Fourth Innovation Week revealed practical experience of companies

Innovation Week, which took place at the Faculty of Management of the Prague University of Economics and Business for the fourth time, once again brought insight into the real operation of companies and organizations. The week-long series of lectures, workshops and excursions aimed at comparing theoretical knowledge with real practice was attended by nearly 1,153 participants from among the students and employees of the faculty as well as the general public, to whom the lecturers gave a unique opportunity to look into the real life of the companies. From Monday 8 to Thursday 11 April 2024, representatives of partner organisations presented how theory is transformed into practical business processes. In addition to lectures and workshops, the innovation week also included field trips to selected companies, giving participants a first-hand look into their backgrounds.

“Connecting theory with practice is something we are trying to pursue more and more, and Innovation Week is a great example of this. Theoretical knowledge read in textbooks or in professional, scientific articles simply needs to be confronted with reality and how it works in real business. With the Innovation Week event, we are trying to give students, academics and the public a deeper understanding of how modern companies work and how innovation is reflected in everyday business,” said Mojmír Sabolovič, Dean of the Faculty of Management.

The first day of the Innovation Week was dedicated to a comprehensive understanding of safety in the educational environment. The so-called Safety MonDay offered both theoretical knowledge and practical training on how to behave in emergency situations in cooperation with the South Bohemian Regional Police Directorate and the South Bohemian Regional Emergency Medical Service.

The teachers of the Faculty of Management also prepared lectures and workshops for the students. Jiří Vopátek focused on monetary reforms in his lecture Three Monetary Reforms for One Generation: 70 Years Since the Great Government Money Robbery (1953-2023). Is there anything to celebrate?, Jan Závodný Pospíšil reiterated cooperative approaches in the playful LEGO® Serious Play® workshop, and for students who are currently completing their bachelor and diploma theses there was again a Bachelor and Diploma Hackathon called WRITE IT!

As part of the excursions, students could get to know the environment of the largest Czech e-commerce company, Alza.cz, and also the company HARTMANN – RICO within healthcare management.

As in the previous Innovation Week, which took place in October 2023, there was great interest in a practical workshop focused on working with generative artificial intelligence presented by YDEAL. Representatives of Česká spořitelna prepared focused on the topics What moves the Czech economy: how digitalization and robotization change all sectors and Project management vs. agile techniques: a battle of heavy weights, Škoda Auto presented IT projects abroad and entering new markets and Hypolife, for example, a practical workshop Don’t be broke: why is it good to plan financially while studying? Trends in insurance distribution were presented by representatives of the insurance company Kooperativa, a workshop on work-life balance entitled Life vs. money was presented by Oliversum, and representatives of the non-profit organisation Otevřená OKNA presented ways of financing non-governmental non-profit organisations.

Thursday of the Innovation Week was conceived as a career day, during which, in addition to lectures and workshops focused primarily on HR and personal development, a job fair was held in cooperation with the South Bohemian Chamber of Commerce, attended by 16 exhibitors. The lectures were prepared by dm drogerie markt, which focused on employee development in the workshop What does the customer (not) see, but the co-worker experience in dm drogerie market?, Kaufland presented 20 examples of topics from the practice of the HR department in Kaufland, the importance of personal brand in the workshop Why is LinkedIn important for a career? prepared by representatives of Coca-Cola HBC Czech Republic and Slovakia, and E.ON representatives spoke about Talent Programmes and candidate selection methods at E. ON.

Innovation Week is a regular series of events that demonstrates the commitment of the University of Economics in Prague to developing the practical skills of its students and improving the educational process through experience from the world of real business. During Innovation Weeks, there are no traditional scheduled classes and everything is focused on the individual events of partner organizations.