Innovation Week – A Week Dedicated to Innovative Solutions!
X-Disciplinary Design Thinking Workshop
February 10 - 14, 2025
The Innovation Week provides master’s students from all faculties and partner institutions the opportunity to collaborate in cross-disciplinary teams on developing new solutions.
Two core principles shape this format: diversity of perspectives and innovative thinking.
Students work in interdisciplinary, cross-institutional teams using the Design Thinking approach.
Design Thinking is a method to develop innovative solutions for complex problems. Starting from user needs, solutions are developed through various human-centered methods, creating prototypes iteratively. This process fosters open thinking while also requiring focus on specific problems and solutions. The Design Thinking mindset is universal, applicable across disciplines and problem types (cf. Freudenthaler-Mayrhofer/Sposato, 2017).
Teams are made up of master’s students from different institutions, locations, and disciplines. Diversity and varied perspectives are the primary premise. Through team diversity, students become more aware of their own strengths and experience firsthand how innovations emerge in diverse teams – hands-on, relevant, and culminating in a final presentation to company partners.
Interdisciplinarity, Iteration, User-Focus, Prototyping, Testing, Openness, and Diverse Perspectives – over 300 students have already experienced their innovative potential!
For the past nine years, students from 13 different degree programs from FH Upper Austria campuses in Hagenberg, Steyr, and Wels, as well as, for the first time last year, students from JKU Linz, have taken on the challenge of Design Thinking. Over five days, students develop innovative solutions for business practice. Many companies have already seized the chance to collaborate, including Keba, OÖ Nachrichten, Rosenbauer, Runtastic, Post, Fronius, Roomle, XXXLutz, and Energie AG. They all gained new concepts and approaches for future projects!
Five Days – exciting topics – 36 Students – and many questions...
- Where lies the real challenge in the topic? Which trends and developments influence it?
- What do potential customers think? What do they truly want?
- From which perspective should we address the challenge?
- Which influencing factors shape our possible solutions?
- Who are the prototype users?
- What ideas could help solve the problem?
- What could a prototype look like, and how would users respond?
- How do we visualize and present our solution to stakeholders?
Unlike traditional course approaches, Innovation Week is distinguished by its interdisciplinary, cross-faculty, and cross-institutional character. For the first time, students from all FH Upper Austria locations, JKU, and the University of Art and Design Linz can learn together and experience innovation firsthand!
Set in the creative environment of Linz’s Tabakfabrik and guided by coaches from various disciplines, students generate concrete ideas and develop solutions for companies. This boot camp is designed like those at prestigious Anglo-American universities, such as Stanford’s D.
Weitere Infos
Location
The Innovation Week takes place at Tabakfabrik Linz and on-site at participating companies, where research is conducted. Workspaces in Tabakfabrik will be available to students 24/7.
Setting and Schedule
Teamwork on-site at Factory 300: Group work is primarily conducted at Factory 300 enabling intense, lively, and sometimes humorous creative phases, supported throughout the week by experienced Design Thinking coaches. Teams are assigned in advance to ensure maximum diversity.
Company Visits: Depending on the specific task, on-site visits to companies are scheduled. Meetings with clients, as well as interviews with experts and potential users, are on the agenda. Depending on the project, you’ll definitely gain exciting insights from the business world to incorporate into your projects!
Day 1: Get together / Design Thinking Basics / Team Building
Day 2: Research & Empathize / Company Interviews / Company Visits
Day 3: Research & Insights / Problem Statement
Day 4: Ideation / Prototyping
Day 5: Prototype Testing / Final Design / Final Presentation to Company Partners
Target Group
The Innovation Week is designed for master’s students from all faculties at FH Upper Austria and select students from JKU Linz and the University of Art and Design Linz. The interdisciplinary character is essential!
Language
Main language: German (English available if needed in groups)
Accreditation
Participants receive a certificate of attendance, and credits (up to 5 ECTS) will be awarded according to the respective degree program’s requirements. Students should confirm credit arrangements with their study program director beforehand.
Registration
Registration is open until Wednesday, December 18, 2024, via the following registration form and is binding. The number of participants is limited. Students will receive confirmation or rejection by email in December.
Contact
For more information about the content of Innovation Week, please reach out to:
- FH-Prof. Dr. Josef Altmann (FH OÖ Campus Hagenberg), josef.altmann@fh-hagenberg.at
- FH-Prof. Dr. Daniela Freudenthaler-Mayrhofer (FH OÖ Campus Steyr) daniela.freudenthaler-mayrhofer@fh-steyr.at
- FH-Prof. Dr. Markus Kretschmer (FH OÖ Campus Wels), markus.kretschmer@fh-wels.at
For organizational questions, please contact:
- Elke Ortner elke.ortner@fh-hagenberg.at