The department of business administration of Münster University of Applied Sciences (MUAS) in Germany has a long tradition in realising practice-oriented research projects in cooperation with industry. The objective of these cooperative projects is to offer students real-life experiences and to make the theoretical know-how of university lectures more tangible by using it in an actual business case setting. Students are given responsibility for project deliveries fitting the expectations of real companies in their real business. Through the projects students are encouraged to develop individual learning and problem solving competencies. In this paper, four good practice examples for university-industry cooperation integrated in the education of students in the field of marketing, specifically market analysis, will be presented. The project descriptions will highlight the different methodological approaches, focusing on their specific innovative features. The paper will evaluate the competencies students gain during their involvement in those kind of projects. To follow a valid scientific approach, the competence matrix of Erpenbeck & Heyse will be presented and used to highlight the specific competences gained by the students working on those projects.

Entrepreneurship needs a vision and leadership skills to accomplish it and a motivation to build something new, which will develop and sustain it. And society needs social entrepreneurs, contributing to a new organization of the welfare system, while making a difference and helping each other. The central theme in the existing social entrepreneurship literature is the pursuit of a social mission or objective. Thus, social entrepreneurs play a role as reformers and revolutionaries, who are intending to solve social problems, and not being answered by governmental policies. Entrepreneurial thinking and acting as well as innovation driving managers is a need for society. However, it is not the organization but the people, united by a proactive and market-driven culture, that are innovative and which combine to populate and to equip the organization with the required competencies. The chapter proposes a methodology to analyze the competencies that should be fostered by higher education programs to provide graduates with the desired competencies for entrepreneurship and driving innovation.

Entrepreneurial thinking and acting as well as innovation driving managers is a need for society. Companies need to speed up their efforts when facing competition, society need entrepreneurs and innovation driving members. Successful entrepreneurial acting requires particular competencies. Past research has mainly focused on evolving theories to enable an organization to manage innovation successfully by managers. However, it is not the organization but the people, united by a proactive and market-driven culture, that are innovative and which combine to populate and to equip the organization with the required competencies. Hence, the individual competencies in times of change and innovation need to be researched. This paper proposes a research methodology to close this research gap and to analyze the individual competencies that should be fostered by higher education programmes in order to provide graduates with the desired competencies for entrepreneurship and driving innovation.

Entrepreneurship needs a vision and leadership skills to accomplish it and a motivation to build something new, which will develop and sustain it. And society needs social entrepreneurs, contributing to a new organization of the welfare system, while making a difference and helping each other. The central theme in the existing social entrepreneurship literature is the pursuit of a social mission or objective. Thus, social entrepreneurs play a role as reformers and revolutionaries, who are intending to solve social problems, and not being answered by governmental policies. Entrepreneurial thinking and acting as well as innovation driving managers is a need for society. However, it is not the organization but the people, united by a proactive and market-driven culture, that are innovative and which combine to populate and to equip the organization with the required competencies. The chapter proposes a methodology to analyze the competencies that should be fostered by higher education programs to provide graduates with the desired competencies for entrepreneurship and driving innovation.