Technological Entrepreneurship

Bachelor 2023/2024

Type: Elective course (Business Informatics)

Area of studies: Business Informatics

Delivered by: Department of Business Informatics

Where: Graduate School of Business

When: 4 year, 2 module

Mode of studies: offline

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Zeljko Tekic

Language: English

ECTS credits: 4

Contact hours: 40

Full Syllabus Ask Question

Abstract

The emergence of novel and powerful technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and social media has transformed innovation and entrepreneurship in significant ways affecting both, entrepreneurial process and its outcomes. These new technologies significantly accelerated experimentation with business models, opening up new opportunities for entrepreneurs and changing how value is created, delivered and captured. Digital technologies and novel business models every day enable new infrastructure, platforms, products and services, applications, and media content to be created, fertilizing the environment for the growth of startups. These new and fragile global companies – have been started by teams of two to five talented persons from anywhere in the world. Focusing on the emerging needs of the digital native population, using new low-cost methodologies and limited financial resources, startups are growing from zero to one, creating new value, and then from one to one billion, scaling globally in just a couple of years. In summary – technological innovation is critical to the survival and competitiveness of emerging and existing organizations and technology entrepreneurship is an engine for moving tech-empowered ideas to impact. This course lays the foundation to participate in this new business reality – to undertake a robust analysis, design and exploration of technology-born opportunities. It introduces tools and frameworks that help isolate and control the factors shaping the identification, evaluation, and development of commercial opportunities.

Learning Objectives

The course is designed to help students develop the ability to find, evaluate, and develop technology-born opportunities into commercially viable product and process concepts, and build those concepts into viable business propositions. The material covered is research and theory-based but the course is practice-oriented with much of the time spent on shaping technology-based opportunities in order to inspire and enable students to start a company. A central objective of this subject is to equip students with an understanding of the main issues involved in the commercialization of tech advances at both strategic and operational levels. Throughout the course, we use real-life problems (identified by students) to allow students to simulate undertaking an entrepreneurial journey. The entrepreneurial journey is structured along the problem identification, ideation, creation and capture of value with an emphasis on technology as a pivotal component of the venture. This, in return, should help to develop skills necessary to understand product/service development process and to connect technology and impact.

Expected Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, a student should be able to: • Understand entrepreneurship and the essential characteristics of tech-based ventures • Understand and apply innovation theories and concepts to the rigorous identification and development of new opportunities for societal and commercial impact. • Develop problem statement and communicate problem that has to be solved • Actively use customer development methodology
• Analyze viable business models, develop an initial business model and test its feasibility • Co-create a minimum viable product (MVP) in a group • Shape technology-based ideas into workable business concepts and learn how to test them in the marketplace. • Differentiate and distinguish the different process activities associated with new product/process/service development, inside or outside an established firm.
• Reconcile tools and methods learned in the context of business informatics education with the need to assess and design an opportunity that will bring them to use. • Critically assess and evaluate the resource assembly junctures in the development of new ventures (whether they be within established corporations or startups). • Effectively communicate entrepreneurial initiatives in oral and in written form • Productively work in groups

Course Contents

Tech Entrepreneurship: Intro to the course and the topic
Some theoretical foundations
Entrepreneurial Ideas and Opportunities
Innovation process
How to Talk to Customers
Problem Statement Canvas
Business Model
MVP and Hypothesis testing
Intellectual Property (IP) Rights
Money for startups
Entrepreneurs and Negotiation
The Lean Startup Methodology

Assessment Elements

3 Problems You Love and Hate (New Venture Project)
Based on the problems students individually collected, each team should discuss and select the top three problems. One of these problems will serve as a starting point for your project work.
In-Class Discussion and Engagement
This is not simply lecture attendance, it is ENGAGEMENT and PARTICIPATION in the lectures, with timely and relevant comments and discussion, comments linked to the previous lectures, assigned readings (including videos), personal experience, or other courses; opinion based on evidence, thinking, responding to the lecturer’s questions.
Exam
The exam is taken in a written format based on a selection of open-ended questions with asynchronous proctoring.
Problem Statement (New Venture Project)
Teams will present well digested problems (including customer interviews) in the form of a problem statement canvas in their seminar group. Full task description will be provided in the LMS at least a week before the assignment
Business model (New Venture Project)
Teams will present the first iteration of a business model canvas for their projects, in their seminar group. Full task description will be provided in the LMS at least a week before the assignment.
Final presentation (New venture project)
Final presentation. Presentations will be given in front of a class and instructor. The instructor will provide feedback during the presentations. To be submitted: presentation with 10 – 12 slides; Time available for presentation: 8 minutes per team (to be confirmed based on the final number of teams)

Interim Assessment

2023/2024 2nd module
0.05 * 3 Problems You Love and Hate (New Venture Project) + 0.05 * Business model (New Venture Project) + 0.4 * Exam + 0.29 * Final presentation (New venture project) + 0.16 * In-Class Discussion and Engagement + 0.05 * Problem Statement (New Venture Project)

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Osterwalder, A., Clark, T., & Pigneur, Y. (2010). Business Model Generation : A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=335366
Osterwalder, A., Smith, A., Bernarda, G., & Pigneur, Y. (2014). Value Proposition Design : How to Create Products and Services Customers Want. Hoboken: Wiley. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=945730
Ries, E. (2011). The Lean Startup : How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses. New York: Currency. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=733896

Recommended Additional Bibliography

Sahlman, W. A., Hoffman, R., Andreessen, M., & Blank, S. G. (2018). HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Entrepreneurship and Startups (featuring Bonus Article “Why the Lean Startup Changes Everything” by Steve Blank). Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1798805

Authors

Tekich Zhelko

Course Syllabus