From August 10 to 29, 2025, Pia Drechsel was in Finland for a research stay as part of the International Startup League (ISUL) project. “The aim was to deepen my research in online grocery shopping and sustainable packaging solutions for food in exchange with colleagues and scientists from other universities and to advance joint projects. My trip took me to the University of Eastern Finland (Kuopio), the University of Oulu (Oulu Business School), and the Finnish food retail sector.”

Stay in Kuopio – University of Eastern Finland: In Kuopio, I met two scientists from the University of Eastern Finland and my colleagues Stephanie Jordan and Maike Netscher. We deepened our ongoing research on online grocery shopping, especially consumer acceptance of food ordering apps. Online grocery shopping is more widespread in parts of Finland than in Germany, with higher user acceptance. Autonomous delivery robots are already visible in larger cities and complement traditional logistics. These vehicles transport orders independently. Thanks to fast delivery, insulation, narrow time windows, and cooler temperatures, additional cooling packaging is usually not necessary for the “last mile.”

Stay in Oulu – Oulu Business School: At the Oulu Business School, I exchanged ideas with scientists on sustainable packaging, trade practices, and the circular economy. I gained insights into the university’s technical center. The Business School works on interdisciplinary projects and supports technical research with consumer studies, company collaborations, and change management. The University of Oulu was also a partner in a project related to my dissertation, involving all supply chain stages. This holistic approach provided valuable insights.

Observations in the Finnish food retail sector: I spoke with a representative of Finland’s largest retail company, awarded for sustainability. Consumer pressure for sustainability is rising, but market mechanisms counteract this: brand manufacturers use eye-catching packaging to stand out from private labels, influencing purchasing behavior. The company sees its greatest scope for action in private labels and is adding more regional products. In the fruit and vegetable department, two things stood out:

• Packaged cucumbers and peppers: shrink-wrapped in plastic film, necessary due to long transport distances.
• Alternatives to plastic bags: paper and biodegradable bags were available, but lack of consumer information led to unconscious choices—mostly traditional PE bags.

Personal impressions and conclusion: Highlights included barbecuing in a typical Finnish shelter and spending days in a mökki by the lake. And last but not least: meeting Santa Claus. The stay was extremely valuable for my research and personal development. I was able to make important progress in the project, expand my network, and gain new perspectives on the interplay between trade, consumers, and packaging innovations. I would like to thank the International Startup League (ISUL) project for funding and supporting this research stay.

At the beginning of 2025, Lea-Marie Vogel and Maria Hepfengraben completed their six-month internship in Vienna. While Lea-Marie worked at MAN Truck & Bus Vertrieb Österreich GesmbH in Vienna Liesing in the Human Resources department, Maria spent her time at the Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG (OeEB). Their stay was supported by the DAAD and their experiences are summarised below:

Lea-Marie describes her six-month internship semester at MAN Truck & Bus Sales Austria as ‘not only a valuable professional experience, but also a formative time on a personal level’. She worked in Human Resources and was involved in various areas, including recruiting, day-to-day operations and project work. She particularly enjoyed recruiting: ‘I was able to take responsibility for the entire process for the trainee positions – from advertising the vacancy to conducting interviews and organising onboarding.’ One challenge was the implementation of a social media recruiting campaign via NIRO and Hokify, which was aimed specifically at automotive mechatronics engineers and mechanics.

Lea-Marie also gained valuable experience in day-to-day operations: ‘Maintaining time data, coordinating incoming mail, creating Excel spreadsheets to document absences – all these tasks trained my accuracy and organisational skills.’ Her project work included organising an internal project called ‘Christmas for Charity’ and contributing to an intern magazine for university fairs. These projects gave her ‘a sense of responsibility and teamwork’ and showed her ‘how creative HR work can be’.

In addition to her work, she was enthusiastic about life in Vienna: ‘The mixture of historical architecture and modern city life, the many small cafés, the Danube, the Prater and, last but not least, the feeling of cultural diversity made the city my second home.’ She enjoyed discovering new markets, spending weekends in museums and socialising with colleagues. Looking back, Lea-Marie describes the internship semester as ‘one of the most instructive and valuable times of my career to date’. For her professional future, she is taking away ‘how central a well-functioning HR department is for a company’ and is aiming to specialise in digital process optimisation in order to continue working with people ‘at eye level, empathetically and in a solution-oriented manner’.

Maria reports on her six-month internship at Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG (OeEB) in Vienna and describes it as ‘an experience that gave me exciting insights into the work of a development bank’. OeEB finances projects in emerging and developing countries in order to promote ‘sustainable growth and economic stability’. Her main tasks included ‘supporting the analysis of investment projects, preparing reports and working on sustainability strategies’. She found it particularly exciting ‘to be involved in the evaluation of projects that take social and environmental aspects into account’.

A central part of her work was ‘assessing project enquiries in terms of economic feasibility, development impact and risks’. She was also ‘involved in the creation and review of financial models and research into target markets and sectors’. These activities helped her to ‘acquire in-depth knowledge of financial management and economic analysis’.

Maria found the atmosphere at OeEB to be ‘very pleasant and professional’. She particularly liked the flexible way of working: ‘Working from home was possible up to three days a week’. In addition to her work, she found ‘life in Vienna very enriching’. She describes the city as a place where ‘there is always something to discover’.

Looking back, she describes her internship as ‘a unique and very enriching experience’, during which she was able to gain valuable insights into development finance and develop both professionally and personally. She recommends an internship at OeEB to anyone ‘who is interested in international development cooperation and finance in general’.

Antonia Schulz took part in the MUSA Summit on Entrepreneurship from May 12–15, an event known for “excellent presentations, inspiring discussions, and open exchanges between early-career researchers and established scholars.”

📌 Day 1: Presentation of her dissertation in a Paper Development Session. The opening keynote by Prof. Bruno Cassiman (IESE Business School & KU Leuven) on “Entrepreneurship as a Research Field” stood out, especially his work based on text analyses.

📌 Day 2: Sessions with Dr. Vera Rocha (Copenhagen Business School) on start-ups as work environments and Prof.Karin Hoisl (University of Mannheim & CBS) on the link between entrepreneurship and innovation management.

📌 Day 3: Insights into entrepreneurial finance from Prof. Silvio Vismara (University of Bergamo), followed by a roundtable with founders and investors moderated by Prof. Andrea Fosfuri (Bocconi University).

📌 Day 4: A final session by Prof. Thomas Chemmanur (Boston College) on venture capital, capital structure, and entrepreneurial decision-making – ending with a lakeside lunch — the perfect setting to deepen personal conversations and strengthen new connections.

Between the talks, Antonia Schulz joined Paper Development Sessions, which offered valuable insights into other PhD projects and helped her reflect on her own research through different methodological and theoretical lenses.

Her conclusion: “The Summit was an enriching experience. The combination of theoretical depth, practical work, and international exchange was outstanding.”