Qualification Objectives: At the end of the course Marketing of Innovations, participants will gain the skills to utilize innovation marketing techniques for decision-making in uncertain entrepreneurial settings. The course covers decision-making strategies, frameworks, and practical examples to deepen understanding of innovation marketing’s importance, requirements, and methods.

Various decision-making strategies and frameworks from research and practice are presented in this context and illustrated with a multitude of concrete examples and applications. The aim of the course is to provide participants with an in-depth understanding of the relevance, requirements, structures, and methods of innovation marketing.

The specific competencies that students will acquire include: (1) the ability to use various market research techniques to market radical innovations, (2) knowledge of creativity techniques to bring new products and services to market, (3) the application of various methods to promote branding for innovations, (4) the ability to make diagnoses regarding the planning process and the time horizon for the launch of new products to derive concrete measures.

Content: During the course Marketing of Innovations participants will gain in-depth insights into marketing high-tech innovations, covering terminology, strategies, and the process-oriented approach to innovation marketing. It addresses positioning, opportunity identification, project conception and implementation, product sustainability, and organizational capabilities. Key success factors and customization of innovation marketing strategies are also discussed. The marketing of innovations takes place in an environment characterized by uncertainty, thus requiring quick decision-making processes with incomplete information. Furthermore, high-technology companies operate in an environment where product innovations quickly become obsolete and market conditions are uncertain. Therefore, innovations are introduced into the markets at short intervals, making good communication between marketing and the R&D Department crucial.

To master these challenges, it is important that different, innovation-promoting skills and processes are present in the company. Marketing managers must therefore be able to track market trends, evaluate future technologies, harmonize distribution channels, develop pricing strategies, and successfully implement marketing campaigns.

In the lecture “Innovation Marketing,” detailed knowledge in the field of marketing high-tech products and innovations is imparted. Initially, terms, subject matter, and tasks of innovation marketing are discussed, and a process-oriented view is adopted. Fundamental questions of positioning and the identification of specific opportunities for innovation marketing are also addressed. Furthermore, students are introduced to the conception and implementation of new product development projects, the perpetuation of the resulting products, and the necessary organizational skills. Finally, success factors and starting points for a company-specific design of innovation marketing are discussed.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Sven Heidenreich has held the Chair of Business Administration, in particular Technology and Innovation Management at Saarland University since 2017. His research interests include technology and innovation management as well as entrepreneurship and addressed questions around consumer resistance to innovation, co-creation of technology based services, innovation networks, business model innovation, innovative work behaviour or entrepreneurial behaviour.

Qualification Objectives: The course Prototyping and Agile Project Management intends to provide a comprehensive understanding of key competencies including the selection and application of decision-making strategies for new product development, an understanding of new product technologies and their contexts, the use of agile project management for prototyping, and the application of design thinking in product realization. These skills aim to provide a holistic approach to innovative product development.

The specific competencies that students are expected to acquire in the process include:

(1) The ability to consciously choose, evaluate, and apply different decision-making strategies in the development of new products,

(2) an understanding of the relevance, characteristics, as well as application context of new product development technologies,

(3) the application of agile project management techniques to prototype development,

(4) the use of design thinking for product realization.

Content: The course Prototyping and Agile Project Management gives a broad overview of the key concepts in product development, utilizing agile project management approaches, such as scrum and design thinking. The course starts off with an introduction into the main concepts of scrum and design thinking. Building on this basic understanding a product development project is developed over the course of the lecture, characterized by iterative product development loops with features such as velocity planning, daily scrum, review and retrospective.

Lecturer: Dr. Benedikt Schnellbächer is Junior Professor for Digital Transformation and Entrepreneurship at Saarland University. His research interests include sustainable start-ups, digital start-ups, Entrepreneurial behaviour and Business Model Development.

Qualification Objectives: In recent years, we have witnessed a major evolution in societies from being predominantly manufacturing-based to being predominantly service-based. Services have become critical for competitive advantage in all kinds of organizations, industries and branches. Recent publications in business and management increasingly focus on service as the main reason of economic exchange and therefore promote the view that at their core “all businesses are service businesses”. Key objectives of the course Business Model Development include equipping participants with an understanding of business models, including their definition and components. It covers the exploration of business model dimensions, the innovation process for business models, and introduces both traditional and modern techniques for developing business models in the digital era, such as the Business Model Canvas and strategic network analysis.

