CHAIR REPORT Chair Report Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship

Transcription

1 CHAIR REPORT Chair Report 2013 Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship

2 2 CHAIR REPORT 2013

3 CHAIR REPORT PREFACE The Internet is among the few things humans have built that they don t truly understand. Eric Schmidt & Jared Cohen (2013)

4 4 CHAIR REPORT 2013 CONTENT PREFACE 3 CONTENT 4 1. PHILOSOPHY 6 2. TEAM Chair Holder Research Associates External Doctoral Students Chair Assistant Student Assistents 9 3. RESEARCH Startup Research Crowdinvestment as a new Financing Instrument for Startups Founder s Coaching in Entrepreneurship Education Advisory Boards in Startups Internationalization of high-tech Startups Venture Financing Research Strategic Management in Early Stage Venture Capital Funds Risk Management in Venture Capital Funds Trust Research Trust in Open Innovation Trust in Venture Capital Companies & Financing Innovation Research Employee Involvement in Innovation Innovation in the Context of Resource Efficiency Science-business Collaboration Open Borders and the Impact of Innovation 16

5 CHAIR REPORT TEACHING Course Business Plan Development Course Innovation Management Field Projects Supervision of Master Theses Guest Speakers TRANSFER Leipzig Entrepreneurship Lecture Assistance for Scholarship Applications Accelerate International Entrepreneurship Conference Innovation in Higher Education EXTERNALLY FUNDED PROJECTS SMILE Excellence Cluster Bioeconomy Strategic Management in Early Stage Venture Capital Funds CONFERENCES PUBLICATIONS RESEARCH AWARDS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 30 IMPRINT 31

6 6 CHAIR REPORT PHILOSOPHY Entrepreneurship has been a cornerstone of the educational program at HHL for many years. With over 130 start-ups founded by HHL graduates so far, we are one of the premier breeding grounds for future entrepreneurs. Our work centers on Innovation Management in new business creation as well as in established companies. The focus is on intellectual venturing and the transfer of created knowledge from academia into businesses. The Chair s goal is to realize an intensive theory-practice transfer both in research and teaching. The teaching programs are interactive and practical; our lectures are supported by our wide network of entrepreneurs and innovators in the market who are engaged in stimulating co-teaching with our professors. In order to keep track with the newest research findings and trends in industry, the chairholder is i.a. member of the following institutions: German Academic Association for Business Research (VHB), Association for the Promotion of Entrepreneurial Research (FGF), Erich Gutenberg Working Group, Working Group for Technology Transfer and European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ECSB). In addition, the chairholder and all research associates present their research results regularly at international scientific conferences.

7 CHAIR REPORT TEAM 2.1. Chair Holder Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart Born in 1960, Prof. Dr. Pinkwart is Dean of HHL and the Chairholder of the Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at HHL. After becoming a banker at Dresdner Bank he studied business economics at the University of Münster and economics at the University of Bonn, where he also earned his doctorate (summa cum laude) in In 1998, he accepted a full-professorship at the University of Siegen, where he has been Professor for Business Economics esp. small and medium-sized enterprises. Because of his membership in the German Bundestag from 2002 to 2005 and in the German Bundesrat from 2005 to 2010 he got a sabbatical. He served as the Minister for Innovation, Science, Research & Technology and Deputy Prime Minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2005 to Before he started his new positions at HHL in April 2011 he was Fellow at AICGS, Johns- Hopkins-University Washington. He has been active for years in various supervisory boards and advisory committees. He is, for example, member of the scientific board of the Center for Advanced Studies (CASiM) at HHL and member of the board of trustees of the DAAD. In addition, since 2013 he is a visiting professor at EADA Business School in Barcelona Research Associates Dipl.-Kffr. Anja Hagedorn Ms. Hagedorn studied Business Administration at the University of Leipzig with the specialties Banking, Insurance and International Economic Relations. Before she started working for HHL, she was an assistant to a corporate account officer at Commerzbank AG. She also wrote her diploma thesis in cooperation with the Commerzbank with the topic: Entwicklung einer Systematik zur Beurteilung der Zukunftsfähigkeit von Agrarbetrieben für die Commerzbank, where she investigated the innovativeness of agricultural corporations and the sustainability of these innovations. She joined the Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship in August 2011 till mid-2012 as a full time associate for the cooperative-project SMILE and is now working on the externally funded project Excellence Cluster Bio Economy. Besides, Ms. Hagedorn was Guest Lecturer at Wyższa Szkoła Handlowa we Wrocławiu (WSH) in Wroclaw, Poland, for Entrepreneurship. She is now also working on her PhD at the Chair in the field of entrepreneurial education.

