“How can I find a promising start-up idea?” “I have a promising start-up idea: What do I have to know to start my own business and who can I turn to for support”

About 30 students found answers to these questions and others during the ideas workshop which took place at the University of Kaiserslautern.

After an introduction by Christophe van Huffel (Interface, Liège), Holger Grünhagen (Gründungsbüro, University of Kaiserslautern) started with the crucial question How to start a business? and thus communicated an access to the topic. A short presentation by Frédérique Gueth and Samuel Paulus (1,2,3 go, Luxembourg) then preceded Benoît Roussel and Patrick Truchot (ENSGSI, Nancy) who gave a speech about creativity techniques in order to inspire the participants finding own ideas.

Direct contact with institutions offering assistance to future entrepreneurs was ensured: all contributors supported the participants during a group work under the heading “What kind of social network for the University of the Greater Region?”. Participants could also benefit from the know-how of Philipp Niemann, an expert for Social Media of the University of Trier and the intercultural coach Alexandra von Bose.

During breaks all participants had the opportunity to get informed about creating their own business at the booth of the KWT (Kontaktstelle für Wissens- und Technologietransfer, University of the Saarland) or during individual discussions with Interface (Liège), 1,2,3, go (Luxembourg), the Gründungsbüro and the Patentinformationszentrum (Kaiserslautern).

René Wegner and his team completed the programme with a demonstration of the “Headis” sports which was invented in Kaiserslautern.

Bringing together about 30 students from 6 universities and 4 countries with different language and cultural skills (native languages ranged from German, French to Greek, Hindi and Arabic) and turn a two-day workshop in an informative event to convey know-how as well as in an intercultural experience was a huge challenge. According to participants and contributors the goal was reached.