News #1
Successful course teaches applied digital entrepreneurship
In the "Digital Entrepreneurship" course Dr. Dennis Steininger taught the students the specifics of digital entrepreneurship. Marcel Heine from the TUC Startup Service was one of the mentors.
The participants of the course "Digital Entrepreneuship" by Dr. Dennis Steininger were able to apply the theoretical basics of entrepreneurship in the digital space directly during the lecture. The practical part for the students began with the development of their own business ideas and culminated in the presentation to a jury of former founders and Marcel from the TUC Startup Service. The aim was to use the pitches to gain the approval of the jury members and by this a fictitious investment in the startup.
"Trying out and experimenting in the context of startup projects, also dealing with time pressure and setbacks, is in my view an extremely valuable experience for the future working life of the course participants." says Dr. Steininger about the character of the course.
Due to the special situation of the Corona Lockdown, the course itself, which was all about digital entrepreneurship, also took on a thoroughly digital flavour. Many of the students had never met in person, and despite these circumstances, a wide variety of collaborative projects developed. This was achieved in part through the use of digital collaboration tools.
"In keeping with the title of the course, we experimented with a wide variety of ways to collaborate digitally. For example, students slipped into avatars for teamwork in virtual reality." reports Dr. Steininger of the new digital tools.
Three teams, three different business ideas
The ATP team developed a concept to avoid overcrowded parking spaces on highways caused by trucks. The goal is to use camera technology and AI to guide trucks intelligently. Team Viehlfalt on the other hand developed a platform concept that links producers of meat directly with the end consumer. The focus lies on sustainability and a diverse range of products. Team SmartTech set itself the goal of reducing the number of returns from large mail-order clothing companies. With the help of AI, the clothing sizes and preferences of shoppers are to be analyzed and, based on this, the shopping carts are to be optimized in such a way that the customer is only shown products that correspond to his or her individual measurements and preferences.
Pitches in front of a jury of investors and TUC Startup Service
The course was concluded with the pitches of the individual teams in front of a jury of experts. In addition to Marcel from the Startup Service team, two founders and investors from Augsburg participated as jury members. With Michael Brecht (among others founder of several companies and former CEO of Doodle) as well as Martin Plöckl (founder of the company Vitrato, which was later successfully sold to Mobilcom/Debitel) the ideas were evaluated by two experienced experts.
"By integrating top-class jurors and the Startup Service of the TU Clausthal," Dr. Steininger explains the concept, "we try to embed teams in such a way that they can develop and implement their startup projects beyond the course."
At least one of the teams is now in active exchange with the Startup Service even after the lecture and plans to develop their own idea further. The next round of this successful course is awaited with excitement and anticipation.