8 8 CHAIR REPORT 2013 Nagwan Abu El-Ella, M.Sc. After getting her Bachelor of Commerce with a GPA of Excellent with Honors Degree and rated as best student in 2005, Ms. Abu-El-Ella attained her Master s degree in Business Administration in 2010 at Ain Shams University, Egypt. She is currently preparing her PhD in the area of employee involvement in innovation at HHL. She has worked as university staff member since 2006 as a lecturer in addition to her previous work as a Human Resources Manager at the subsidiary of AMS GmbH headed in Mannheim. From 2007 to 2011 she has worked as a Trainer at International Training Centers. She has also worked part-time as Coordinator and Student Advisor of the MBA and M.Sc. programs of Edinburgh Business School, UK. In addition, she studied at Albert-Ludwigs Universität - Freiburg in Ms. Abu El-Ella started her work as a research associate at the chair in January In addition to her responsibilities at the chair, she has worked as a SMILE coach till the current time. Her main research interests are: open innovation, employee involvement in innovation, and the role of external employees in innovation Dorian Proksch, M.Sc. Dorian Proksch completed his Master s degree in Business Information Systems at Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich) as top student in He received the TUMexchange scholarship and spent a semester at Oklahoma State University, USA. In addition to his studies, he was co-founder of the start-up company toptv.de and president of a Toastmasters International public speaking club. After his studies he received the EXIST entrepreneurial scholarship and worked in marketing and sales before he joined amiando GmbH to work as a sales manager responsible for US customers. In September 2011, he has joined HHL and also works part-time as a trainer for speed reading techniques. His research interests are risk management and internationalization of new technologybased companies. He is writing his doctoral thesis in the area of risk management in early stage venture capital funds. Eric Weber, M.Sc. On September 2012, Eric Weber took up his position as a Research Associate at the Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship. Additional to teaching and doing research at the chair, he works at the project SMILE (Self-Management Initiative Leipzig). He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Service and Marketing Management from the University of Cooperative Education Saxony as well as a Master of Science in Management Science from the University of Leipzig. In both studies he was awarded among the best in class. He gained 5 years of work experience in the fields of sales and controlling in a mediumsized wholesaler for the business-to-business sector and more recently he worked for a consulting and software provider in the energy sector, which is an entrepreneurial spin-off of one of the big market actors. His research interests are the use of advisory boards in startups as well as innovation management in energy companies.

9 CHAIR REPORT External Doctoral Students Since October 2013 we also welcome external doctoral students at our chair. Mr. Ulrich Bremer, Career Partner Group Munich, argues the topic Internationalization Strategies for Universities while Mr. Martin Keßler, actually trainee at Daimler AG, wants to write his doctoral thesis about An analysis of the know-how adjustment between OEM and providers within the automotive industry (Eine Analyse der Know-how Verschiebung zwischen OEM und Lieferanten innerhalb der Automobilindustrie) Chair Assistant Franziska Greim, M.A. Ms. Greim studied Cultural Studies of Science and Eastern Slavonic Studies at the University of Leipzig and worked at least at the Dean s Office of HHL before joining the Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at HHL in August 2012 as a Chair Assistant. She is the general contact person representing the Chair and is also involved in the administration and organization of Chair projects such as SMILE and the Excellence Cluster Bioeconomy Student Assistents The Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship also has three positions of student assistants, which are currently staffed by Mr. Paul Schütze, a Bachelor student in Economics at the University of Leipzig, Esther Ortloff, a Master Student in General Management at the University of Applied Sciences Leipzig (HTWK) and Mrs. Alice Riedel, a Master of Science student at the University of Leipzig.

