University for entrepreneurship – Entrepreneurial thinking and action at Leuphana University

ENTREPRENEURSHIP HUB

UNIVERSITY FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP Entrepreneurial thinking and action at Leuphana University Lüneburg

» www.entrepreneurship-hub.de

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UNIVERSITY FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP

UNIVERSITY FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

5 Entrepreneurship: A key competence for civil society in the 21st century 6 Leuphana: University for entrepreneurship 7 Entrepreneurship as research focus 8 Entrepreneurship as teaching focus 11 Fresher’s week: First steps into entrepreneurial philosophy and action 13 “Night of the start-ups!” network event of the startup scene 14 Start-up service: Practical help for those wishing to start a business 15 Start-up profiles

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UNIVERSITY FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP

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UNIVERSITY FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: A KEY COMPETENCE FOR CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE 21ST CENTURY The idea of the individual self is at the core of the identity of Western civilizations. Social participation and scope for individual creation represent a structuring feature of enlightened society. Possibility turns to reality if some people are willing to translate their desire for change into action. However, these possibilities are only open to those who know of them, and are capable of identifying and appreciating them.

Entrepreneurship, in its definition as entrepreneurial attitude and culture, counts among the fundamental elements needed to shape the civil society of the 21st century.

More than just business ideas The primary aim of the wide range of activities pertaining to entrepreneurship offered at Leuphana is not the development of profitable business activities. Far more, entrepreneurship is a key competence needed for civil society. It is the ability to reflect upon one’s own desires, to analyze and assess situational success factors. And to make this the basis from which to set targets. The communicative power to convince others of one’s own idea, persuading them to find common ways to implement them and to walk that way with you – no

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matter if they do so as start-uppers, as established entrepreneurs or as a part of their personal career planning and lifestyle.

Leuphana University of Lüneburg is one of the leading universities in the field of entrepreneurship. An achievement which was rewarded twice in a row by the prize honoring the best mid-size higher-education institutions for start-ups in 2012 and 2013. According to the Stifterverband (Association for the Promotion of German Science and Humanities), the university’s performance in establishing awareness and providing support combined with start-up activities was above average. Concrete examples are the Leuphana Enterprise Academy, which serves as qualifying measure for prospective founding entrepreneurs, as well as the Leuphana Conference on Entrepreneurship, bringing together scholars, entrepreneurs, investors, practitioners and students. Management and Entrepreneurship is one of four academic initiatives in the field of research and education at Leuphana.

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LEUPHANA: UNIVERSITY FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP Leuphana University of Lüneburg established itself as one of the leading universities in the field of entrepreneurship. This theme is part-and-parcel of the structure of the university – and involves several professorial chairs, including one for Social Entrepreneurship, as well as other departments and institutes. Leuphana also provides intensive practical incentives for potential entrepreneurs by offering a large number of non-curricular awareness-raising and skills-training sessions, as well as, start-up competitions, individual counseling and financial and infrastructural support.

Entrepreneurship as academic initiative Management and Entrepreneurship is one of four academic initiatives in research and teaching at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. The focus is on the analysis of entrepreneurial activity – such as the detection of market opportunities, the implementation of innovations and the development and application of resources. The body responsible for this academic initiative is the Faculty of Economics. At the faculty entrepreneurial activities of various disciplines and the use of different methods can be studied, and it involves more than 73 professors from the disciplines of business administration, economics,

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business psychology, business law, business computing systems, science and engineering.

Multiple award-winning activities The entrepreneurship activities of Leuphana University of Lüneburg have already received several awards. According to “Gründungsradar 2013” (Start-up Radar 2013), of the Donors’ Association for German Science, Leuphana is once more the most start-up-founder friendly of all medium-sized universities in Germany, after having won this award in 2005 and 2012 as well. In 2013, in the final round of the competition “EXIST Start-up Culture – Founder Culture” organized by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Dr. Philip Rösler, acknowledged the University as one of the best German universities for start-up founders. In the competition, Leuphana was one of the winners thanks to the project “Leuphana 2020 – Humboldt plus Schumpeter”.

With this project, Leuphana has further distinguished itself as a University for Entrepreneurship. All existing activities are coordinated centrally in the Entrepreneurship Hub where they are also strategically developed and made even more visible. The Entrepreneurship Hub provides an impetus for providing tuition, research work and counseling services over-arching many faculties, in the field of start-up creation, career and knowledge transfer.

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS RESEARCH FOCUS In Lüneburg, at the "Leuphana Conference on Entrepreneurship" (LCE), international scholars take part in an annual debate on current research issues.

