, which means you will be receiving feedback as if you were actually starting a company. While the workload is high, the rewards consist of highly transferrable skills along multiple personal and professional dimensions, not to mention the chance to work on an actual, viable business!

Disclaimer: Given the individual challenges and opportunities that come with a highly diverse set of ideas for businesses (think implications for an online recruitment platform vs the design and manufacturing of solar powered umbrellas - actual examples from previous courses!) or having to pivot, your path will start diverging from your colleagues very quickly. This means certain expectations we have towards deliverables will be easier or harder to fulfil. However, keep in mind that this course has been in development for nearly 10 years, and every piece of work you are asked to deliver has been carefully considered, reworked and is based on cutting edge methods that are tried and proven.

The final grade in the course will depend on:

- 20% Individual work (literature test in English / literature according to Learn@WU; Reflection paper)

- 10% engagement in the project (attendance, contribution to classes, coachings and workshop, quality of working deliverables)

- 65% group work (working deliverables, midterm pitches, final pitches, final deliverable)

- 5% Touchdown (adherance to deadlines, implementation of feedback and quality of pitch)

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 (see details below) 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 (ASP) will be automatically applied. Within the Analyst Support Program, an individual 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, the kick-off and the E&I Touchdown (21.1.2021) is obligatory (exceptions in case of illness). In case of an overlapping exam, clarify with the lecturer if parts of the kickoff can be missed.

alexander.staub@wu.ac.at; thomas.pannermayr@wu.ac.at

This course is taught in English.