FH Joanneum Digital Entrepreneurship & Innovation

10/03/2026

How safe is your VPN really? 👀
Could hackers crack your passwords?
And will we soon live in a password-free world?
These questions inspired a Master’s thesis experiment reaching 5,000 companies.
Our student Nikolas Kachelmaier defended his thesis on March 9, 2026 🎓 Together with fellow student .gubesch , he founded the startup .gmbh, making cybersecurity more accessible for SMEs.

09/03/2026

26/02/2026

Some Master’s theses collect dust.
Others help you survive real cash flow pressure.

Raphael chose the second 😏

Instead of writing about a hypothetical startup, he analyzed his own business: Il Cavolobianco an e-commerce food startup navigating the big question:

How do you become profitable within a year… and still build something sustainable?

No theory bubble.
Real margins. Real customers. Real pressure.

Trust. Storytelling. Product quality. Pricing. Re-engagement. Automation. Partnerships. Sustainability.
All the things founders talk about - but now backed by structured reflection and data.

By combining his startup with his Master’s thesis, both sides leveled up.
The business gained clarity.
The thesis gained depth.
And Raphael gained a degree that actually fits the founder journey.

This is what entrepreneurship education should feel like:
Build. Reflect. Improve. Repeat. 🔁

Huge congrats, Raphael 👏
See you at graduation - hopefully with prosecco and Italian snacks 🇮🇹🥂

24/02/2026

Stop competing and start creating!

The Blue Ocean Design helps you do exactly that, by shifting from cutthroat "red oceans" of rivalry to vast, uncontested "blue oceans" of new demand.

Try it: Map your industry's value curve and innovate beyond competition. If you’re stuck, need an in depth explanation or just wanna discuss your findings, drop us a DM ☺️

23/02/2026

Hot take: not every idea deserves to become a startup 👀

And honestly? That might be the most valuable thing we learned this semester.

Our final presentations in Venture Creation & Business Opportunities weren’t about applause.
They were about honesty.

Market sizes got challenged. Assumptions got questioned.
Some ideas survived. Some didn’t.
And a few turned out not to be real opportunities at all.

That’s not failure. That’s progress.

In an environment where saying “this won’t work” is clarity !not weakness! we learned that opportunity recognition is a skill.
You train it. You test it. You let go when needed.

Standing in front of the room and admitting your idea isn’t the path forward?
That takes courage.

So here’s to showing up.
To questioning our own convictions.
And to building better ideas by walking away from the wrong ones.

Semester 2, we’re ready. 🚀

Thanks for guiding (and challenging) us, Thomas & Clarissa 🙏

19/02/2026

What actually happens when startups and corporates stop talking about each other… and start listening? 👀

That’s what we explored with Viktoria Ilger in our Corporate Entrepreneurship session, and honestly, it hit home.

Because collaborating with big organizations sounds great… until you try it.
Speed vs. structure. Ownership vs. hierarchy. Vision vs. budget cycles.

We talked venture clienting, co-creation, venture building - but without the buzzwords.
What works. What doesn’t. And where founders underestimate what’s really going on inside corporates.

The best part? This wasn’t our first round with Viktoria. From AVL to Creators Expedition and now back again - it felt more like continuing a real conversation than hosting a guest lecture 🥰

Big takeaway: co-innovation only works when both sides are brutally honest about expectations.

This is what studying entrepreneurship should feel like. Not theory, real ecosystem insights that challenge how we build.

Thanks for pushing our thinking, Viktoria 🙏

17/02/2026

Work by day. Uni by afternoon. Repeat. 🔁

Come along with Jasmin for a real-life glimpse into what it’s like to balance a part-time job and our Digital Entrepreneurship & Innovation studies.

And no, we don’t study on weekends 🥳
Classes run Monday to Wednesday. The rest?
For work, projects, life.

Welcome to flexible student life.

fhjoanneum

12/02/2026

Not sure which study programme is actually right for you? 👀
Scrolling through websites only gets you so far.

That’s why we’re inviting you to meet us in person at the Open House 2026 in Graz.
Come check out the campus, meet our lecturers, ask the real questions — and get a feel for what studying Digital Entrepreneurship & Innovation is actually like.

If you’re thinking about startups, innovation, or building something meaningful alongside your studies, this is for you. 🚀

📍 FH JOANNEUM, Graz
📆 21.03.2026 | 09:00–14:00

👉 All details & programme via link in bio

10/02/2026

Be honest: what score would your mum really give your business idea?

Ok, let's skip that part - we all know that our mum's think that all we do is great (which is true btw!)

Here're the books we recommend for early stage startups, who are seeking honest feedback for their business idea 🎥

09/02/2026

What if entrepreneurship were truly accessible to everyone?

That question shaped the Master's theses our colleagues just crushed - and it's exactly what this journey is all about.

While others talk innovation, these five went where it gets real:
→ Breaking barriers for visually impaired entrepreneurs
→ Rethinking how universities connect with future students
→ Building authentic startup communities (not vanity metrics)
→ Bringing machine learning to traditional SMEs
→ Empowering business planning without losing creative ownership

Written alongside jobs, side projects, and life itself. Not in ivory towers - but grounded in real markets, real people, real constraints.
This is what part-time academic programmes should be: theory tested against reality. You discuss frameworks at night, then see them play out at work the next morning.

Today isn't just about passing exams. It's about sharpening perspective and proving what's possible when accessibility meets excellence.

Huge congratulations to Doris Hasenhütl, Markus Tischhart, Rene Rieger, Manuel Walzl, and Daniel Zellner 🎓✨

Well deserved. We're proud to walk this path together - and can't wait for the next milestone.
See you at graduation 🍾

📸 FH JOANNEUM | Kling, Friedl