BOKU100500 Principles of sustainable entrepreneurship

Type
course with continuous assessment
Semester hours
4
Lecturer (assistant)
Schwarz, Magdalena Rana , Falkenberg, Christof , Ambros, Michael , Garaus, Christian , Kunesch, Caroline
Organisation
Marketing and Innovation
Offered in
Wintersemester 2025/26
Languages of instruction
Englisch
Content

The "principles of sustainable entrepreneurship" course equips students with the knowledge and skills to address pressing global challenges through innovative and sustainable solutions. Combining theoretical foundations with practical application, the course introduces students to key concepts in entrepreneurship and innovation, with a focus on sustainability issues. Students will engage in interdisciplinary teamwork, work on real-world case studies, and develop ideas that align with sustainable practices.

Through the use of tools like the Sustainable Business Model Canvas, students will learn to identify problem-solution fit, evaluate business opportunities, and develop and refine ideas into a fictitious start-up. By the end of the course, students will have gained an entrepreneurial mindset and the ability to design sustainable solutions, effectively turning their expertise into practical business models.

This course emphasises interdisciplinary collaboration, self-reflection, and the development of professional skills, preparing students to work effectively in diverse teams and contribute to sustainable innovation in their future careers.
Previous knowledge expected

none
Objective (expected results of study and acquired competences)

After completion of the course students can
- explain the principles of sustainable entrepreneurship,
- describe the most important methods for identifying and evaluating entrepreneurial opportunities,
- name procedures for defining the market and identifying users,
- explain different techniques for generating, evaluating and testing ideas,
- distinguish between different sustainable business models, their elements, and describe their relationships.

The students are able to
- develop a sustainable solution based on a problem, link it to a business model and develop a well-founded plan for a start-up,
- apply the learned techniques for identifying opportunities, defining markets and developing ideas as well as for developing prototypes.

The students learn professional skills in the area of ​​entrepreneurial solutions to a problem in a sustainable way. In particular, they can
- analyse current trends and developments,
- derive strategies for the development of new products and/or services,
- develop a sustainable business model based on their learnings,
- incorporate their disciplinary expertise (from the respective field of study) into the development of solutions.

The students learn to work in (interdisciplinary) teams. They can
- adopt other perspectives and put their own disciplinary perspective in relation to other disciplines,
- identify and deal with their strengths and weaknesses and thus work effectively in teams,
- use tools for self-reflection in order to (further) develop entrepreneurial thinking to apply the specialist knowledge they have acquired.
You can find more details like the schedule or information about exams on the course-page in BOKUonline.