FASTER – Results from the pilot testing performed in Czech Republic
On the 2nd of July, FASTER project was presented by Prof. Jiri Vacek, PaedDr. Dana
Egerova and Ing. Milan Edl from University of West Bohemia (UWB) at the eLBa 2010
conference in Rostock (Germany).
In this occasion, the training course provided by UWB which is primarily addressed to
undergraduate students, Ph.D.s in engineering specialization and SMEs was showcased
with specific attention to its 8 training units:
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Entrepreneurship and Small Business;
Innovation and R&D;
Strategy and Marketing;
Economics and Finance;
Project Management;
Operations and Supply Chain;
People Management;
Business Planning.
FASTER pilot-testing at the West Bohemia University
During the event, the results concerning the pilot-testing performed at the University of
West Bohemia in May 2010 were highlighted. The pilot-testing, conducted with Ph.D.
students in mechanical and electrical engineering, consisted of 2 workshop sessions: the
first workshop was focused on the business planning with emphasis on marketing and
financial planning while the second one was centered on project management with
emphasis on management of R&D projects.
The two workshops were focused on the following topics:
Workshop 1 – Business Planning
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Importance of marketing in knowledge-based projects (market-pull incremental
innovations vs. technology push radical innovations);
Techniques of marketing research;
Market segmentation;
Marketing on Internet;
Product life cycle;
Financial planning, project feasibility;
Cash flow management;
NPV, expected commercial value.
Workshop 2 – Project Management
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General concepts of PM;
SW support of PM (Microsoft Project);
Soft skills in PM (leadership, team building, communication, conflict resolution, etc);
Risk management;
Project budgeting and resourcing;
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Project portfolio;
Concept of NPD (New Product Development, stage-gate);
Overview of public support for R&D projects in the Czech Republic and EU.
Feedback provided by participants – main outcomes
Asked to appraise their satisfaction through an evaluation questionnaire, participants
provided some interesting and useful opinions to assess the pilot course effectiveness,
summarized in the following table:
Criterion
average satisfaction
Expectation
2,18
Contents
1,88
Quite positive (3) – positive (4)
As estimated before the training
(2)
Very good (2) – excellent (1)
Training method
1,65
Very good (2) – excellent (1)
Training materials
1,59
Very good (2) – excellent (1)
Trainer´s approach
1,35
Very good (2) – excellent (1)
Workshop
1,65
Very good (2) – excellent (1)
Workshop organization
1,53
Very good (2) – excellent (1)
Participant´s experience 3,65
Overall, the two workshops proved to be a positive and useful experience which met the
expectations of the participants who remarked the necessity of a practical approach,
especially for the project management workshop. The workshops‘ contents were
considered as satisfactory with no underemphasized topics. Some recommendations were
given to put more attention to actual possibilities of R&D project support.
When asked about the teaching method and support materials, the students confirmed
their satisfaction concerning the well prepared presentation and the examples of cash flow.
They stated that this is an efficient training approach which is ideal to gain a broader
overview of problems and then to individually study in more details the most interesting
ones, using the references to additional resources. According to them, the trainer proved
to be well prepared thanks to the long pedagogical experience, the ability to attract the
audience and the clear and understandable approach.
Some precious comments were also gathered about the interests for further workshops.
Among them, it was stressed the importance to provide a broader presentation of the
software tools for project management, practical examples and case studies and a more
extended coverage of the current workshops in terms of timing.