Founders.Week 2023 brought 30 students from Linz, Salzburg, Vienna, and the surrounding areas together, representing a wide range of majors, including AI, management, psychology, law, business, computer sciences, aerospace engineering, and agricultural technology.

The Upper Austrian government notably presented Founders.Week 2023 with the prestigious "Green Event" certificate in recognition of the event's commitment to sustainability and environmental awareness. In addition to reducing the use of plastic, the event featured meals and food that were in season, locally sourced, and sustainably produced.

The six teams worked tirelessly on their ideas during the entire week, supervised by a range of mentors, experts and workshop leaders. They started off by engaging in a creative development process that included workshops on design -thinking, business modeling, and learning how to successfully pitch their ideas. As in the past, the diversity of ideas was impressive, ranging from reusing chopsticks to produce furniture, providing student-prepared meals, and an AI fitness device to track efficiency in building muscle.

The week's highlight included the final event on Friday at the LIT Open Innovation Center featuring teams pitching their ideas to a panel of experts consisting of Dominic Koll (qapture), Christian Kaar (Runtastic, Leaders21), Christiane Tusek (Vice-Rector at the JKU), and Elisabeth Berger (head of the Institute for Entrepreneurship). The Upcyklr team (Halil Metbala, Raphael Weiß, Raphael Luif, and Severyn Tsymbala) impressed the jury and secured a wild card spot for the Austrian TV show “2 Minutes, 2 Million”. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will elevate their idea tremendously and provide access to potential investors and industry executives. Professor Alexander Zauner concluded the formal portion of the evening by holding an inspiring keynote speech titled “5 Secrets that Make the Difference for Your Startup”, followed by opportunities for participants to meet and connect with others.

Founders.Week 2023 was an intensive program featuring local and cross-regional involvement from within the entrepreneurial community, and impressive pitch sessions. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the participants for their dedication and tireless efforts and we look forward to seeing many of these promising ideas come to fruition. We would also like to especially thank everyone who made Founders.Week 2023 possible by creating a sustainable "green event". We would like to pay special tribute to all of the experts, mentors, workshop leaders, and sponsors who generously shared their expertise and helped make this week an overwhelming success.

Founders' Week is a unique opportunity for students to embark on their entrepreneurial journey. Anyone who missed out on the excitement will be able to take part in the adventure´in 2024. Have we piqued your interest? Expand your horizons and sign up for Founders.Week 2024!

Once again, students interested in creating their own venture and developing their personal business ideas had a unique opportunity to participate in the 2022 Founders.Week. Founders.Week, a summer school program organised by the Institute for Entrepreneurship, is an exciting week packed with interesting input, a lot of work, and little sleep. True to the motto "Experiment - Fail - Learn - Be Inspired", the participants took on the exciting challenge of developing a business idea and pitching that idea to a jury at the end of the week. The program was basically very similar to past years however, this year's program was quite different as for the first time, the Climate Alliance of Upper Austria Founders.Week presented the event with the title of Green Event, setting new standards to support a sustainable and environmentally friendly organisation of the event.

What else happened?

In addition to the Green Event award, this year's participants came from various diverse and interdisciplinary backgrounds, such as AI, management, psychology, computer science, and physics. Founders Week kicked off during the last week of September and welcomed 22 participants from the JKU and the University of Applied Sciences in Upper Austria.

Accompanied by workshop leaders, mentors, and experts in various fields, the teams worked throughout the week to develop and fine-tune their personal business ideas. The programme for Founders.Week 2022 was as varied as ever, be it design thinking, protoyping, networking, business modelling, or pitching. The entrepreneurial ideas were very different, ranging from quantum computing consulting, a platform for API integration, and a social platform for leisure activities to a lab designed to discover new materials, and a functional alternative to conventional belts. The week culminated in a grand finale of pitch sessions on Friday that were a part of the "Lange Nacht der Start-Ups" at the LIT Open Innovation Center. A jury of experts evaluated the individual pitches and crowned a winning team for Founders.Week 2022. The winning team can look forward to a generous hub,ert package, including tickets for an entrepreneurial course with start-up expert Gerold Weisz.

This year's Founders.Week winner was team VRTEX (vrtex.io) and their API interface idea. Congratulations to the entire team and all the best in the future!

Following the pitch sessions, participants had an opportunity to take part in the "Lange Nacht der Start-Ups" to learn more about the Upper Austrian start-up scene and enjoy refreshments while meeting with other entrepreneuers in a more relaxed environment.

We would like to thank all of the experts and mentors who took the time to actively support students and lend their expertise, as well as everyone else involved who worked hard to hold Founders.Week as a green event this year. We would also like to thank all of the participants for their commitment and we hope to see some of their ideas implemented soon. Those who missed Founders.Week this year can apply to take part during Founders.Week 2023.

In just five days and as part of a team, you can acquire important tools to implement your ideas! Is it just a bunch of boring presentations? Absolutely not. You will work as part of a motivated team mentored by experienced speakers and experts.

The topics will include learning how to put together a top team and learning more about design thinking, prototyping, business modelling, and pitching. You will learn tools to advance, refine and present ideas. During Founders.Week, you will meet like-minded people and other experts who are actively involved in Upper Austria's start-up scene. You won't want to miss out as you will learn from the experts and acquire skills to kick-start your own business!

Experiment - Fail - Learn - Be Inspired!

Together with your team, you will have one week to be creative, spin ideas, and implement your innovative ideas together. During the pitch contest at the end of the week, you can prove to the jury that your idea has market potential! The Summer School program will take place at the JKU Linz and you can earn 2 ECTS credits to count toward your studies. Your only fee for the week is €99 to cover catering costs.

Founders.Week - A Green Event at the JKU

Founders.Week was officially designated a Green Event in June 2022. Green Events are events of a high social and cultural value that take environmental and sustainability aspects into account. This means that the event quality goes hand-in-hand with protecting the climate.