The LCE was launched in 2011 and brings together scholars,entrepreneurs, investors, practitioners as well as students. Part of the conference consists of parallel sessions with presentations of scientific papers, based on an international call for papers and a workshop track. Other highlights include an “Idea Pitching Competition” where students present their business ideas. In 2015, Leuphana also organized the 3E: European Entrepreneurship Education Conference in cooperation with the ECSB. Research brings players together In addition, the Leuphana Research Centre for Entrepreneurship and its Evidence (RCE) combines research pertaining to entrepreneurship at Leuphana. The centre applies an interdisciplinary approach to the investigation of the phenomena of entrepreneurship as well as intrapreneurship. Research interests include the topics “New Ventures and Venture Start-ups”, “Evidence-Based Entrepreneurship”, “Corporate

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Entrepreneurship”, “Social Entrepreneurship”, “University Entrepreneurship” and “Entrepreneurial Education”.

In particular, knowledge and recommendations for action for entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship are developed on an interdisciplinary basis. The research is based mainly on the analysis of existing procedural knowledge by meta-analyses as well as the development and testing of models and methods, and the factors influencing them, by appropriate research designs.

Leuphana researchers publish in internationally acclaimed journals and assume relevant editorships. Prof. Dr. Michael Frese, for example, is field editor for Psychology and Entrepreneurship at the Journal of Business Venturing; he has been published in numerous other high-profile journals.

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UNIVERSITY FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS TEACHING FOCUS Entrepreneurship education, within the broad meaning of the Leuphana understanding of entrepreneurship and the modern international perspective on entrepreneurship education is not understood as a means to “churn out” entrepreneurs according to a specially designed target. It means rather mapping out a broad variety of ways, and to breathe life into them thanks to practice-oriented methods, also to reflect on how to apply entrepreneurial ideas and actions in order to make them real as founders of start-ups, as intrapreneurs or within the framework of one’s active career planning. To this end, Leuphana is following an integrative approach, in which all its faculties joint efforts to produce Bachelor and Master Degree programs, which include entrepreneurship education both in their teaching and curricular as well as extra-curricular activities.

Selected extra-curricular activities offered: — Enterprise Academy: The Enterprise Academy is an introductory training program aimed at supporting students of all disciplines interested in creating a start-up and entering into self-employment.

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— Student2Start-up: Students work on concrete issues of start-ups and can test their theoretical knowledge in practice.

— Entrepreneurship in Action: In the Startup Cafe “LOKALITÄT”, which is jointly operated by its founder and Leuphana University, successful start-up founders take part in regular startup workshops to offer concrete practical help on specific topics such as Public Relations and SEO to those in the pre-set-up phase.

— Next Top Founder: This workshop, operated in conjunction with a self-developed business management game, imparts students not only in higher, but also in secondary education, the foundations of entrepreneurship and inspires them to realize their own ideas.

— Lecture Series: The lecture series “The Spirit of Entrepreneurship” renders the interaction between students and the speakers. Successful entrepreneurs from all over Germany tell their story and offer the chance to reflect on theoretical contents and to experience these firsthand.

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FRESHER’S WEEK: FIRST STEPS INTO ENTREPRENEURIAL PHILOSOPHY AND ACTION The Fresher’s Week, a five-day event held annually in October, marks the beginning of the Leuphana Semester and thus the start of Bachelor programs at Leuphana College. First-semester students work together in teams during Fresher’s Week on a project, which has a different main theme every year. Organized along didactic lines, this concept leads them through the University, with which they thereby become acquainted and not only lets them develop important key competencies, but also explicitly practice entrepreneurial thinking and practice.

Shaping tomorrow’s society Thanks to Fresher’s Week, the freshmen are invited at the beginning of their studies to actively engage their responsibility to shape tomorrow’s society. As one example in 2013 the entire week was branded under the theme “Future City. Life”. Projects and business models were conceptualized for the city of the future. In 2014 the megatrend “demographic change” and thus one of the most important issues of the future was at the center of the opening Fresher’s Week. The main issue treated by the students, was “What are the opportunities and potentials arising from Europe's aging society – and by

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which innovative solutions it can be countered?”

Europe’s largest start-up competition In 2012, the Fresher’s Week directly addressed the subject of “Start UP!” In Europe's largest start-up competition held at a university about 1,800 freshmen, divided into in 120 teams, developed innovative business ideas in the fields of sustainability, social entrepreneurship, digital media and services. The then Federal Minister of Economics, Dr. Philipp Rösler, who dispensed the patronage, held the opening speech.

The students received support from 180 tutors and mentors as well as more than 70 successful entrepreneurs from all over Germany while they developed their ideas. In the end, they entered a competition in a multistage selection by holding elevator pitches in front of juries. The selected finalists for the closing event Had to pitch again in front of a jury comprised of highly prominent professionals, who finally selected the best ideas.

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“NIGHT OF THE START-UPS!” NETWORK EVENT OF THE STARTUP SCENE The Start-Up scene holds regular networking events at Leuphana. One example is the annual “Night of the Start-Ups!” which brings together young entrepreneurs, investors, as well as enterprises coming from all over Germany. They all love to socialize and to discuss various entrepreneurial matters in a lounge atmosphere with live music, chilled drinks and an exciting entertainment program.

