SCE Annual Report 2016

Dear friends and partners
of the SCE,
We are turning fi fteen! It’s been
fi fteen exciting years in which we
experienced, initiated and learned
a great deal, but in spite of it all we
still see ourselves as an innovative
start-up. Because going forward, we
want to continue to be an example
of what we demand from our
students and start-ups. And we are
still full of new ideas and plans
to help shape the entrepreneurship
world and accompany young
entrepreneurs on their pathways.
When we look back and see how
quickly entrepreneurship and its
perception in society have changed,
we have no alternative but to be
innovative. The economy conjures
up the start-up spirit, and the
importance of business establishments
for the innovative power of
a society is now almost indisputable.
In academia, entrepreneurship has
developed into a recognised
discipline that no longer only focuses
on promoting new businesses,
but also on the key competencies
necessary for independent life in
a complex world. And from time to
time we even hear that we need a
different approach to risk and failure
from the mouths of high-ranking
politicians.
Thus, if we see entrepreneurship in
a broader sense, it offers tools
and methods for creative interaction
with our society for everyone –
employees, innovators, artists, social
workers or founders. And if entrepreneurship
is really to be a key to
shaping a viable future, it is the
responsibility of the Entrepreneurship
Center to accompany the rapid
changes of globalisation, digitisation
and highly dynamic overarching
processes of change that we
experience at all levels.
In Europe, we must fi rst establish
and further hone an independent,
sitespecifi c entrepreneurial
understanding. While it is tempting
to adapt or imitate a successful
entrepreneurship ecosystem or the
mindset of a society, in the troubled
times like these, fi nding an independent
pathway can be a great
opportunity. Silicon Valley or the
Chinese Pacifi c Rim have their own
location specifi cs, their philosophies
and political characteristics that
are clearly different from those in
Europe and Bavaria. It would be a pity
not to combine our achievements
and strengths with the possibilities
of entrepreneurship activities. We
therefore see great creative freedom
with a multitude of new challenges.
We would like to pursue this task of
supporting free enterprise and entrepreneurship
education in Bavaria,
Germany and Europe together with
our university and our partners in
Munich and the region as well as
at the Denkfabrik Gründerhochschule
at the national level and not least
with our European networks and
institutional partners such as the
European Commission, OECD and the
HEInnovate Initiative. They are all
part of our successful development –
primarily as donors and a university
that are always at our side, but
also as students, founders, business
partners and project providers.
Therefore, our entire team would like
to thank you for your support and
commitment.
We still have plenty to do and are
looking forward to the future with
happy anticipation.
Yours,
Klaus Sailer & the SCE team