Digital entrepreneurship innovation lab

The digital ilab is a programme of the University of Vienna that brings students and researchers from different disciplines to work together on entrepreneurial ideas. The overarching theme of human-technology relationship will be introduced in the innovation ateliers, where participants will develop novel solutions to societal challenges.

THE ILAB CONCEPT

Learn

On 8 May, we will start a 2-month training programme on digital entrepreneurship provided by experts and practitioners. The programme is intensive and requires active participation. Students will obtain 6 ECTS credits.

Pitch

During the training phase, participants will work in teams to conceive and develop entrepreneurial solutions to societal challenges. On 12 July, the teams will pitch their venture to a jury of experts.

Develop

Between September and December, the best teams will receive €10,000 in financial support as well as further training and coaching to develop their prototype. At the end of this phase, the teams will be able to find additional financial support from public and private funds.

PITCH COMPETITION

The pitch competition of the digital ilab will be held at the Skylounge of the University of Vienna on the 12th of July 2023.

Pitches will be assessed according to the following criteria:
Overall structure and coherence of presentation
Clarity and comprehensibility of presentation
Presentation technique
Timekeeping/time management

The jury members are:

REGISTRATIONS

The ilab is open to maximum 30 participants. We will admit two types of participants: those who already have an idea they want to develop in an incubator setting, and those who want to be part of an innovation journey. Based on participants’ interests, we will then create teams to work on individual projects. We are also open to participants applying in existing teams (max. 4 people). Hurry up, the deadline for registration is the 27th of March 2023.

TRAINING PROGRAMME

Below gives a sense of the training programme from 8 May to 12 July. Throughout the programme, there will be regular workshops with experts in science and business to provide a useful groundwork of knowledge and skills. Simultaneously, Innovation Ateliers will provide help coming up with a innovative project to develop and hone into an exciting business. A detailed schedule of the programme can be found here.

May 8

Kickoff Event

On the first day, we will host an all-day kickoff event to welcome participants to the program, each other and to the basics of entrepreneurship.

With:

Vice-Rector Ronald Maier

Markus Pietzka (INiTS)

Viktoria Tollinger (I.E.C.T.)

Markus Peschl

Week 1

Group Exploration

The first week will focus on building core skills in digital technology and business, while allowing participants to get to know each other so that they can identify people with shared interests and complementary skills as potential teammates.

Workshops:

Business Models (Marco Masia)

Doing Data Science (Jan Fabian Ehmke)

Essentials of Deep Learning (Sebastian Tschiatschek)

Social Entrepreneurship (Stefanie Beßler, Social Impact Award)

MVPs (Marco Masia)

Week 2

Group Formation

In the second week, participants will create the teams which will work together for the remainder of the programme.

The Innovation Atelier will begin: a series of workshops over the next 4 weeks led by Markus Peschl and Katharina Roetzer through which to develop innovative solutions through human-technology relationships.

Week 3

Ideation and Observation

The third week provides a basis in theoretical approaches to human-technology interaction and ways to rigorously observe human behavior. This is used to understand opportunities for innovation. Participants use these new skills to observe, document and reflect.

Scientific and business workshops:

Financial aspects of entrepreneurship (Marco Masia)

Week 4 & 5

Ideation Exploration

Participants take their observations over the previous week and use them to identify potential innovations. They begin prototyping these ideas to explore their potential.

Week 6 & 7

Bringing ideas to reality

The Innovation Atelier concludes. Participants begin focusing more on the practical business components of their projects.

Projects begin consulting with legal mentors to understand potential challenges with their approaches.

Scientific and business workshops:

Financial econometrics (Christa Cuchiero)

Legal considerations (Nikolaus Forgó)

Digital ethics (Eugenia Stamboliev)

Digital business models (Georg Schoder)

Week 8 & 9

Finalizing projects

At this point, participants will focus on the work necessary to prepare their projects for pitching by developing prototypes and business plans.

Scientific and business workshops:

Strategy, competition and market analysis (Markus Pietzka)

Digital business models and pricing (Georg Schoder)

Week 10

Pitch Preparation

The final aspect of the programme prepares participants to pitch their project. Experts in creating and honing pitches from INiTS give personalized advice to each team.

July 12

Pitch Day

It all comes down to this! An exciting final day of networking with investors and other people interested in the Vienna startup scene. Each team pitches their idea in front of a jury of experts who choose the best projects to award with further support to bring their idea to reality.