Outreach module

Outreach offers researchers at FAU support tailored to meet their needs and help them showcase themselves and their research in the context of science, business, society and politics.

Outreach at FAU is on hand to help you put the five key modes for strategic knowledge and technology transfer to the best possible use:

• From one mind to another
• Professional development
• Patents & licenses
• Cooperation & co-creation
• Spin-offs

In the module, you will become aware of the fact that through the collaborative use of shared knowledge, formats, and platforms at FAU, you can increase the impact of your outreach activities while making an important contribution to the visibility and impact of FAU as a whole.

We can help you to seize the opportunities available to you by providing training in the outreach skills area.

Module contents

The module offers you the opportunity to gain specific insights into what marks you as a high potential at FAU and beyond. You will learn to reflect on your current situation at FAU and in your academic community, and to articulate a vision for change based on your insights. Pinpoint the key features of your work and come to a conclusion about how you would like to grow and develop in future and present yourself to others. Your FAU innovator model allows you to project a visual representation of yourself and your environment as a high potential, irrespective of your academic background.

Day 1 – Designing your Personal Innovator Model

The module starts with an introduction to the methodology behind the FAU innovator model. The tools for the “Business Model Yourself” are introduced, discussed and explained using examples. You will learn why it makes sense to think in terms of personal innovator models, no matter your academic background, and how the method can help you explore synergies with research, education and people-related activities.

You will then develop a first version of your personal FAU innovator model. Following a clear process, you will ask yourself leading questions that will help you explore your own strengths and specific opportunities, whilst also evaluating threats and potential weaknesses. You will draw up your own holistic personal visualization that goes much further than what you could typically hope to achieve by simply reflecting on daily business in your own time.

There’s always plenty of support available at FAU. There are a wide range of structures that support FAU researchers with their outreach activities. During the module, you will become familiar with the support structures available at FAU and you will be able to identify the most promising structures for you.

Based on the findings and discussions of the day, you will draw up your own specific FAU innovator model, amend it to include synergies and support services and come up with initial ideas for how you could make changes to your public image in future, for example in order to help young researchers and students to get involved in public relations.

Day 2 –Developing a vision based on your Personal Innovator Model

The starting point is the FAU innovator model you drafted and possibly revised several times during the first day. On day 2, you will take a detailed look at the features of your own personal model and explore how you would like to change, develop or position yourself differently in future concerning certain areas in the model. You will be guided to select the aspect of your vision that best suits your innovator profile and that will help you move forward in the areas of most relevance to you. The aim is to develop a specific, stable vision of how you wish to present yourself as a high potential within FAU and beyond.

Follow-up meetings with the module participants for the individual application of the module contents

In these meetings you will have the opportunity to create your first “prototypes” that will enable you to put your vision into practice, or at least make it easier for you. These “prototypes” can be designs of a new website, a video for your Internet presence or other visual representations.

Coach

Dr. Karl Rabes is Business Design Principal at Orange Hills GmbH, a leading management consulting firm for innovation management and agile business model development. Karl is a passionate business designer who has a strong preference for open strategies, open business models and open values and is not afraid to take a provocative approach. He advises and coaches managers and company founders on how to develop an innovative way of thinking and working and how to rigorously validate new business models in the real world.