Page - (000008) - in Digital Entrepreneurship - Impact on Business and Society

Foreword In the digital age, entrepreneurship is now more in demand than ever before. However, digital entrepreneurship is not limited to holding online meetings, paperless office or communication on social media. Rather, it must be seen as a holistic approach to thinking that encompasses all processes of an organisation, including communication and service provision. If we succeed in “thinking digi- tally”, such as integrating digital process support at all levels, we can experience long-term success and keep uprising competitors at bay. Data, informationandknowledge are thenewfactorsof success that lead tonew marketopportunities andbusinessmodels through their intelligent combinationand networkingwith operational performance and service provision. This ranges from platform economics to support systems, as well as the use of new technologies to make processes more effective and elegant. It is precisely the exploration of promising opportunities and the creation of unique ideas that offer digital entre- preneurs thepotential to successfullydevelop theirbusiness.Thedesignofbusiness models, the planning of the architecture of software and hardware components, as well as the storage of individual data, information and knowledge components, form the core of the new digital entrepreneurial approach. There has been much discussion of agility, disruptive processes and the con- stantly increasing speed of market developments. Therefore, the digital entrepre- neurial personalitymustmaintain the following competencies: • Creativity, organisational skills and a feel formarket opportunities • Strong knowledge of the technical requirements and the competitive environment • Courage to apply theprocess of creative destruction to their ownbusiness or its processes at any time. Indoing so,new ideas and their implementationmustbekept inview, aswell as one’s own service offerings, and the way they are created. In particular, the demands on quality, efficiency and speed of the processes force entrepreneurship when updating and revising internal processes. At theUniversityofAppliedSciences,Nordhausen,wehave initiated twomajor developments on our path to an entrepreneurial university and to qualify our stu- dents as digital entrepreneurs. We have developed a Bachelor of Arts in Digital vii