10 10 CHAIR REPORT RESEARCH 3.1. Startup Research Crowdinvestment as a new Financing Instrument for Startups Our initial research was analyzing the eleven so far existing crowdinvesting platforms in Germany and compared usage as well as pitfalls in order to provide a comprehensive overview over the market. To sum up the findings- the market is still young but very fast developing in terms of the business models of the platforms and fast growing in terms of the number of financed projects. How the subscribed shares will develop - which must be held at least three years, if they are losing or winning value - will be shown in 2014, when the first shares are payable. At this juncture the advantages for founders and investors predominates the usage, because a fast capital acquirement and capital investment for small amounts is provided, while the revenue for the investor remains uncertain. The financing of new ventures proves to be occasionally difficult, especially for small amounts. Therefore crowdinvestment is becoming more and more popular. The method is currently very successful in the market, but for investors no past experience can help to build expectations. Nevertheless many new crowdinvesting platforms are starting their business activity, while investors are demanding more new investment opportunities. This reflects the need of the founders for new ways to obtain small amounts of money but also the need for investors to invest in times of low credit rates and high economic uncertainty. It is characteristical of a systemical weakness of the German market - the missing financial support especially for small and medium sized startups. Based on the presented paper, further research regarding the financing-behavior and the support of startups was accomplished. Together with the German crowdinvesting platform Seedmatch we conducted an online-survey among investors with 349 participants, which is being currently published Founder s Coaching in Entrepreneurship Education The research project examines the role of founders coaching, which is a cornerstone of public and private entrepreneurship education in Germany. Nascent entrepreneurs have a need for external expertise due to high responsibilities in various management fields. At the same time the German market is providing manifold possibilities to support a young Entrepreneur, provided by many different experts like Business Angels, Venture Capital Investors, Business Consultants or governmental institutions supporting founders with their problems.thereby the activities vary widely from counseling to coaching to mentoring. Independent from the future development of a new venture regarding the firm size, a founder has at least in this stage an essential influence on the implementation of routines and processes that foster the competitiveness and the ability to survive. However, there is a direct positive correlation between the abilities, knowledge, experience of the founder and the survival of the firm. In the early stage of a venture, where routines and processes are not fixed yet, the founder needs to carefully reflect on future actions in order to develop his organization in a way that the venture is sustainable. By applying abilities, experiences and knowledge in a special situation in order to solve a problem the founder is using his or her competencies for the benefit of the firm. Especially in the case of nascent entrepreneurs a coach can help the founder by identifying and closing learning gaps as well as the organisation by helping setting a structure and asking strategic questions. He essentially supports the building of entrepreneurial and managerial competencies. Despite the fact that it plays an important role for the support of startups and thus has been financed among others by public money, founders-coaching itself is not regulated in Germany. This means that various institutions, companies and single persons can offer the service, for instance public and private banks, self-employed founder-consultants or business incubators. Professional titles like Gründercoach (Eng. Founders-Coach ) are not lawfully protected and demands as well the professional qualifications are not defined. As a consequence we face an intransparent market structure with widely varying methods, which reduces the comparability. At the same time the founders, who are obtaining support in terms of coaching are also a very heterogeneous group, with different life courses and consequently different capabilities and needs.

11 CHAIR REPORT In conclusion the professional practice of founders coaching is determined by a wide range of questions addressed by the founders and different methods as an answer from the supporters. During the research we expect to discover advantages and disadvantages, potentials and pitfalls of founder s coaching and by this contribute to theory development as well as give action recommendations for founders and coaches Advisory Boards in Startups Since entrepreneurs might lack in sufficient capabilities and resources during the early phases of new ventures, the efficient utilization of external assets is critical. Besides coaches and consultants institutionalized boards can contribute to overcome entrepreneurial disadvantages of smallness, newness and adolescence or those weaknesses that come along with personal traits of entrepreneurial teams. Theory mainly focuses on boards of directors in (mature) family businesses. Only a few publications deal with advisory boards and virtually none with advisory boards in startups. We want to close this research gap, since those boards have a lot of advantages and first estimations claim that 10 to 20 percent of startups use it Internationalization of high-tech Startups Although, Germany is one of the leading countries regarding the export of products and innovations, the internationalization rate of new ventures and SMEs in general is low. We wanted to find out why and therefore focus on the high-tech industry. Companies from this industry usually internationalize much faster and with different market entry strategies than in other industry. In a previous study, we analyzed which resource factors hinder or foster the internationalization process using an empirical data set. Therefore, we looked at the role of the technology, of the financing and the entrepreneurial team. We found out that whether the financing and the technology had a significant role the enterpereneurial team had no influence on an early internationalization. The results were published in the Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 56 No 1. In current studies, we want to find out more about the internationalization process itself and focus on the steps a high-tech startup goes through upon internationalization and which barriers they have to overcome. Fist results were presented at the G-Forum in Koblenz and the 8 th European Conferences in Innovation and Entrepreneurshipin Brussels, Belgium Venture Financing Research In the last decade, there were only few new results in the area of venture capital financing. The main issue was that it s hard to get detailed information because investors are very strict about the use of their data. Consequently, most of studies used the same commonly available data set called VentureXpert or relied on surveys. Both methods lead to a high number of cases but also to a low depth of the data. This strictly limits the possible results. We want to further expand the research in venture capital financing by using in-depth data directly collected from the venture capital companies.

