We kicked off Day 4 of our Entrepreneurship course with a special highlight:
A panel discussion on “Motivations and Experiences from the Start-up Phase” – offering our students direct, unfiltered insights into the realities of founding a startup.

We were delighted to welcome three inspiring entrepreneurs to our campus premises:

Astrid Radkohl – Yflavour
Andreas Ploier – MLN Solutions GmbH
Simon Werba – CommuModo

Organized by Theophil Kroller and moderated by Martin Glinik, this session was a rare chance for our students to learn directly from founders, connect the theoretical concepts of the course with real-world experience, and sense the true spirit of entrepreneurship – far beyond the classroom.

A heartfelt thank you to our panelists – your honesty, clarity, and entrepreneurial drive deeply enriched the course. You’re always welcome back!

On the third day, we continued with an engaging lecture on financial planning from Christian Vancea, offering valuable insights drawn from extensive experience in the startup scene.

Christian Vancea also shed light on how investors evaluate business models and what they look for when assessing a startup’s potential.

Big thanks for your inspiring session and your continued support in our course  – we truly appreciate your commitment and the energy you bring to the classroom.

On Monday, we kicked off the intensive block week of our Entrepreneurship course.

In one of our initial sessions, we dived into the business plan by mastering its structure and key components while developing the skills to develop a business plan for an existing business idea.

With input and guidance from Martin Glinik and Theophil Kroller, the course week promises to be filled with inspiring keynotes, creative insights, and, of course, the presentations of the final business concepts from our student teams!

This week, we kicked-off this semesters Entrepreneurship course! Our students received a preview of the upcoming intensive week, which will be packed with exciting hands-on workshops and lectures.

One of the major highlights today was the guest lecture by Jasper Etema on the topic of Pitching – an essential skill for all entrepreneurs to present their ideas convincingly.

But that’s not all, adding to the momentum: The Ideation Workshop led by Daniel Reicher and Dominik Renner – powered by the innovative Moonshot Game – helping our students spark, creatively develop and refine their business ideas.

We’re excited to see many innovative ideas that will emerge throughout our Entrepreneurship course.

In our lecture Technology Management, by our lectureres Camilla Reis (UFO), Michael Rachinger (External Lecturer) and Thomas Draschbacher (External Lecturer), a guest lecturer, Philipp Smole from PALFINGER AG, was inviteded to give an insight about the importance of ideas, large companies can work with agile startup-like teams to generate SustainableValue for their customers, and their initiatives at PALFINGER to stay relevant in the future.

Thank you, Philipp Smole, for sharing you expertise with us! Also, thank you to our students for participating in all engaging sessions.

In the beginning of January, our University Assistant Camilla Reis participated in the 58th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) where she presented the theoretical part of her doctoral dissertation and participated in the doctoral consortium with fellow PhD candidates. 

Conference participations offer a great opportunity to connect with the international research community and exchange ideas across disciplines. The discussions with peers and fellow researchers provide new perspectives and constructive feedback that help shape future research projects.
Congratulations! 

Her paper can be found here.
And her Linked-In Post for more information here.

This year, the UFO once again organised a workshop for team building and preparation for the coming year. Key topics from research and teaching were discussed. Old projects were successfully completed, while new initiatives were launched. Together, we set clear goals for the coming year for the UFO, prepared teaching and worked on optimising the lectures.

The following day, a cross-country skiing course was organised as a joint team-building activity.

Here's to a successful new year with the UFO!