"Students interested in founding a company need support."

Prof Dr Christine Volkmann teaches and researches sustainable business start-ups at the University of Wuppertal.

Building M, level 13, at the University of Wuppertal. The Science Transfer Office meets the Head of the Chair of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development & UNESCO Chair of Entrepreneurship and Intercultural Management at the Schumpeter School of Business and Economics, Professor Dr Christine Volkmann, in her office.

According to a 2014 OECD study, Germany still lags far behind Spain and Greece with a self-employment rate of 11%. This inevitably raises the question of why Germany, despite its economic strength, performs so poorly in comparison to these countries?

For Professor Volkmann, the results of the study are not surprising. After all, in southern European countries with low per capita incomes and high unemployment, there is often a need to become self-employed in order to survive. But not every self-employed person is also a business founder. She therefore takes a critical view of the purely one-dimensional quantitative statement with regard to the formation of rankings: "A high start-up rate says nothing about the growth potential and the quality of start-ups in a country". If we look at Greece and Spain, we certainly have a lot of start-ups there, but they are primarily small and micro start-ups." A lot of additional information about the start-ups, such as the innovative strength, scalability and sustainability of the business models, is important in order to be able to make a well-founded assessment of start-up activity in a country. In this context, the constant to slightly declining number of start-ups in Germany in recent years should not be a cause for concern. It is important to bear in mind "that the number of start-ups tends to fall in the current good economic situation, in which labour is in demand. In difficult economic times, companies are more likely to lay off employees, some of whom then set up a business as part of a career reorientation". Start-ups with innovative business models often also have growth potential, and if they fail, it is rarely due to the business model, but rather to other causes, e.g. the human factor. "Team difficulties," she emphasises, "are a common reason for failure."

Volkmann emphasises that almost all spin-offs from the University of Wuppertal funded by EXIST (the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy's funding programme for start-ups from universities and non-university institutions) have grown steadily. It would like to see more opportunities for students and prospective young founders to try things out and for this reason also supports the ENACTUS initiative**. In this competition between universities, students develop their own interdisciplinary business ideas, which should be economically viable but also offer social and societal added value. "The students learn to work creatively in teams at an early stage, to take responsibility and to present their start-up projects to an experienced jury," says the scientist happily. In 2018, Wuppertal will host the national ENACTUS competition for the second time.

In this context, she would also like to see a place for students where there is room for creativity and experimentation. She is specifically interested in creating an incubator or innovation lab as an interface between the university and the start-up centres in the region (e.g. W-Tec). She would also be delighted if it were possible to bring experienced entrepreneurs together with students interested in starting a business.

"Students interested in founding a company need support."

The professor is therefore in favour of experimental projects that are coached by established companies. "Experienced entrepreneurs could accompany potential founders right from the development of the business model and support them with valuable expertise." The dedicated scientist knows that her department can impart theoretical knowledge. She and her colleagues can also recommend methods and concepts or help with modelling and systematics. However, she summarises: "As mentors, the entrepreneurs are generally more credible for the start-ups because they have developed their own business models and have start-up experience! They have already solved the problems for their company."

Persuasion is needed, and so she would like to see more events where network partners and founders are brought together with established companies, because from the feedback she receives from the founders, she realises: "Startups often feel left alone." Perhaps creating a platform, be it an incubator or an innovation hub, where these encounters could take place would be a first step and thus also a nice cooperation between the chair and the science transfer centre.

"First of all, he/she could study with us."

How should a newcomer interested in founding a company proceed?

Professor Volkmann doesn't think twice and answers directly: "First of all, he/she could study with us. We have an excellent education programme at the Schumpeter School of Business and Economics. One focus of teaching and research is in the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship and economic change. This focus is in line with one of the University of Wuppertal's profile lines. "We offer many options for students in these areas, both in the Bachelor's and Master's programmes. The Jackstadt Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research also offers the opportunity to deepen the topics in research."

Wuppertal also proves to be a favourable location for start-ups, as an empirical study by one of her doctoral students recently demonstrated. A comparison of locations showed that Wuppertal is a good location for sustainable start-ups due to the targeted local support and the extensive cooperation between the players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

"Education can make a significant contribution to the sustainable development of entrepreneurial ecosystems"

Professor Volkmann is also passionate about supporting the work of UNESCO. As an award-winning UNESCO Chair of Entrepreneurship and Intercultural Management, the Chair offers the opportunity to participate in international UNESCO networks and projects. The framework for these activities is always formed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which the Chair would like to help achieve. With this in mind, it is important for her to emphasise that "sustainable, social and cultural entrepreneurship can make a significant contribution to the responsible and viable economic development of a region". University education in the context of entrepreneurship plays a key role here, particularly from an intercultural perspective. In this context, the Chair is actively working on international collaborations with a clear focus on sustainability. A current example in this context is an excursion with students to South Africa on the topic of social entrepreneurship in cooperation with local partners in Stellenbosch planned for summer 2018.

Digital start-ups - the young generation thinks start-ups are hip

She has been tirelessly campaigning for start-ups at the University of Wuppertal for almost ten years now and recognises the signs of the times in digital start-ups. At the last Bergisch Innovation and Education Congress, she recently gave a keynote speech on the topic of "Entrepreneurial ecosystems in the context of digital transformation in the Bergisches Land region".

There will be a digitalisation chair to strengthen the region's expertise, as the medium is young. The first chair of this kind was established in Potsdam in 2015, and it is already possible to study a Master's degree in Business Informatics and Digital Transformation there. "According to the recently published Higher Education Report, we lack 95,000 data specialists and 24,000 teachers in schools for the compulsory subject of computer science," she says, adding, "that's what we need to work on. We jumped on this bandwagon relatively late compared to the USA, but it's not too late. We also only started with the entrepreneurship chairs at the end of the 1990s and have caught up enormously in international comparison. The younger generation has a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship and digitalisation. They think start-ups are hip. Teaching used to be organised differently. Courses dealt with large companies, but not start-ups. This has changed fundamentally."

Start-ups are valued. Young entrepreneurs enjoy taking responsibility and realising their own ideas. And even failure no longer results in social ostracism in large parts of the population. "If it doesn't work," she says, "then at least it was an attempt that might succeed the second time round!"

The English philosopher and historian Theodore Zeldin is convinced that good dialogue can change the world. He says: "We need to talk to learn more about our fellow human beings and more about ourselves. We need to talk in order to gain calm in an uncertain, confusing time in which all private and social processes are constantly accelerating to the limits of what is bearable, calm to reflect, to reconsider, to come closer to others and ourselves."

If you come out of a conversation differently than you went in, you can be sure that it was a good conversation.

THAT was a good conversation.

Uwe Blass (conversation from 22 November 2017)

** The aim of the global student organisation ENACTUS is to put theoretical knowledge from university into practice by working independently on projects.

Prof Dr Christine K. Volkmann studied business administration at Justus Liebig University in Giessen. She completed her doctorate in the field of corporate planning under Prof Dr Dietger Hahn. She gained practical experience in strategic corporate development. In 2008, she took over the Chair of Entrepreneurship and Business Development at the Schumpeter School of Business and Economics at the University of Wuppertal. Since 2010, she has held the UNESCO Chair of Entrepreneurship and Intercultural Management at BUW.