As a Board Member and Co-Author of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) – the world’s largest study on entrepreneurship – Christian Friedl combines scientific expertise, long-standing practical experience in developing and supporting innovation and startup projects, and award-winning teaching excellence.
The reformed Master’s programme brings together business, technology, and innovation competence in a forward-looking way – and is aimed at all those who want to actively shape the digital economy.
After five successful years, the programme has been fundamentally redesigned. The new curriculum is fully taught in English, interdisciplinary, and work-friendly. It was developed through an extensive co-creation process with students, alumni, lecturers, and experts from business and the startup ecosystem.
The goal: to create a study programme that prepares graduates for the challenges of a dynamic, technology-driven economy.
“We disrupted our own programme – just like real entrepreneurs do,” explains Programme Director Christian Friedl. “The new curriculum integrates business thinking, technological understanding, and personal development – exactly the combination that will make the difference in the future.”
Business, Technology, and Mindset: three equal pillars
The programme combines economic, technological, and personal competences:
- Rethink Business: Students learn to design, test, and scale new business models – from concept to market success.
- Apply Technology, don’t just understand it: In courses such as Future Tech for Innovators or Cloud Prototyping, students work hands-on with current digital tools and technologies.
- Mindset as a success factor: Courses on resilience, failure-driven learning, and design thinking foster creativity, self-responsibility, and leadership strength.
At the heart of the programme are the Startup Labs, where students develop their own innovation projects – from the initial idea and prototype to a market-ready solution.
Open to all disciplines and connected to Europe’s Startup Ecosystem
The Master’s programme is open to bachelor graduates of all academic backgrounds who want to drive innovation, start their own ventures, or transform existing organisations. Through close partnerships with startup networks, innovation hubs, and companies across Austria, Europe and beyond, students gain direct access to mentoring, projects, and real-world markets.
Flexible, practice-oriented, and international
With its work-friendly structure, the programme is perfectly compatible with part-time employment or one’s own entrepreneurial projects. Interactive workshops, flexible online formats, and international learning environments make the Master’s particularly practice-based and future-oriented.
Programme Facts
- Degree: Master of Arts in Business (MA)
- Duration: 4 semesters / 120 ECTS
- Language: English
- Format: Work-friendly (part-time compatible)
- Location: FH JOANNEUM, Campus Graz
- Start: Autumn 2026
- Admission: Open to graduates from all academic disciplines
- Places: 20 per year
Find out more here.