Under the heading „A hitchhiker’s guide to Austrian history”, guest lecturer and historian Prof. Wagnleitner welcomed this year’s Global Business TROIKA students to an insightful journey through the recent history of Austria. The students took part in a lively morning session in which they could learn more about several historic events of their current ‘virtual’ host country. The history lesson is only one example of how TROIKA students can build knowledge and create a better understanding of the Austrian culture. Although the current Austrian term takes place in an online setting, events like this foster the cultural awareness of students and support the intercultural experience which is so important for this master’s program.
Some days later the question addressed to TROIKA students was ‘How can we meet future challenges in a digital world?’ This question not only refers to the knowledge transfer and innovation processes happening at the LIT Open Innovation Center, but also to the current situation of 27 Global Business TROIKA students during their Austrian term 2021. Since the COVID-19 pandemic made an offline mode of this year’s Austrian term impossible, the Joint Master’s program switched to online classes. Nevertheless, the program’s aim of providing valuable insights into Upper Austria’s business opportunities remained the same. The first virtual stop as part of the course ‘Austrian Business Context’ was at the JKU Linz Institute of Technology. Florian Krennmayr, the project coordinator of JKU’s ‘Entrepreneur.Base’, guided the TROIKA students through a virtual tour of the building and explained the core ideas behind the LIT Open Innovation Center. Learning more about the newly created interface between research and economy at JKU, the event may motivate students to become future entrepreneurs at JKU Linz.