Abstract
The Faculty of Economics of the University of Ljubljana (FELU) offers courses on undergraduate, graduate and MBA level in EE, including specialisations in entrepreneurship. In 2006, FELU introduced the Design Thinking (DT) approach to EE. DT is a human-centred, action-oriented and iterative problem-solving and idea-generating method. In courses applying DT, student teams generate business ideas, develop entrepreneurial projects and test prototypes through engaging with customers. The DT approach was meant to overcome downsides of a more traditional way of EE, focusing on writing business plans, which FELU applied before. The business plan approach did not trigger much creativity and did not lead to many new ventures. The Ljubljana case shows that the application of DT can generate valuable business ideas and change mindsets towards a consciousness of “being capable”. DT courses comprising entrepreneurial projects, start-up weekends and “three euro challenges” were found to be stimulating, action-orientated EE formats. Furthermore, FELU teachers successfully introduced DT in schools for pupils at the age of 12–15 and for unemployed people as well. High student motivation as well as suitable staff and sufficient resources for prototyping are important preconditions for achieving good results in applying DT. However, the case also revealed legal barriers to student entrepreneurship: students lose their privileges when they start their own business, and selling a product without having a company is prohibited.
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Notes
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In Fig. 1, steps one and two are swapped. Nevertheless, the underlying idea persists.
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See Zupan et al. (2013), p. 3f.
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In June 2014, the academic unit of entrepreneurship was asked to use DT to manage one of the conference’s parallel sessions. In 2013, the DT approach was presented to all faculty members.
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See http://www.uni-lj.si/university/strategy/ for the University’s mission, http://www.uni-lj.si/university/mission_values_and_vision/ for its mission statement, and for FELU http://www.ef.uni-lj.si/mission_&_vision
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Several other schools within the University are not that proactive and solely depend on the money allocated by the university (government).
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A Master programme in English is offered in Pristina, Kosovo, which is not analysed in this case.
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Primary schooling in Slovenia is divided into two periods and ends at the age of about 14/15 with the second period. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Slovenia
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Asking the question, whether the 2 days are appropriate to educate teachers, the interviewee responded: “If they get it, they get it in 2 days, if not I can work with them a month.”
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It was said that there were a lot of “stories in the media”.
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The case researcher tested the prototype.
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See: http://www.kibuba.com/
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KIBUBA’s official revenues increased from EUR 552,000 in 2009 to EUR 1,282,000 in 2011 to EUR 1,625,000 in 2013.
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The German newspaper “Die Welt” labelled it as one of the most interesting innovations at the CeBIT. See http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/webwelt/article138468928/Das-sind-die-originellsten-Gadgets-der-Cebit.html
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Research for this case was conducted by Dr. Lutz Ellermann, expert in innovation management, for empirica GmbH on behalf of the study for supporting the entrepreneurial potential of higher education (sepHE). Sources and references used include desk research plus:
1.1 Interviews
Prof. Dr. Aleš Vahčič, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics (FELU), 8 Jul 2014, 12:00–13:30, FELU
Prof. Dr. Boštjan Antončič, FELU, 8 Jul 2014, 13:30–14:00, FELU
Prof. Dr. Anja Nabergoj, FELU, 8 Jul 2014, 14:15–15:30, FELU
David Simčič, undergraduate student at FELU, 8 Jul 2014, 15:45–17:00, FELU
Rok Snoj, graduate student at FELU, 8 Jul 2014, 17:15–18:30, FELU
Prof. Dr. Mateja Drnovšek, FELU, 9 Jul 2014, 8:15–09:00, FELU
Dr. Rok Stritar, FELU and entrepreneur (Kibuba), 9 Jul 2014, 09:00–10:00, FELU. 30 Mar 2015, 9:30–10:00, Skype
Prof. Dr. Tea Petrin, FELU, 9 Jul 2014, 10:15–12:00, FELU; 30 Mar 2015, 11:00–11:30 Skype
Lan Vuga, graduate student at FELU, 9 Jul 2014, 12:15–13:15, FELU
Marjan Kramar, entrepreneur and lecturer in the course for unemployed, 9 Jul 2014, 14:00–15:00, FELU
Blaž Zupan, teaching assistent at FELU and entrepreneur (Optiprint), 9 Jul 2014, 15:15–16:15, FELU
1.2 Literature and Websites
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Zupan B, Nabergoj AS, Stritar R, Drnovšek M (2013) Action based learning for millenials: using design thinking to improve entrepreneurship education. In: Doyle E, Buckley P, Carroll C (eds) Innovative Business School teaching: engaging the millennial generation, Book chapter. Routledge, New York, pp 128–138
Kibuba (2014) Slovenian start-up. http://www.kibuba.com/. Accessed 3 Aug 2014
NAKVIS (2015) Mission, vision, values and strategic objectives of the Slovenian Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (SQAA). http://test.nakvis.si/en-GB/Content/Details/8. Accessed 30 Mar 2015
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Ellermann, L. (2017). University of Ljubljana: Applying the Design-Thinking Approach to Entrepreneurship Education. In: Volkmann, C., Audretsch, D. (eds) Entrepreneurship Education at Universities. International Studies in Entrepreneurship, vol 37. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55547-8_9
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