SCHUMPETER LABORATORY FOR INNOVATION - The Opening
on 25.04.2019

From now on, Graz University of Technology has at its disposal the most modern infrastructure and the latest technologies on more than 800 square metres in order to demand stronger cooperation between the maker community, established industrial companies, young start-ups and university research.

Rector Prof. Dr. Harald Kainz and Dean Prof. Dr. Franz Heitmeir welcomed the guests. Andreas Jäger guided the guests through the evening. Dr. Christian Ramsauer explained in his opening speech the central task of the newly created infrastructure - the linking of creative potentials and technical competences from different domains. One of the main goals of his initiative is to create new products and thus also to found new companies (start-ups). Representatives of three start-ups of different degrees of maturity subsequently enthused the guests.

Dr. Stefan Hauswiesner and Arjun Thomke showed a live demo of the virtual dress rehearsal of the successful spin-off of TU Graz Reactive Reality GmbH.

Event video on YouTube

Exciting discussion

The question "How does innovation work?" was the central topic of the subsequent panel discussion with Dr. Martin Bartenstein (G.L. Pharma GmbH), Prof. Dr. Karin Schaupp (TU Graz), Prof. Stefan Thomke (Harvard Business School) and Dr. Michael Doberer (Start-up durchblicker.at). New possibilities due to the advancing digitalization as well as a corresponding qualification of employees were highlighted.

The benefits of academic maker spaces for society, industry and research were discussed with representatives of leading US universities with a live link to the USA. Marlo Kohn (Stanford University), Dean Vincent Wilczynski (Yale University), Prof. Björn Hartmann (University of California, Berkeley) and Prof. Malcolm Cooke (Case Western Reserve University) discussed how the dismantling of barriers to the implementation of new, innovative products by maker spaces works better.

Spain's entrepreneur of the year 2018, the Styrian Meinrad Spenger, who founded his start-up MASMOVIL in Madrid in 2006, also gave insights into the company's development and mentioned the importance of the new maker space for young entrepreneurs. His company now has eight million customers and a market capitalization of two billion euros.

Prominent guests

Among the 150 invited guests were representatives of the Austrian universities and society as well as many owners, managing directors and board members of well-known industrial companies such as Prof. Günter Knapp (Knapp AG), Heinz Moitzi (AT&S AG), Prof. Helmut List (AVL GmbH), Hans Höllwart (SFL), Dr. Manfred Gutternigg (Hilti GmbH), Andreas Schuster (Hirtenberger Holding GmbH) and Dr. Heinz Leitner (Komptech GmbH).

Der Nutzen von akademischen Makerspaces für Gesellschaft, Industrie und Forschung wurde mit Vertretern führender US-amerikanischer Universitäten mit einer Live-Schaltung nach USA diskutiert. Marlo Kohn (Stanford University), Dean Vincent Wilczynski (Yale University), Prof. Björn Hartmann (University of California, Berkeley) und Prof. Malcolm Cooke (Case Western Reserve University) diskutierten wie der Abbau von Hemmschwellen zur Umsetzung von neuen, innovativen Produkten durch Makerspaces besser funktioniert.

Auch Spaniens Unternehmer des Jahres 2018, der Steirer Meinrad Spenger, der 2006 sein Start-up MASMOVIL in Madrid gegründet hat, gab Einblicke in den Werdegang des Unternehmens und erwähnte die Bedeutung des neuen Makerspaces für Jungunternehmer. Sein Unternehmen hat heute acht Millionen Kunden und einen Börsenwert von zwei Milliarden Euro.