eXplore! – The initiative that unites the spirit of research and entrepreneurship

eXplore! is an independent funding initiative, by the B&C Foundation and DDr. Michael Tojner, with the aim of bringing the entrepreneurship and research spirit closer together through the support of practice-relevant research projects in the fields of Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Internationalization & Growth and Business Location.

The central idea behind eXplore! is to forge closer links between top domestic research and Austria’s business community, building bridges between theory and practice through a wide range of projects and activities to promote Austria as a business location. The initiative is designed to accompany exciting projects for the business location over the ten years. Currently, four university institutes of WU Vienna and 16 researchers are supported.

A particular highlight of this initiative is the creation of cross-institutional cooperation. The Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Univ.-Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke) and the Institute for International Business, Headquarters in Austria HiA (Univ.-Prof. Dr. Phillip C. Nell) invite to a joint event on November 10, 2022 at WU Vienna! In this context, chances and risks on the topic: Corporate-Startup Collaboration will be discussed.

Collaboration between companies and start-ups

Partnerships between corporates and start-ups have become increasingly popular in recent years. In today´s hypercompetitive and fast-pace world, large and established corporates face a never-ending pressure to innovate. On the other side, young and innovative firms struggle to survive and constantly need to fight in order to get the resources required to develop their business. In this scenario, corporate-start-up partnerships represent a valid strategy to tackle this issue. Thanks to their complementarity, corporates and start-ups can benefit from reciprocal advantages. However, the asymmetry of corporate-start-up partnerships generates several challenges with the risk of undermining the value creation. Opposite organizational cultures, divergent expectations and misuse of resources are only a few examples of why high-potential collaborations might fail.

That is why the Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Headquarters in Austria are organizing the joint event When David meets Goliath: Chances & Risks of Corporate-Start-up Partnerships. The joint event will take place on Thursday, November 10, starting at 5:30 p.m. in Festsaal 2 at the WU Campus and is supported by eXplore!

Schedule of the event:

• Introduction: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke (Head of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, WU Vienna).
• Panel discussion, moderated by -Prof. Dr. Phillip C. Nell (Head of the WU Institute for International Business and Head of the Headquarters in Austria HiA):
  • Laura Egg (Executive Director AAIA and member of the Austrian Startup Council).
  • Adelheid Moxon (Digital Lead Scale Up and Acceleration @Holcim MAQER, CH)
  • Sebastian Jagsch (, Global Head of Creators Expedition @AVL List, AT)
  • Tamás Petrovics (CEO and Co-Founder @Xund, AT)

Due to the limited number of participants, please register here.