WHAT WE DO
Media Entrepreneurship is an interactive and experiential start-up simulation focused on the process of taking a media venture from concept to practical execution.
KEY FACTS
Develop a business model
In teams of five, engaged students at Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media create their own media product and a viable business model in a complex and changing environment.
Social & Economic Impact
Media products developed and promoted in the program aim to achieve a social or environmental impact while also representing self-sustaining business models.
Lessons
Face-to-face and online-based lessons grounded in cutting-edge research empower students to develop a clear understanding of media industries’ challenges, identify business opportunities and learn to build a successful start-up.
Coaching
During the entire program, every student team is intensively coached by an experienced entrepreneur from media industry to guide their paths and provide crucial hands-on knowledge.
Field trip
Aiming at a unique combination of theory and practice, student teams head to international start-up hotspots (Berlin, New York) and connect with entrepreneurs as well as financiers from whom they receive real-world feedback on their business models.
Final pitch
After developing and implementing their business model, all teams hold a pitch to a jury of leading media industry experts and investors who will give valuable feedback and decide whom they would invest in under real conditions.
COACHES AND MENTORS
Arnd Aschentrup
tandem
Madita Best
Theyo
Clemens Binder
Unity Effect
Claudia Bumb
Hafven Smart City Hub
Dominique Gußmag
hannoverimpuls
Lena Hautzer
Leapsome
Moritz Kleine-Bornhorst
Theyo
Thomas Knauer
Kaiser X Labs
Berit Lüdecke
Social Innovation Center
Philipp Lück
Kleinundpläcking
Maria Mondry
Tomorrow
Ricardo Ferrer Rivero
533
Dörte Roloff
Hafven Smart City Hub
Prof. Dr. Armin Rott
Hamburg Media School
Felix Sievers
FUTUR DREI
Tobias Schäffer
t3n
Max Schild
PHB e.V.
Christiane Unruh
Home Shopping Europe (HSE)
Martin Wiens
Neue Narrative
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
Disruptive and Social challenges
The Media Entrepreneurship Program addresses two major challenges of our time. First, disruptive innovations open up tremendous possibilities for entrepreneurs in the realm of digital media. With the old economic structures partially destroyed, new ventures are supposed to fulfill the media’s role not only in economy but also in society. Second, social challenges such as fighting poverty and hunger, achieving equality, improving health and education, and achieving environmental sustainability are becoming increasingly important. Social entrepreneurs can contribute to these societal aspirations with innovative approaches and bring about social change.
At the Department of Journalism and Communication Research (IJK), Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, we address these developments in our undergraduate Bachelor’s and graduate Master’s programs with the Media Entrepreneurship curriculum which addresses both media and social entrepreneurship.
Combining theory and practice
Bringing together comprehensive theoretical knowledge and practical insights, we aim to encourage students’ social entrepreneurial mindsets as well as behavior and empower them to successfully cope with changing media markets – in new ventures as well as corporate media (Intrapreneurship).
Applying state of the art tools
Teaching is based on entrepreneurial concepts and tools such as the (Social) Business Model Canvas, the Lean Start-up approach, Business Modelling and Design Thinking. Lessons not only focus on agile product development, iterative business model generation but also on opportunity recognition and exploitation, customer-driven ideation, growth and scalability. All of this happens in a period of four months that reflect the entrepreneurial process itself.
Well-proven concept
The media entrepreneurship program is well-proven and has sparked enthusiasm with our students, coaches and jurors since 2013. A scientific evaluation (see Buschow, Possler, & Scheper, 2021) based on data from our participants between 2013 and 2017 confirms this: It was found, that the program fosters a motivating learning experience by bridging professional practice and university teaching, provides real-world insights, creates a more informed and realistic perspective of entrepreneurship and increases long-term motivation and career planning.
Embedded in Research on Media Entrepreneurship
Our media entrepreneurship education strongly benefits from accompanying research in the field of media management and new venture creation in media industries conducted at IJK. Both employees and students investigate a variety of pressing questions in the field of social and media entrepreneurship.