12 12 CHAIR REPORT Strategic Management in Early Stage Venture Capital Funds In the early stage of the development of newly founded technology-based firms (NTBF) intensive non-financial support is often required in order to cope with the range of existing restrictions and risks. In this stage the additional value created by Venture Capital Funds (VCF) apart from covering capital requirements is mainly based on management support and a balanced risk management. So far, empirical academic studies of the early stage financing are mostly cross-sectional and look at a set of investments based just on the notion of the investment manager in charge. There is a lack of longitudinal studies more objectively considering the decisions and characteristics of a set of investments over time. TU Dresden and HHL are doing a combined research project to overcome these challenges. The newness of the approach ist to analyze the VCFs original deal documentation directly and surveying investment managers and NTBF only regarding those pieces of information, which cannot be found in the VCFs files. These files e.g. include business plans, due diligences, investment reports, company reports and evaluation reports by investors. We therefore already collected data at nine venture capital funds and additional funds will follow throughout the year. First results of this project were already presented at the NRW.Bank in Düsseldorf, on the annual meeting of the German Equity Capital Association (Bundesverband Deutscher Kapitalbeteiligungsgesellschaften e.v.), at the Business Angels research Symposium Berlin and at the G-Forum in Koblenz. The project is kindly supported by Science Funding of the Savings Banks Finance Group (Wisssenschaftsförderung der Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe) Risk Management in Venture Capital Funds Determining risk and weighing it against potential profits is one of the main tasks of a venture capitalist. Therefore, we analyze how risk can be measured and which factors influences the risk. Also, we research what measures a venture capital (VC) can partake to minimize the risk and which ones lead to results. Our empirical data base enables us to test the findings from the current literature and derive and testnew hypothesis. They might help VC companies to better evaluate and manage their risk while investing. This might lead to more successful investments Trust Research Previous researchers have argued that trust, both within organisations and in inter-organisational settings, may foster innovation. First, within organisations, trust has been found to be important to innovation in that it lessens the need for rigid control systems. Tight monitoring and control mechanisms reduce creative thinking, while freedom from rigid rules and job definitions enhances idea generation. Second, trust is not only important for innovation through interactions between individuals within an organisation but also through inter-organisational cooperation. Thus, a high level of trust among organisations facilitates the exchange of confidential information by diminishing the risk that one party will opportunistically exploit this information to the other s disadvantage. Trust facilitates social exchange by reducing the need for time consuming and costly monitoring, and therefore makes it possible for people and organisations to devote added time for other beneficial actions and endeavours.

13 CHAIR REPORT Trust in Open Innovation Trust has always been at the heart of innovation. However, the concept of open innovation emerged a number of properties in business relationships, such as: decreasing barriers to innovation - building communities around key themes of innovation through increased involvement - widening the base for sources of new ideas from external specialists users involvement in design networking smaller innovation communities accelerating the diffusion of ideas, etc. However, the realization of such properties requires certain trust mechanisms that allow the diffusion of knowledge across organizational boundaries. Therefore, in our research we addressed questions regarding the rethought role of trust in open innovation and the growing importance of different forms of trusted intermediaries Trust in Venture Capital Companies & Financing An investment in a new venture is always based on trust. Although the venture capital (VC) companies conduct a due diligence prior to the investment to evaluate the team and the business idea they also have to put their faith in them. We analyze in the prior described research project strategic management in early stage venture capital funds how trust is build between the VC and the startup company in each investment phase. Thereby, we focus on how trust is build prior to the investment and after the investment took place. We look at the dimensions of trust in the team, trust in the idea, integrity of the team and benevolence of the investor. We therefore use a structural equation modeling approach.

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15 CHAIR REPORT Innovation Research Employee Involvement in Innovation Development of a culture which recognizes and supports widespread employee participation is a main purpose for modern innovative organizations, as well as an established theme in the literature. However, while the concept might seem simple, its implementation in practice poses several challenges. Therefore, we published research work that aims at exploring different enablers, disablers and emerging challenges of sustaining a high involvement innovation corporate culture. - New technologies for accelerating high involvement innovation New technological tools are regarded as a main enabler of employee involvement. There appears to be significant acceleration in the use of new technologies to enhance the suite of enablers available to implement high involvement innovation. In particular social software and corporate social networks offer great opportunities for better internal networking, collaboration and co-creation of new ideas and innovations. These new technical enablers potentially extend both the reach of high involvement programs and also the richness of the type of innovation activity engaged upon. Still, much depends on the ways in which implementation of systems deploying these new approaches is undertaken and the development of appropriate behavioral routines to support them. - Employees as user-innovators Seeing innovations generated from employees as user-led innovations has been rarely discussed. In our research, we focus on employees as users of companies process innovations and explore the extent to which the landscape for engaging employees as user innovators is changing. - Change management through employee innovation and co-creation Core prescriptions for managing organizational change typically focus on careful preparation and communication throughout a change program. By having the infrastructure for involving employees, organizations enhance the absorptive capacity of employees for change For example in an organization planning to make a major change to its systems it becomes possible to alert employees quickly and in detail to the plans and to invite their comments and constructive suggestions to shape that change Innovation in the Context of Resource Efficiency Resource efficiency has become increasingly important as a driver of innovation. The German industry has huge potentials to export resource-efficient technologies (cleantech) worldwide and at the same time local companies have to secure their resource supply and to reduce emissions. The energy sector has one key role, since utilities must provide effortable energy from environmental-friendy resources and simultaneously change their business models. In general, this research project focusses on the relationship between innovation and efficiency. In particular, energy utilities are one of the main market participants that struggle to adapt their business models, matching the technological change in energy supply from centralized fossil fuel technologies to decentralized, renewable energies. Several determinants like the technological development, changes on the demand-side and regulation (market liberalization initiated by the EU legislation) brought a growing need to adapt innovation. Seldom smaller utilities such as municipalities introduced an institutionalized and systematic innovation management. Our goal is to contribute a business perspective through the analysis of innovation and change processes on the basis of several case studies. This allows us both to understand the drivers of innovation and the change strategies of these companies as well as to recommend best-practice examples for management practice.