Key objectives of the course Business Model Development include …

• Understanding business models: Definition and delimitation of business models

• Exploring business model dimensions and elements

• Learning about the process model for innovating business models

• Becoming familiar with traditional and new techniques to develop business models in the digital age (e.g. Business model canvas, strategic network analysis)

Content: The business model concept is one of the most profound additions in the strategy literature in the last decades, which affects academics and practitioners alike. While the more traditional operationalizations of the concept, such as the business model canvas, are an established part of business school curricula, newer considerations about the utilization of business models in the digital realm are still up to debate and are continuously further scrutinized by academia and tested in practice. The course provides an overview about the concepts and provides the students with the opportunity to apply the techniques to different cases.

Lecturer: Dr. Benedikt Schnellbächer is Junior Professor for Digital Transformation and Entrepreneurship at Saarland University. His research interests include sustainable start-ups, digital start-ups, Entrepreneurial behaviour and Business Model Development.

Qualification Objectives: The course Data Analytics Project teaches participants to collect and preprocess data, addressing issues like missing values and outliers. The curriculum includes applying statistical methods for data analysis, such as hypothesis testing and regression analysis, to draw meaningful conclusions and make predictions. Participants will also gain domain-specific knowledge to contextualize their analysis and improve its relevance. Additionally, the course covers essential project and time management skills, teaching learners how to efficiently plan, manage, and execute data analytics projects, ensuring successful outcomes. Learning objectives include the following.

Content: The course provides students with the opportunity to work on a data analytics project, academically accompanied by a researcher in the relevant research area. Each project is individual and coordinated with the researcher in question. The project is analyzed with an appropriate methodical approach (e.g. SEM, Experiment, etc.) depending on the specific project goal. The project requires independent thinking and work to accomplish.

Lecturers: Dr. Benedikt Schnellbächer is Junior Professor for Digital Transformation and Entrepreneurship at Saarland University. His research interests include sustainable start-ups, digital start-ups, Entrepreneurial behaviour and Business Model Development.

Prof. Dr. Sven Heidenreich has held the Chair of Business Administration, in particular Technology and Innovation Management at Saarland University since 2017. His research interests include technology and innovation management as well as entrepreneurship and addressed questions around consumer resistance to innovation, co-creation of technology based services, innovation networks, business model innovation, innovative work behaviour or entrepreneurial behaviour.

Qualification Objectives: As a result of the course, students will be able to implement entrepreneurial thinking and action within and outside an established organizational structure. The overarching goal of the course is to provide students with a deep understanding of the relevance, requirements, structures, and methods of Corporate Entrepreneurship. To this end, students will be introduced to suitable approaches and management techniques along the five management functions of planning, organization, staffing, leading, and controlling, to identify entrepreneurial opportunities and successfully implement them within an organization.

Content: In the course Entrepreneurial Management, participants learn behavioural skills for corporate entrepreneurs in different situations and methods for enforcing change processes in organisations. Both module elements consist of a theoretical and a practical part (team project, case studies). Furthermore, the module deals with definitions and basic approaches to human capital management. Strong emphasis is put on explanations about the differences between national and international human resource management. Case studies and discussions about the role of human resource management in multinational companies as well as cultural influences on human resource management are part of the module too. In times of stagnant markets and global competitive pressure, it becomes increasingly important for established companies to implement entrepreneurial thinking and action within and outside their organizational structure. Against this backdrop, the event aims to demonstrate the importance of Corporate Entrepreneurship for the long-term viability of established companies. Corporate Entrepreneurship encompasses all entrepreneurial activities of established companies at an individual or organizational level, with the goal of identifying innovative ideas and implementing them within the existing organizational structures. Along the five management functions of planning, organization, staffing, leading, and controlling, approaches for entrepreneurial activities within established organizational structures are presented to achieve an innovative, proactive, and flexible orientation of the company.

Content Overview:

• Fundamentals of Entrepreneurial Management

• Management Functions in Corporate Entrepreneurship

• Change Management within Corporate Entrepreneurship

• Corporate Entrepreneurship in National Contexts

• Approaches to Measuring Corporate Entrepreneurship

• Implementing Corporate Entrepreneurship through Cooperations