Start-Up Promotion for Students

From idea to successful start-up: The St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences promotes and supports its students on their path towards founding their own start-up.

The forum “Erfolgreiche Unternehmensgründung“ (successful business foundation) was hosted by the Departments of Digital Business & Innovation and Media & Digital Technologies. Approximately 180 participants and 24 companies engaged in exchange in this context.

Support for Students

For many years now, the forum “Erfolgreiche Unternehmensgründung” has been supporting students in the realisation of their business ideas or the further development of their own enterprise. Representatives of several business foundation services as well as experts from the business world held presentations on legal preconditions, loans, financing and funding possibilities, the choice of location, the search for investors, networking, and tax issues.

“At roughly 180 participants, the interest in exchange between students and companies was as high as ever this year. Communication and networking are central pillars of success when it comes to start-up foundation”, says Peiman Zamani, UAS lecturer and organiser of the event.

Open-Space Session and Panel Discussion

Numerous experts provided insights and valuable tips on how to turn an idea into a company. Within the framework of the various stations of the Open-Space Sessions, the participants had the opportunity to ask questions according to their individual needs.

At the panel discussion “Unternehmerisches Denken – Geschäftsmodell und Erlösmodell im Fokus” (entrepreneurial thinking – focus on business model and revenue model) with Anna Kofler (CEO and Head of Marketing & Design at dryven), Clemens Brunner (CEO of Sproof), Laura Kaltenbrunner (flamengo / APOCRAT), and Wilfried Lepuschitz (CEO of bee produced), the students were able to delve further into the topic.

Helping Students Start Their Businesses

The many activities for the promotion of students’ entrepreneurial thinking and action are summarised in the “Seven Steps to Start-Up”. In addition, the European University Alliance E³UDRES² and its Entrepreneurship and Innovation Network E.I.N.S. bring out new aspects through numerous activities such as hackathons, bootcamps, and Rural Residencies – in Austria and beyond.

A detailed overview of the respective initiatives can be found here:

• Creative Pre-Incubator
• SMARTUP St. Pölten
• I Living Labs
• E³UDRES²
• Entrepreneurship and Innovation Network for Smart and Sustainable European Regions (E.I.N.S.)
• iLab

Companies that participated in the “Forum Unternehmensgründung“:

(APOCRAT/flamengo could not attend due to illness.)