16 16 CHAIR REPORT Science-business Collaboration The R&D process of businesses has changed over many years, moving from technology-centered to a more interactionfocused and globalized view. On the other hand, there has been a parallel shift in the role of universities to become engines of innovation and entrepreneurial hubs. The Deutsche Bank Stiftungsfonds Chair for Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship has published several articles and held several presentations on this current topic. - Universities as drivers of innovation In a highly dynamic environment with new ideas, products, and services coming into the market every day, universities had to develop. Although universities nowadays do not seem very different than their predecessors, their role has dramatically shifted in the last few decades. Their role has developed from being mainly a provider of human resources to being an innovation that transfers knowledge across generations and throughout the global scientific community. Without investigating thoroughly the influence of the developing role of universities on innovation and knowledge flow, a main component in the society s innovation cycle would remain unclear. - The challenges of science-to-business marketing A fruitful collaboration between science and business naturally means that each party perceives the outcome of such collaboration beneficial. However, research shows that many universities supply businesses with scientific results and competences that are not equally demanded by businesses. More research is needed to optimize the way in which both sides can best cooperate in the process of knowledge transfer for the welfare of global societies Open Borders and the Impact of Innovation Parallel to the current EU/US-Free trade initiative, the Chair is doing research on the impact of open borders on innovation and growth. This will be shown in the framework of Chesboroughs concept of Open Innovation. New ideas and inventions and better ways to implement them can be reached by using new forms of partnership, joint ventures, licensing and strategic alliances. The openess and easier access to lowercost and best minds and ideas helps to improve the speed, quality and cost of innovation. Better opportunities of exchange with customers, suppliers and even competitors enables the laws of comparative advantage over all parts of the supply chain to drive the efficient allocation of R&D resources. First results have been presented on a recent international conference in Washington. A corresponding paper will be published soon together with colleagues from Georgetown University.

17 CHAIR REPORT TEACHING The structure of the lectures is composed of theoretical and empirical elements, practical know how and capacity building. Academic methods for a better understanding of the theoretical foundations and recent empirical findings of entrepreneurship and innovation management as well as methods that are appropriate to strengthen the practical skills through an actionoriented approach are used. This will be assured by interactive case study work, team assignments and action learning as well as by a team-teaching concept. Therefore guest lecturers from entrepreneurial and innovation companies and/or facilitators as consulting companies or venture capitalists are invited. Through fostering and supporting the participation in additional activities like the Case Study Competition EXIST Campus Cup or the creation of own projects in the field of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship like the Accelerate Conference on Entrepreneurship, we want the students to think and act like an Entrepreneur or Intrapreneur and be innovative Course Business Plan Development In the business plan development seminar the students gain the competency to develop business ideas into valid business opportunities. For this they are familiarized with the concepts and tools to use when developing a business plan and to critically evaluate the validity of a business idea. The students form small groups to work on real business ideas, refine them and finally write and present a business plan presentation. To keep the situation as realistic as possible and to encourage an open teaching style the students will present their business ideas in front of real business angels and investors from venture capital companies. Some of our guests were for example Sören Schuster - Head or Early-Stage Financing at CFH Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbh or Daniel Gollmann, CEO of Gollman Komissionierungssysteme GmbH. In the past some students founded their own companies based on the ideas they have developed in the seminar. The most famous example is the founder of Spreadshirt and CEO of Team Europe Ventures Lukasz Gadowski. Teaching Method: In the course a combination of presentation and active exercises are used. The students present their business model in different stages and get feedback from the lectures and guest speakers. So, they will refine it throughout the lecture. To motivate the students HHL alumni entrepreneurs present their success stories. The final presentation is a simulation of a real investor pitch including guests from venture capital firms. This prepares the students to present their ideas in front of investors and to actually found their companies. The best team will be awarded Course Innovation Management The successful management of innovation is a strategic issue for all types of firms (and not only high-tech), and poses important management challenges. The course always starts with a general overview of the concept of innovation and related terms such as imitation, reverse innovation and others. It provides the students with practical tools and examples on how to scan the environment in search for change signals, select the different options for change, provide the resources needed for innovation, put into practice the selected options,and enhance continuous learning within the organization. We are offering this course in different full- and part-time study programs. For M.Sc. classes (Master Program in Management) we arrange the course around the innovation management process on the basis of state-of-the-art research. It is built around the different activities needed to improve the innovation processes in a company: scanning the environment, developing the innovative strategy, implementing the strategy and the learning process. In contrast we put a higher weighting on innovation culture and leadership aspects in MBA programs, such as the Global Executive MBA a highly international program for senior managers. Therefore, special emphasis is put on the global dimension of innovation management, i.e. the decision to offshore or to outsource R&D, the strategic partnership for development of innovations, and the role of new emerging economies in the global landscape of innovation. Teaching Method: The course combines lectures, case-study discussions, and action learning. Students are engaged to apply the theoretical concepts discussed in class in a variety of exercises. In addition, a number of guests from theory and practice are invited to the course where they share their interesting and beneficial experiences with the students.

