In the "E&I Garage: Build your own Start-up" students channel their inner entrepreneur and build start-ups based on their own business ideas. Students work in teams of 4-6 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.

In this class, students learn to use tools and methods helpful for identifying, evaluating and realizing technology-oriented, explorative business ideas. As this class is built on the logic of the lean start-up method, students are expected to immediately put theory to practice (interview potential customers, build prototypes, develop financial plans, build a pitch deck etc.) to really experience what it means to be founder.

During summer semesters, the Garage course is held in collaboration with the TU and BOKU. This means we will likely have around 50 students overall and you will work in interdisciplinary teams with WU, TU and BOKU students.          

The E&I Garage course is one of the application-oriented project courses. The aim of the course is to deepen and extend the theoretical skills of the students through practical application to a real case.

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.

As the interaction with other students as well as external stakeholders is an integral part of this course, active participation in-person is important.

Students must attend at least 80% of all classes and events to successfully complete the course. However, due to their importance in reaching the course goals, 100% attendance is required for the literature test, kick-off, mid-term and final presentations as well as the E&I Touchdown event. In case of absence due to illness for the literature test, an alternative exam (written or oral) will be provided to the student. For the kickoff, absences (up to maximum of 1,5h) due to a scheduled written exam at WU can be excused if the course instructors are notified with a proof of examination before the kickoff.

In general, all absences in the course must be notified to the course instructors via email (if possible in advance) and confirmation (for example a medical certificate, or in case of an exam a note confirming the date of the written examination) must be submitted as soon as possible. Absences can result in additional compensation work to ensure the course's learning outcomes.

E&I Garage is a mixture of workshops/lectures with mandatory attendance for all students and individual team coaching sessions. There are usually 3 coaching sessions of approx. 1 hour per semester. Each team individually schedules a time slot with the lecturer within a 2 hour time slot on

• March 29th, 2023
• April 19th, 2023
• May 10th, 2023

Other than the coaching session, there is no class taking place on these aforementioned three dates.

Furthermore, there will be a mid-term and a final presentation of the project.

• April 26th, 2023 (mid-term presentation)
• June 7th, 2023 (final presentation)

Except for literature test and kick-off, the content of all other dates shown are subject to change (e.g. dates for coachings and workshop might be switched)! Make sure to be available on all scheduled dates. More detailed information can be found at the introductory event and at the kick-off. Most dates are either arranged individually with course instructors and project partners or take place externally. This is not unusual for innovation projects. Exact dates for the presentations, workshops and coachings will follow at the Kick-off.

Information for E&I students taking a semester abroad that starts in January
At E&I we value the international experience our students get from taking an exchange semester abroad. We also understand that some exchange semesters already start in January, leading to schedule overlaps with our courses. In that case, we will enable you to take the project course. Please inform your course instructors and fellow team members when the semester starts to make the necessary arrangements and counterbalance the absence in the last month by distributing the workload in a fair and reasonable manner among all team members in advance.

· Self-study (literature package)

· Teaching and discussion of theoretical basics on two kick-off days (lecture, working on the project assignments, group discussions, team work)

· Group-based work on real and relevant projects in close cooperation with course instructors and practical coaches

· Workshops and coaching by external partners (experts from the Austrian startup ecosystem)

· Peer feedback

· Documentation and presentation of work progress and results

Performance is assessed based on individual as well as group work throughout the semester.

Grading system:

60% Group-based performance

• 10% Midterm presentation
• 10% Midterm report
• 20% Final presentation
• 20% Final report

40% Individual performance

• 10% Literature test
• 25% ongoing participation and project management
• 5% Reflection essay

Add. 1. Literature test

The literature test takes place on the WU campus on March 1st, 2023, between 8:00 - 9:00 am (30 minutes test) The test examines the basic and in-depth knowledge that is absolutely necessary for the participation in the projects. Therefore, you can find a literature list @learn with basic literature and course-specific additional literature for self-study. If you fail the literature test (less than 50%), you will be automatically transferred to the Analyst Support Program. As a student in the Analyst Support Program (ASP), you will work individually instead of working on a group-based project during the semester. The course instructors are responsible for the design of the program. In case of non-participation (e.g. due to illness) a medical certificate must be presented. For this purpose, a substitute exam will be offered.

Please log in with your WU account to use all functionalities of read!t. For off-campus access to our licensed electronic resources, remember to activate your VPN connection connection. In case you encounter any technical problems or have questions regarding read!t, please feel free to contact the library at readinglists@wu.ac.at.

alessio.delpero@wu.ac.at; thomas.pannermayr@wu.ac.at

This course is taught in English.