Start-up teams awarded honors The highlights of the "Night of the Start-Ups!" in 2012 and 2013 included the awarding ceremony for the winners of the “Leuphana Business Accelerator”, Leuphana’s great start-up competition organized by Leuphana’s Innovation Incubator.

The idea behind the Leuphana Business Accelerator: A high profile jury with representatives from the world of business, academia and politics select the winning start-up team. The winners selected in the course of the competition will receive comprehensive support in the development of their start-up. A step-by-step assistance will be provided to the winning team. Academic staff of relevant chairs involved in business foundation as well as in Leuphana’s start-up service will

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provide individual support in the further development of their business idea up to the market maturity stage of their product.

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START-UP SERVICE: PRACTICAL HELP FOR THOSE WISHING TO START A BUSINESS Enterprise founders will find optimal conditions at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. Leuphana provides support for students and alumni wishing to set up their own business. The first stop for those who want to start a business is Leuphana’s start-up service.

The focus of the work of the start-up advice service is always the question of how the creation of a business can be successfully planned and implemented and as precisely on target as possible.

To achieve this goal, the start-up service offers different deals in consulting and support.

Individual consulting: Leuphana’ start-up service informs, advises, and supports students at various stages of their business activity. All students receive a free initial individual consultation. After this, they continue to receive support adapted to their own situation. The start-up service team provide not only basic knowledge about being self-employed and how to set up an enterprise, but also pass on expert contacts and help to use the infrastructure of the university towards the development of their business ideas.

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Services available to promote The start-up service also provides various services in regard to financing start-up projects. It helps, for example, with the application for special financing subsidies and funding grants. In addition, the start-up service can provide free office space in the pre-start-up phase for a limited period of time.

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Gabriele Pelc is one of the winners of the Leuphana Business Accelerator start-up competition. She set up the company amomenti, which offers attentiveness classes specifically designed for the chronically ill with a self-developed online learning program. The technique of attentiveness can be used to reduce symptoms-based suffering and thus significantly improve quality of life.

Felix Fischer, Clemens Schröder and Arno Baltruschat (left to right) founded Prozubi, the first public online learning platform for trainees, in 2014. The idea for Prozubi was established in spring 2013 in the auditorium during a lecture on "online learning". The Prozubi GmbH is based at the e.novum facilities, just around the corner of Leuphana’s main campus. Clemens and Arno have studied on the Master's program Management & Business Development at Leuphana.

» www.amomenti.de

» www.prozubi.de

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In 2014, Claudia Assmuth and Henning Siedentopp founded mela wear. In Hindi, “Mela” means “acting in concert” for. Claudia and Henning are selling fair-traded and ecologically produced textiles from India. Both of them are driven by the conviction that the economy must make an active contribution to solving global environmental and social challenges. At the same time Henning studied on the Master programme Management & Business Development at Leuphana.

Jasper Tessmann is the founder of frühstarter. frühstarter links ambitious students from different universities with successful regional companies. In addition, Jasper has been operating LOKALITÄT – Raum für Ideen e.V., a co-working space since the beginning of 2014. Right in the middle of Leuphana’s main campus the LOKALITÄT is the first contact point for entrepreneurial minded students that are interested in founding their own businesses.

» www.melawear.de

» www.fruehstarter.net

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Kristin Jordan has launched Ladencafé Avenir in March 2014 along with four friends. The idea behind Avenir is to combine the love of good coffee with the pleasure of sustainable consumption. The little shop café in Lüneburg's town center is the place for organically and socially sustainable shopping. At the same time, the exchange is promoted through an ethical consumption which invites customers to sit and relax. Kristin completed her degree in Cultural Studies at Leuphana in 2011.

After studying Business Administration and Economic Psychology at Leuphana University, Maximilian von Hoyningen and Robert Drews worked as business consultants for four years. The experiences during that time led to the initial idea for the echoscope business, which they started in October 2014. echoscope supports companies in relation to human resources, marketing and finance by extracting information from message boards, news articles and social media on the basis of an algorithm.

» www.a-venir.de

» www.echoscope.de

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IMPRINT PUBLISHER: Leuphana Universität Lüneburg EDITORIAL STAFF: PD Dr. Mark Euler, Dr. Christian Rudeloff LAYOUT: Leuphana Grafik PHOTOS: Leuphana Bildarchiv, außer S. 15 – 17 Thomas Stefan

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» www.entrepreneurship-hub.de

2015/05 · printed on recycled paper

Leuphana University of Lüneburg Entrepreneurship Hub PD Dr. Mark Euler Scharnhorststr. 1, C7.403 21335 Lüneburg Fon +49.4131.677-1578 Fax +49.4131.677-2981 euler@leuphana.de