Entrepreneurship and new Media

The course "High-tech entrepreneurship and new media", offered by RWTH Aachen University, covers special chapters for the development of complex information products (personalized websites, electronic marketplaces, mobile information services, virtual communities) and combines them with lectures out of practical experience in terms of company foundation. New design and implementation approaches, those who are asserting themselves as standards as well as group-oriented and participative approaches like Extreme Programming (XP) are also to be introduced to deliver software engineering knowledge in a very detailed manner. The course builds on mandatory computer science knowledge such as Introduction of Databases, Software Technology, CSCW and Software Engineering Management.

A Vision of a European Course in High-tech Entrepreneurship

• Send multi-disciplinary groups of students to an European start-up company for a couple of months

• Establish an European lab course for entrepreneurship to reflect the experiences gained
• Use technology enhanced learning tools bringing together European experts in the field of entrepreneurship

Challenges for a course in High-tech entrepreneurship

• Only loose connections between the university and the local start-up companies compared to the US
• No established methodologies of software development in the start-up companies
• No reflection of student practice as interns or paid workers in local start-up companies
• Unsatisfying results in introducing technology support for teaching in applied computer science in many universities

The framework of the course

Course Characteristics

• Lab and weekly lecture series with guest lecturers from academia and industry
• Communities of practice in lab groups doing complex „real-world“ tasks with academic instructors
• Engagement of start-up companies with entrepreneurial supervisors
• Professional entrepreneurial presentation training
• Community system support by BSCW (link to BSCW page)

Some Start-up Companies and Partners