We had a great excursion to the ASFINAG Gleinalmtunnel, which allowed us to gain an exclusive look behind the scenes of one of Austria’s largest road tunnels. We were shown the newly renovated tunnel tube and the accompanying supportive infrastructure. More precisely, we had the opportunity to visit and learn about the tunnel’s surveillance system, the ventilation system, the emergency system and more.

We are thankful to Stefan Weiss and Harald Purgay who have done a great tour and very competently answered all our questions concerning the tunnel, its functioning and safety system. The technology of the Gleinalmtunnel is among the best of its kind worldwide.

We are very happy for having had such an interesting trip and for everyone who joined!

Follow this Link to learn more about tunnel safety and To-dos in case of emergency.

We are very happy and grateful for the five entrepreneurs who have joined the panel discussion about "motivation and experience as a founder" in last week's intensive seminar on entrepreneurship.

These leaders have shared with us insights about their entrepreneurial journey, parts of their knowledge and experience.

We were more than happy to welcome:

• Stefanie Horvath from Studo
• Mario Fallast from smaXtec
• Karin Pichler from Carrot & Company GmbH
• Hermann Stockinger from Easelink
• Stefan Strein from doro turbine

THANK YOU!

Designerin, Gründerin, Mentorin – Stefanie Horvath ist eine der Powerfrauen in der Grazer Gründerszene. Genau deshalb war sie auch dieses Jahr wieder in der LV Unternehmungsgründung als Rednerin zu Gast und hat viele Inputs aus der Praxis als Leader und Gründerin mitgebracht. Sie hat die Mosbith GmbH zu der auch Studo – Die App für dein Studium gehört, und Female Founders South mitgegründet. Als Head of Brands ist sie bei Studo für alle Branding-Angelegenheiten, Marketing und Qualitätssicherung zuständig.

"Studo ist eine Love Brand und wenn ich sehe, wie die Leute Studo feiern und sie ein Leuchten in den Augen bekommen, geht mir das Herz auf" – sagt die gebürtige Tirolerin über ihr Produkt.

Das Unternehmen hat sich in den letzten Jahren von der Studierenden-App zum Digitalisierungspartner für Hochschulen weiterentwickelt. Mit digitalen Tools wie einer Workloaderhebung oder LV-Evaluierung für Studierende hilft Studo Hochschulen in Österreich und Deutschland dabei, Prozesse effizienter zu gestalten und die Qualität von Studien zu sichern.

In the Design Thinking Workshop of this week's intensive course on Entrepreneurship, students were challenged to redesign the gift-giving experience of their partners.

The Design Thinking method as proposed by Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford d.school is a human-centered design approach, with a bias towards action, and a culture of iteration and rapid prototyping. The method's steps are to empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test.

The seminar's lecturers Elisabeth Maria Poandl, Christiana Ropposch and Martin Glinik were very happy to see the common positive feedback and the great diversity of solutions and prototypes the students came up with.

SAVE THE DATE

Am Donnerstag, 28. Nov. 2019 findet der UFO Semesterausflug statt. Wir besichtigen die sanierte Röhre des ASFINAG Gleinalmtunnels samt zugehöriger Anlagen bevor diese wieder für den Verkehr freigegeben wird. Eine großartige Gelegenheit, die sich nicht so oft bietet.

Die Eckdaten zum Ausflug befinden sich im Anhang. Wir laden Sie ein, am Ausflug teilzunehmen und freuen uns auf Ihre Anmeldung persönlich am UFO-Institut.

The institute's research fellows Elisabeth Maria Poandl, Ines Korajman and Martin Glinik successfully completed a four day VHB seminar on qualitative research methods and processes, held in September 2019 in Hamburg. The course focused on both the theory behind qualitative research design as well as the applicability of these concepts and methods on specific use-cases of the students.

Our colleagues indeed appreciate having taken part in this great learning experience and are thankful to the speakers Prof. Dr. Thomas Wrona and Prof. Dr. Philipp Mayring, experts in the field of qualitative content analysis, for the excellent delivery of the course.

Follow the Link to find out more about VHB

In late September our colleague Michael Rachinger participated in a VHB course on managing interorganizational relations (IOR), which was hosted in Berlin by renowned scientists Univ.-Prof. Dr. Elke Schüssler and Prof. Dr. Jörg Sydow.

The seminar exposed students to advanced theories of organization with a particular focus on process perspectives on the management of IOR. Participants received valuable theoretical inputs and had the great opportunity to network and exchange ideas with the scientific community.

Follow the Link to find out more about VHB.

This week our "Business Model Lab" officially opened with keynotes from Horst Bischof (Vice-Rector for Research), Stefan Vorbach (Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs and Head of Institute for General Management and Organization) and Christiana Ropposch (Head of the Business Model Lab).

A big thank you goes to Georg List (AVL), Ralf Mittermayr (Saubermacher), Manuel Zoderer (Timeular), Romana Rauter (Head of Institute of System Sciences, Innovation and Sustainability Research at Uni Graz) and Christiana Ropposch (Head of the Business Model Lab) who discussed their view on Business Models from an academic and practitioner perspective.

Check our website to see how the "Business Model Lab" can support your company: Link

Wertvolle Tipps und spannende Insights aus der Praxis rund um Financial Planning von 360lab CEO Christian Vancea - Guest lecture in der LV Entreprenuership unter der Leitung von Elisabeth Poandl.

The team behind the FFG spin-off fellowship project STYRIAMMETALS Mateusz Skalon, Timur Cerimagic, Miron Hrinic, Martin Glinik and Elisabeth Maria Ponadl presented itself at the Fifteen Seconds Festival 2019 with its own exhibition stand and made contacts with creative minds from all over the world.

Visit Styriammetals online Link

In the last meeting of the University Council of TU Graz, the new rectorate was formed. The new addition to the team - Stefan Vorbach will be guiding the fortunes of TU Graz from October onwards.

Read more...

Bei der im Mai 2019 stattfindenden Mission Innovation Austria Week 2019 wird der "Mission Innovation Austria Award 2019 in der Kategorie Entrepreneur" an ein herausragendes Start-up verliehen.

Anmeldung und weitere Infos unter aws.at/pitch-your-idea/

Martin Glinik, research assistant at the Institute of General Management and Organization was invited as guest lecturer at the Institute of System Sciences, Innovation and Sustainability Research at the University of Graz (Universität Graz) on April 2.

Martin Glinik introduced the students to the topic „Lecturing Entrepreneurship at an Academic Startup Accelerator“ and brought it closer to the attendees in the context of the successful example of the "Gründungsgarage".

“Summer School – 2019” is organized on June 03-07, 2019 in Poznan, by the Faculty of Engineering Management of Poznan University of Technology in Poland.
For more information, click here.

This April our institutes' lecture „Technology Management“ took place. Alongside theoretical inputs, students could apply taught methods on real-life cases and simulations.
In addition, consultants from McKinsey & Company and 3DSE Management Consultants GmbH provided practical insights into their daily business.

This is how students evaluated the lecture:
- „One of the best lectures I've ever visited.“
- „Very well organised. A refreshing alternative to other lectures.“
- "Both lecturers were on point with their teaching."

Please contact us if you are interested in receiving training or collaboration.

The UFO Institute took again part in this year's Bac::Mass Thesis Fair for Informatics and Software Developing. We presented our available Master's and Bachelor's theses.

In the photo you can see Martin Glinik representing the Institute and explaining our fields of research.