18 18 CHAIR REPORT Field Projects Our chair offers field projects for the Master of Science in Management and Master of Business Administration program. Within the field projects students solve the real problems that companies face. Therefore corporate partners are invited to propose tasks and questions to us. In this way they are identifying solutions that may be crucial to the success and innovative ability of the project partner. In the spring term 2013 two field projects in cooperation with Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Sachsen GmbH (MBG) and futalis GmbH took place. The first one with the MBG focussed on the possibilities of advisory boards of regional companies. In cooperation with Mr. Markus H. Michalow, the CEO of MBG, four students worked very successfully on a concept of an organization, which not only communicates the concept of advisory boards and consults interested firms. Furthermore a platform to link potential board members and companies was conceptualized in close cooperation with the CEO of MBG. In this context our chair holder Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart contributed in a panel discussion and gave a conference speech on an event organized by MBG. The other announced field project with futalis GmbH is done in the field of business development. The young HHL-start-up had been supported in evaluating and implementing new growth strategies. The field project team analyzed the current status together with the company and discussed possible future options regarding the development very thoroughly. The outcomes were concrete milestones that indicated the successful implementation of the earlier given recommendations. Also project team memerbers supported futalis in the execution of the milestones which lead to measurable changes within the companies sales strategy and structure. With our research project blended learning in entrepreneurship education we offered in winter term 2014 another field project to our students. The team is developing a marketing research for the market of blended learning in entrepreneurship education and draws a feasibility analysis about the implementation of blended learning in the field of entrepreneurship education. By conducting customer and expert interviews the group investigates in the experiences and needs of customers as well as analyses the technical, personal and methodological status quo of HHL in this field. At the same time the student-consultants provide recommendations for implementing suitable blended learning courses in the field of entrepreneurship education.

19 CHAIR REPORT Supervision of Master Theses The following master theses were supervised by scientific staff members of our chair: Mike Keppler (MSc8) Internationalization of German startups: a cost perspective Christian Pflug (MSc7) Blended Learning and E-Learning as methods for distance competence development Amicis Arvizu (M13) Possibilities and Pitfalls of the transition from crowdinvesting to VC-funding Thorsten Daniel (PMSc1) Corporate Entrepreneurship as an Innovation Management practice within established organisations Ankur Garg (M13) Analyzing decision criteria of venture capital financing in India, Germany and US Ulrich Furthmüller (GEMBA1) Research on strategies to increase the number of home grown medium to large Sized companies in Saxony Lee Aik Peng (EuroMBA) Turnaround management for solar energy industry in Germany Jan Schulz (M12) An approach to adapt the business model generation framework towards internet business Guest Speakers The 2013 Leipzig Entrepreneurship Lecture about Venture Capital for New High-Technology Firms was held by Prof. Dr. Michael Schefczyk (Chairholder), from the TU Dresden, Chair of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. For the purposes of our understanding of rigore and relevance, we invited again several excellent academic practitioner and experts in special fields of entrepreneuship and innovation. In 2013 we were glad to welcome the following successful entrepreneurs und entrepreneurial experts in our full-time MBA Business Plan Development Lecture: _ Julia Derndinger (CEO), Circus Internet GmbH _ Daniel Gollmann (CEO), Gollmann Kommissioniersysteme GmbH _ Martin Schlichte (CEO), Lecturio GmbH _ Dr. Philipp Semmer, Hogan Lovells International LLP _ Dr. Jens Schmidt-Sceery (Partner), Blue Corporate Finance AG _ Sören Schuster (Head of early stage financing), CFH Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbh _ Daniel Zimmermann (Partner), WilmerHale Palo Alto. In our Innovation Management lecture in the MSc study program we welcomed in 2013 the following guests, who contributed through their outstanding professional experiences: _ Dr. Stefan Wiechmann (Head of Innovation), JENOPTIK AG _ Dr. Jürgen Heubach (Head Corporate Development-Innovation), Bayer AG _ Dr. Till Werneck (Head of Innovation), BMW AG. During their Innovation Management lectures the Global Executive MBA students were delighted to get insights from theory and practice from: _ Prof. Dr. Alexander Brem (Professor of Technology & Innovation Management), University of Southern Denmark, former Professor of Idea and Innovation Management at the School of Business and Economics at the Friedrich-Alexander- Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). The next lecture for part-time MSc students in the Spring Term 2014 will be enriched by insights from: _ Dr. Robert Kühn (CTO), Schmiedewerke Gröditz GmbH _ Dr. Stefan Müller (CEO), Miltitz Aromatics GmbH _ Ralf Irmert (CEO), Styron Deutschland GmbH.

