Future-proof AI education through building international startup projects in cooperation of ISME and THWS

Würzburg/Bangalore, 27 September 2026 — The Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS) Business School and the International School of Management Excellence (ISME) in Bangalore prepare students for responsible leadership in a global economy increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence by international startup projects.

From applied projects to international competence

In a one-semester individual coaching surrounding at THWS Business School with the Director of the Master Managing Global Dynamics Prof. Dr. Bolsinger, an ISME Student worked intensively in an applied startup-research project in Würzburg, developing an AI-powered financial copilot for small and medium-sized enterprises. The project exemplifies the partners’ commitment to combining academic learning with practical problem-solving. Students work on real-world challenges, use contemporary AI tools and develop solutions with potential relevance for companies and society. At the same time, they learn to consider questions of transparency, accountability, data use, sustainability and human responsibility. AI is being integrated into teaching not as a substitute for human judgement, but as a tool for entrepreneurial experimentation, intercultural learning and ethically informed decision-making.

“Future-proof international business education has to combine AI competence with responsibility and the ability to link cultures,” says Prof. Dr. Harald Bolsinger. “Students need to develop and also postpone ideas, test them in practice with state-of-the-art AI tools and examine their success potential.”

Icanpreneur supports international startup development

A particularly successful example is the use of Icanpreneur, the AI co-founder platform for evidence-backed product and go-to-market decisions, in the THWS Master’s programme Managing Global Dynamics. Students use the platform to turn purpose-driven ideas into structured, testable business concepts. Icanpreneur supports them across key stages of the entrepreneurial process – from defining customer problems and target segments to running customer research, analyzing interview evidence, building Buyer Personas, and developing positioning and go-to-market strategies.

The platform is now officially approved for use in Prof. Bolsinger’s courses at THWS and is integrated systematically into the learning experience as an established part of the curriculum. Icanpreneur functions as a strategic AI advisor throughout the entrepreneurial process, providing students with structured frameworks and AI-supported workflows that help them identify relevant problems, challenge assumptions, conduct customer research, build Buyer Personas, develop go-to-market strategies, and make informed entrepreneurial decisions.

“AI can dramatically accelerate execution, but students still need to learn how to decide what is worth building,” says Vesko Kolev, Founder and CEO of Icanpreneur. “Our role is to help them connect entrepreneurial frameworks with real customer evidence, so AI strengthens their judgement rather than replacing it.”

Outlook: Intensifying AI use in India and Germany

In Sumer Semester 2026 an ISME visiting student at THWS Business School developed an AI Financial Copilot for SMEs with the focus on the Indian market. (See here for individual impressions of the student I Pitched My Al Startup to German Investors (AND THEY SAID YES!) #ismebangalore) ISME also intends to intensify the use of icanpreneur in teaching in the coming semesters. In Germany, the experience gained with Icanpreneur will support the systematic integration of AI into the curriculum and into further project-based learning formats also in other Master programs. Students in Bangalore and Würzburg should be enabled to use AI confidently and critically, says Bolsinger, to create innovative entrepreneurial solutions while remaining aware of their responsibilities toward individuals, organisations, communities and the environment.

The used didactic approach in Bolsingers lectures linke AI-supported workflows with coaching and mentoring discussions and ethical reflections. Students are always trained not merely to accept AI-generated suggestions, but to assess assumptions, verify evidence, engage with potential users and decide about features to build. The results demonstrate the educational value of the approach: “Students achieve a level of clarity and realism in their projects that would be difficult to reach without specialised AI support in such a short time.” states Bolsinger.More about the “Reflective Teaching with AI”-approach will soon be available in a new born scientific journal. Have a look here for news in the weeks to come….

About Managing Global Dynamics

The Master’s programme Managing Global Dynamics at THWS is a three-semester, English-taught degree programme combining application-oriented business knowledge with intercultural and strategic competence. A compulsory semester abroad strengthens students’ ability to act autonomously and sustainably in a global and dynamic environment.

– AI (perplexity) was used for translation and rephrasing of this press release –

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/future-proof-ai-education-through-building-19qke