Top 5 projects from the Innovation and Entrepreneurship course

Almost 200 students in the Innovation Management course (3PO401), delivered by the Department of Entrepreneurship, worked on innovation projects last semester. The newly enhanced course design conceived of the seminars as a series of workshops to support development of innovation projects. The innovations that students worked on ranged from concerns about their family businesses to improvements that could be implemented by our university to ideas for their jobs. Here we share some of the particularly well-developed projects from all the seminars:

1. Easier finding of files for classes through integration of Moodle and Insis

The design for the integration of the Moodle and Insis interfaces was created by the team:

Kryštof Tulis, Kateřina Dejdarová, Lucie Souhradová, Ngoc Anh Tran

Context and problem: Students at VŠE are sometimes confused about where to find files for lessons (e.g. presentations) in the multiple systems in use, such as Insis, Teams and Moodle.

Research methods: for user testing the team approached students from other universities and observed them performing simple tasks such as searching for files. The transcribed logs helped determine exactly what the confusion was.

Proposed Solution: To solve the problem of finding course files, students suggested integrating the file server in Insis with the newly introduced Moodle system.

Acceptance: the web developers consulted confirmed that the proposed solution could be implemented, but also pointed out what to look for next when planning the implementation.

2. Innovating the sales and installation process of solar power plants

The proposal for process innovation has been internally accepted.
Viktória Kovalová, Štěpán Kohout, Diana Lébrová, Jakub Kříž, Tomáš Krynský

Context and problem: The innovation was created for a company that provides a platform for the deployment of renewable energy in homes by connecting technicians and customers. The process of installing a rooftop solar system can get bogged down on an inaccurate focus that the technician and the salesperson must address separately.

Proposed Solution. With an initial measurement that the customer can prepare themselves, the sales process is made faster and more accurate by minimizing the need for the technician and salesperson to re-measure.

Research Methods: This proposal was developed based on a comprehensive research process that included both customers and technicians as respondents. Both customers and technicians expressed interest in the solution and technicians also considered the proposed solution feasible.

Acceptance: The innovation proposal has already received positive feedback from the innovation manager and a budget has been allocated for its implementation.

3. Digitalization of business processes in gastronomy

The design of the app for the catering industry was created by the team:

Viktor Suchý, Noemi Mlynaříková, Eva Znamenáčková and Mariia Gorodnianskaia

Context and problem: In this student team, members decided to tap into the work experience of a member who worked in a coffee shop and was aware of the many inefficiencies that businesses like coffee shops face. When they combined the experience with the IT perspective of another team member, they began to understand how digital technologies could be beneficial in this context.

Proposed Solution: The main goal of the project was to design an application that would unify business processes and meet the needs of the management and employees in the catering industry. In addition to solving the problems of the existing system and upgrading through digitalization, the benefits of the project include enhanced customer experience, increased customer loyalty and customer retention.

Research Methods: When conducting qualitative research, students found that the need for digitization for one establishment was not enough, by getting the software solution developers to be interviewed, they expanded their original plan. To test hypotheses about customer behavior, they conducted further quantitative research on 216 observations with 14 variables and built a model using logistic regression and project risk assessment and NPV projection. A Monte Carlo simulation with 10,000 iterations was used.

Acceptance: they approached Qerko, Elementary POS, ChoiceOR, Restaumatic, Touch and Pixelfield with their idea. One of the companies approached even expressed interest in designing a solution and is already working on creating an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) with an estimated lead time of 10 months.

4. Telegram bot for cryptocurrency trading

Innovations for the Moonbot app were designed by a team consisting of Jan Valečka, Jan Raupach, Kristina Vereshchaka, Natalie Typltová

Context and problem: The subject of the innovation was an existing cryptocurrency trading application that did not have a high number of users and lacked strong differentiation from other similar applications.

Proposed Solution. A particular point of innovation was the proposed integration with the Telegram app to increase its uptake.

Research methods: The research was able to gather more information than usual. The aim was to get feedback and verify the effectiveness of the new features. The validation was done through consultation with experts and an internal team that understands the functioning of the application well.

Acceptance: the proposed concept caught the attention of the experts and the team behind the app, who are now working to implement the innovation as part of an established software company.

5. Sustainability and savings in a luxury hotel

The sustainable innovation  for the hotel was created by a team consisting of Anna Hrdinová, Veronika Bíšková, Melánie Mikšovská, Daria Safonova

Context and problem: The team focused on process innovation in the cleaning of a luxury hotel with the aim of reducing annual costs by 130,000 CZK and to accommodate the 70% of customers who consider frequent hotel towel changes to be environmentally unfriendly.

Proposed solution: The team created an innovative program that respects the environmental concerns of 70% of customers regarding frequent towel changes. Guests can use a tag on their room handle to indicate if they require daily cleaning.  If not, they can request a complimentary glass of wine at the bar The project should optimise cleaning processes and reduce costs by 130,000 C a year.

Research methods. The team conducted so-called fake door experiment in cooperation with hotel management and the front-desk. According to the research, 21 of the 30 participating stays, or 70% of guests, would use the program during their stay. This method provided a credible case for implementing the innovation.

Acceptance: after testing, it was found that the proposal had a positive response. The hotel is now working to implement a cost-saving program that not only reduces the hotel’s costs, but also addresses the environmental concerns that some luxury hotel customers have.

Updated syllabus for the course Innovation and Entrepreneurship

We will continue to develop the subject Innovation and Entrepreneurship (3po401). Enrolment is open for the next semester with an updated syllabus illustrated in the picture.

The new structure of the four modules will further incorporate the idea of innovation through projects into lectures in addition to seminars. We thank the students for their enthusiasm and hard work this semester and look forward to seeing new faces in the new edition of this course in the summer semester and tech next.