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21 CHAIR REPORT TRANSFER 5.1. Leipzig Entrepreneurship Lecture The Leipzig Entrepreneurship Lecture Series was established in 2011 by Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, chairholder of the Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship. Within this series HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management invites distinguished speakers in the discipline of entrepreneurship once a year to interact with students, faculty members and business leaders to talk about their latest research projects. The aim of the series is to foster the dialogue between entrepreneurship theory and practice. For our 1st Leipzig Entrepreneurship Lecture in 2011 we welcomed Prof. Dr. Friederike Welter from the University Siegen with the topic Women as Entrepreneurs Insights from Research. In 2012 we discussed Female Founders and Success? at our 2nd Leipzig Entrepreneurship Lecture with Prof. Dr. Christine Volkmann from the University of Wuppertal. The 3rd Leipzig Entrepreneurship Lecture took place on May 31, 2013 and was organized together with HHL s Accelerate@HHL student initiative as a part of the 2013 Accelerate Conference taking place on the same day. Under the topic Venture Capital for New High-Technology Firms the latest trends of high-tech startup financing were presented and discussed among an expert panel, whilst the Accelerate Conference dealt with the operational implementation of sustainable business models. The starting points for the discussion were the results of a current research project in the field of venture capital financing conducted by Prof. Dr. Michael Schefczyk (TU Dresden) and Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart (HHL). In his introduction Prof. Schefczyk emphasized the importance of the venture capital market for the German economy, albeit only being a segment representing a small (currently 9%) portion of the transaction volume of private equity firms. By contrast, large buy-out transactions monopolize the private equity market. While Mr. Christian Vogel (Süd Beteiligungen GmbH) stated the German industry in general needs more entrepreneurs and financial resources in order to raise the amount of marketed inventions, Dr. Martin Pfister, who brought in his experience as Senior Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds GmbH, highlighted the importance of choosing the right investor: one that fits to the needs of the start-up and shares the same language and worldview. Following his own example Mr. Jozsef Bugovics (Blue Corporate Finance AG) encouraged the audience to try and realize their ideas themselves no matter what barriers there might be. Considering this, Mr. Roland Oetker (ROI Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbh), active as business angel, advised to use the window of opportunity as long as it exists. To overcome those barriers the representative of the founder s perspective, Prof. Dr. Sylvia Roth (Co-Founder of Roth &Rau AG), encouraged entrepreneurs to use every support available by convincing other people of their products.

22 22 CHAIR REPORT 2013 Panelists of the 3rd Leipzig Entrepreneurship Lecture at HHL: A. Pinkwart; M. Schefczyk; M. Pfister; S. Roth; C. Vogel, J. Bugovicz, R. Oetker 5.2. Assistance for Scholarship Applications The Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship is supporting HHL students with the application for an EXIST scholarship. In 2013 and 2014 we supported the following startup teams _ Giromatch (not founded yet) Concre[a]te (not founded yet) EmoSense (not founded yet) throughout the EXIST application process.

