SCE Annual Report 2014/15

Preface
Dear friends and partners,
Die Hochschule München ist EXIST-Gründerhochschule.
Ihr Präsident Prof. Dr. Michael Kortstock freut sich: Seine Hochschule wurde als eine der drei
besten Gründerhochschulen Deutschlands ausgezeichnet. Ihr Institut SCE macht Studierende
erfolgreich zu Unternehmern und entwickelt dafür interdisziplinäre Zukunftskonzepte.
Einer von vielen Machern an der Hochschule München.
www.hm.edu
Entrepreneurship is in the air. The number of start-ups
is growing, as is the quantity of entrepreneurial projects
and training programmes – in Munich, in the region, in
Germany and, of course, internationally as well. This
dynamism is clearly in evidence at the Munich University
of Applied Sciences (MUAS), particularly in the way the
university repositioned itself in 2014 according to three
strategic profile characteristics: “Entrepreneurship”,
“Sustainability” and “Interculturalism”.
After the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and
Energy singled out MUAS and the SCE as one of three
entrepreneurial universities in 2011, it was clear that the
entrepreneurial and innovation culture at our educational
institution was in good shape. In 2012 it became
all the more important that we set out to achieve the
ambitious goals we had set ourselves as a university for
entrepreneurs.
Even Germany has recognised that it has some catching
up to do. And it has set out to do just that. The "ecosystem"
for entrepreneurship in this country is becoming
more variable, the number of actors is on the rise, and
there is a growing wealth of opportunities. We must
continue on in our self-development, in cooperation with
our partners in Munich and the region, to further advance
the cause of entrepreneurship. The best example
of our efforts in this direction is our Social Entrepreneurship
Academy, in which the entrepreneurship centres
of Munich's four major universities have been working
together successfully for years to make an impact.
Through nationwide and international programmes, the
Academy has succeeded in developing a reputation that
goes far beyond the region. At the federal level, we are
well connected through “Denkfabrik Entrepreneurial
Universities”, a union of all the colleges and universities
of excellence. In the future we will be able to exert even
greater influence.
Most importantly, however, we need to position ourselves
internationally. For this reason our students are
encouraged to widen their focus as they learn to think in
even more international terms. And both the presence
and impact of the SCE and MUAS must continue to grow
beyond national borders. In recent years
we have made a name for ourselves in Europe. We are
very well positioned internationally with our CONEEECT
network, in which we work jointly with prominent
international partners to train European entrepreneurship
teachers. Our European ASTEE programme, which
establishes principles for evaluating entrepreneurship
programmes, has brought us further valuable connections
with other prestigious universities, entrepreneurship
centres and incubators.
But our internationalisation efforts have already entered
a new round. Polytech Strascheg, our Russian partner
centre at St. Petersburg State University, has assumed
ever more definite shape since it was established in
2013, and the number of its activities is continually growing.
Another milestone was our successful application in
2014 for support for our EU-XCEL programme from the EU
innovation initiative Horizon 2020.
Development of a European Virtual Accelerator for ICT
entrepreneurs has been in full swing since January 2015.
Last but not least, the Bavaria Israel Partnership Accelerator
Programme (BIPA for short) is taking place for
the first time in September 2015. Working closely with the
state of Bavaria, the city of Munich and other regional
actors, we are deepening Bavarian ties with the "start-up
nation" Israel.
And so we look forward to the future with enthusiasm
and a sense of expectancy, and we, together with
MUAS, will continue to do our part in shaping the entrepreneurship
scene in Munich, Germany and, increasingly,
internationally as well. The path we have travelled
would have been inconceivable without our partners –
without you! All of you have played a part in our development
and successes – as donors or university board
members, but also as students, founders and project
sponsors, as professors and university employees, supporters
and business partners. We therefore would like
to thank all of you for your support, your interest, and
your commitment.
Klaus Sailer and the SCE team
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