Inauguration Party

Hamburg University of Technology founds the Institute of Entrepreneurship and is enriched by one new colleague - Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Christoph Ihl, former Assistant Professor of Technology- and Innovation Management at RWTH Aachen, accepted to become Professor at TUHH. From April 1st 2014, the newly established Institute of Entrepreneurship is managed by him, and he is responsible for entrepreneurship teaching and research.

In teaching, this Institute offers an introductory course for every bachelor program. Students and entrepreneurs build one team together to work on and develop real startup projects. Furthermore, this practical offer will be expanded gradually. Students of all courses can specialize their studies by choosing the lecture “Entrepreneurship and Startup Management”. In intensive project courses they will be taught on developing own startup ideas.

The new institute will research on the field of how entrepreneurial action is done. “Depending on the research focus, the center is on various actors: scientists and students, employees of established companies, creative people such as cooks and authors or product users who want to become “maker”,” explains Prof. Christoph Ihl. “Their entrepreneurial work is done by networking with other actors in open and allocated processes of innovation and legitimation. Therefore, we take the perspective of social network analysis in our research work.”

The institute is made up of various modules and thus covers the spectrum of start-up topics - The TUHH Startup Dock is the main brand whose aim is to establish a lively and inspiring start-up culture at the TUHH through a wide range of events.

“Most students and researchers have many exciting ideas of their own. The TUHH Startup Dock wants to provide them with the tools they need to systematically embed their ideas in sustainable business models, ”said Ihl. That doesn’t work for every idea, but this insight must be realized quickly and without too much effort, according to Ihl. “Hopefully other ideas will result in many more startups to TUHH’s delight,” says Ihl. The Startup Dock unites the Institute for Entrepreneurship and the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Christoph Ihl as academic director is responsible for start-up culture, events and consulting.

Christoph Ihl studied industrial engineering and management in the field of mechanical engineering at the Technical Universities of Kaiserslautern and Berlin and completed an MBA program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He completed his Phd at Munich Technical University on customer-centered business models and customer decision-making behavior. He then habilitated at the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management at RWTH Aachen University on the topic of organization of open innovation processes.

On July 1, 2014 Christoph Ihl starts his first lecture

“Science and Entrepreneurship: Twist or Tango?”

Time: 17.00 – 19.00 hrs. Place: TUHH, Schwarzenbergstrasse 93, 21073 Hamburg

This will be the first one of the Open Lecture Series 2014.