23 CHAIR REPORT Accelerate International Entrepreneurship Conference 2013 The yearly Accelerate Conference is mainly organized by students of the student initiative and supported by the chair and SMILE. This year s conference took place on May 31, 2013 and was organized together with the 3 rd Leipzig Entrepreneurship Lecture (see above). While the latter - under the topic Venture Capital for New High-Technology Firms - focused on the latest trends of high-tech startup financing, presented and discussed among an expert panel, the Accelerate Conference dealt with the operational implementation of sustainable business models. The students were able to invite widely known speakers from the startup scene, which attracted around 200 guests from Germany and above to join the conference. For sure, a business idea pitching contest was one highlights of the day, which closed with a get-together also organized by the students Innovation in Higher Education Education has an overarching and long-lasting global impact on the economic, social and cultural growth of each nation, on inclusion and competitiveness across the European countries and beyond. This in mind it can be clearly witnessed that the recent years have witnessed innovative operations and actions in the higher education sector; many reach a clear global dimension but many others are restricted to a local if not even to one-single-institution level. And what also can be witnessed is that the innovation imperative today is as valid for higher education as for other areas; and while it is perhaps still less visible and tangible in the higher education sector, there is a clear benefit of addressing the potential of innovation in higher education. To address this topic and discuss the implications resulting thereof, Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, Dean of HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, and Dr. Tim Metje, Executive Assistant to the Dean and chancellor at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, followed an invitation by the European Commission in November 2013 to discuss their views and experiences with innovation in higher education focusing in particular on the transformation and the disruptive technology which have changed the way education is designed today with opinion formers and decision makers in higher education, politics and science from all over the world. Amongst these speakers were representatives from institutions such as the Directorate General for Education and Culture at the European Commission, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Leuven, Arizona State University, Stanford University and the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research. As one of the key note speakers Prof. Pinkwart gave a presentation on The New Role of Universities in the Twenty-First Century: Universities as Engines of Innovation. Initial for this presentation was an intensive dialog that at its end amounted to the Study on Innovation in Higher Education published under the common editorship of the London School of Economics and in which the most pressing and fundamental challenges for higher education are addressed. Applying the Delphi method, both Prof. Dr. Pinkwart and Dr. Metje in this report discussed their assessment of the main challenges for higher education driving innovation, the key differences in terms of regional and institutional contexts for achieving successful innovation in higher education and the major outcomes of innovation in higher education. Both the report, as well as the presentation can be downloaded from

24 24 CHAIR REPORT EXTERNALLY FUNDED PROJECTS 6.1. SMILE As one of five cooperating institutions in the region of Leipzig, HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management hosts an office of the SMILE project at the Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship. SMILE stands for the Self-Management Initiative Leipzig and supports academic founders in the science and innovation region of Leipzig. Students, alumni and academic staff from Saxonian universities who are interested in starting their own business can attend various seminars, workshops and coachings around the topic entrepreneurship. The research associates Nagwan Abu El-Ella, Dorian Proksch and Eric Weber organize and implement these trainings, workshops and coachings bringing in their academic expertise of their research topics. Hence, Nagwan Abu El-Ella offers innovation management courses, while Dorian Proksch focuses on venture capital financing. Also Eric Weber provides, amongst others, courses related to management support. By this current academic knowledge can be transferred into practice and furthermore it guarantees high practical relevance of research. Like in previous years founders coached at the HHL s SMILE office were granted again the popular EXIST founder scholarship and reached very good positions at entrepreneurial competitions. SMILE is a cooperation of the University of Leipzig, HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Leipzig University of Applied Sciences, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ and AKAD. SMILE is financed by the European Social Fund, the Saxon State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labour & Transport and the Saxon State Ministry for Science and Arts Excellence Cluster Bioeconomy The Excellence Cluster BioEconomy is taking part in the current Leading- Edge Cluster Competition of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) that aims at taking Germany to the top of the league of technologically advanced nations. It is one of five Excellence Clusters throughout Germany which are being funded by the Ministry. The BioEconomy Cluster in central Germany focuses on the integrated material and energetic use of non-food biomass for the production of materials, chemicals, energy carriers and products from new materials. A cross-cluster material flow management as well as the development, scaling and implementation of production procedures by the industry allow the optimization of the value adding process in bio-mass production. With Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung, the Deutsches Biomasse-Forschungs- Zentrum as partners HHL's Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship, Heinz Nixdorf Chair of ITbased Logistics and the Chair of Marketing Management are responsible for the accompanying research within the cluster focusing on the development of competitive strategies and tools. The chair is involved in the analyzing and optimization of the innovation management on cluster and company level and supports the founding of new ventures through its knowledge and network.

25 CHAIR REPORT Strategic Management in Early Stage Venture Capital Funds The project Strategic Management in Early Stage Venture Capital Funds is a joint research project from TU Dresden und HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management. The goal is to derive new findings in the area of venture capital. Due to a lack of sufficient data there were only few new results in the last decade. We try to bridge this gap by conducting a longitudinal study collecing the data directly from the venture capital funds. We therefore had access to the original deal documents, like business plans or monthly reportings. This enabled us to get an in-depth few on each investment. The project already led to various scientific contributions which were presented at national and international conferences. It is kindly supported by the Savings Banks Finance Group (Wissenschaftsförderung der Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe).