At THU, teaching and further education in the field of start-ups focuses on application-oriented and practical skills. Whether integrated into compulsory modules, offered as optional subjects or as additional qualifications, our talented students have a wide range of opportunities to learn entrepreneurial thinking and action in an interdisciplinary, practical and innovation-oriented way.
THU and the THU Startup Centre have developed a broad and innovative range of educational programmes for you in the field of entrepreneurship and the promotion of entrepreneurial spirit. The roadmap below outlines the teaching and further education programmes we have tailored to your needs. Please get in touch; we’d be happy to help.
Have you ever wondered how an idea actually becomes a company? In the elective subject "Practical business start-up", you will receive a structured overview of how start-up projects are practically implemented in the early phase. The main focus is on orientation in the most important areas of a start-up - from legal and financial issues to strategic decisions.
Instead of a traditional exam, you will work on short weekly case studies over the course of the semester, ideally based on your own start-up idea. The module is aimed at anyone who is curious about entrepreneurship, wants to take their own idea further or simply wants to understand how start-ups work in practice.
The lecture covers key aspects of starting a business - from legal and financial basics to product development, market entry and organization to practical perspectives of founders as well as topics such as sustainability, intellectual property and crisis management.
Registration deadline: 20.03.26 (via Selma)
The "Gründergarage" elective was created as part of the Accelerate!SÜD joint project. It has been organized by StartupSÜD since 2021.
In the Gründergarage, students are given the opportunity to develop an idea into a business model in block courses. The event consists of a two-day boot camp, a two-day thrill camp and a one-day closing event with a pitch on the business ideas.
The organizing team, consisting of representatives from Ulm University of Applied Sciences, Biberach University of Applied Sciences, Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences and Ulm University, accompanies the participants from the development of an idea, through the creation of a prototype, to the development of viable business models with content-related and methodological input. In addition to getting to know the design thinking method and developing a business model canvas, students also learn how to draw up a business plan.
A moderator actively involves the students in the course and interdisciplinary cooperation is trained through practical work in cross-university teams of three to five students. At the end, students are given the opportunity to present their business ideas to a jury of business representatives in a pitch.
In addition, the participants can use the infrastructure of the network partners and are supported in their networking with the local start-up scene.
Last year's motto was "Impact". For example, concepts for renting out co-working spaces in rural areas and apps that show which products are sustainably produced or regional or promote sporting activities within the company were developed. There are and were no limits to creativity.
Founder garage profile
Registration
Registration deadline: - (via Selma)
You can send further questions to startup(at)thu.de at any time.
During their studies at THU, all students have the opportunity to gain further qualifications beyond the compulsory lectures. The THU Startup Center specifically supports additional qualifications in the field of business administration:
The ZQ Entrepreneurship teaches skills for founding companies, but also for management tasks in established companies.
The ZQ International Business lays the foundation for tasks in internationally active companies, e.g. for a position in foreign sales.
Five modules from four or five subject groups are completed as part of an additional qualification. The additional qualifications are generally open to students of all degree programs at THU.
On the Additional Qualifications page of the Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship you will find information on the modules and subject groups, information on registration and credit transfer as well as information on other additional qualifications.
TRIZ is a kind of methodological toolbox for innovation and systematic problem solving. In contrast to rather unstructured creativity methods such as brainstorming, TRIZ first systematically analyzes given problems and then solves them in an innovative and targeted manner.
TRIZ methods can be used in all industries and offer in-depth systematic support for product and process development, designing new business models, securing and circumventing patents and long-term prediction of technological development patterns, among other things.
This is a compulsory module for students on the Digital Media degree program.
Building on the knowledge acquired in the field of interaction and user experience design, digital media students learn and test the holistic conception of networked services using modern methods of innovation development (including design thinking / design sprints / HCD) and business modeling (including JTBD, value proposition and business model canvas, pitch deck development).
After successfully completing the module, students can...
design (primarily) digital services holistically across various points of contact
evaluate and consider key economic and strategic aspects in order to design meaningful digital services
present innovative concepts in an easily understandable and convincing way
The Snacks & Bites teaser format consists of small bites on the topic of start-ups and entrepreneurship that you will encounter during your studies. Be it through entertaining lectures and presentations in your lectures or short videos on specific start-up topics.
These include, among others:
& much more. Let us surprise you!
THU is a partner university in the "Makers of Tomorrow" project, an online course on entrepreneurship for students at German-speaking universities, which is available to you free of charge.
The course consists of a total of 10 modules with 10 start-up stories from prominent founders in Germany and Silicon Valley. In addition to exclusive insights into the highs and lows of life as a founder, there are also short tasks in the modules to get a first impression of the actual "doing". The course is open to all subjects, all degrees and all semesters - explicitly no prior knowledge required!
Those who have completed all 10 modules including the tasks will receive a certificate and exclusive access to an online community of MoT Alumni, where there will be access to further networks and events.
In addition, there will be a Germany-wide, inter-university lecture series as part of the project, which you can attend online and in which founders will report live on their everyday lives.
If you would like to attend the course, you can simply register here and then log in with the access key. To receive the access key, write an informal e-mail to startup(at)thu.de.
If you have any questions, please contact the THU Startup Center at startup(at)thu.de .
We are very pleased to be able to offer you this additional Germany-wide service and are happy to support all start-up ideas beyond this.
The THU Startup Center and the StartupSÜD joint project support innovative ideas and start-up concepts with an excellently equipped infrastructure consisting of laboratories, workshops, equipment, IT and experts from various fields.
THU also has co-working spaces and start-up rooms.
And if we don't have the right infrastructure on site, you can contact us at any time, e.g. by emailing startup(at)thu.de.
